28th Police Precinct Station House

History and architecture

The 28th Police Precinct Station House, located on the north side of East 104th Street between Lexington and Third Avenues, was built in 1892-93 to the design of Nathaniel D. Bush. Appointed Architect to the New York City Police Department in 1862, Bush was responsible for the design of station houses in the city until 1895.

This station house was based on a design that Bush had produced for the 25th Police Precinct (1886-87), 153-155 East 67th Street, which represented a significant departure from his earlier, simpler buildings. The Police Department employed this design as a general prototype for a number of later station houses. The midblock 28th Police Precinct Station House, five stories high above a basement, is clad in red brick with gray granite detailing. The design combines elements of the Rundbogenstil and the Renaissance Revival and neo-Grec styles. The three-bay façade is articulated as a grid formed by continuous piers and intermediate cornices.

This building ended its service as a police station in 1974, and has been used and owned since 1981 by Hope Community, Inc. Today, with its original exterior nearly intact, it is one of ten Bush-designed station houses in Manhattan known to survive, and remains one of the few significant municipal or institutional buildings from the era of East Harlem's rapid development in the late nineteenth century.