The Engine Company 88 Firehouse in Belmont. Image Credit: LPC.

On March 14, 2023, the Landmarks Preservation Commission voted to calendar a firehouse and an FDNY telegraph office for designation as individual landmarks. The Firehouse for Engine Company 88/Ladder Company 38 is located at 2225 Belmont Avenue in the Belmont section of the Bronx.

The Engine Company 88/Ladder Company 38 firehouse was built in 1908 by Herts & Tallant in the Prairie style. The building features deeply set windows, a grand corbeled limestone window enframement, and decorative brickwork in standard and Roman brick. Living quarters are located on the second and third floor. The ground floor features two apparatus bays with stone signs above identifying the company. 

The architect firm, Hertz & Tallant, consisted of Henry Beaumont Herts and Hugh Tallant. The pair worked in Broadway theater design, and as a result became experts and advocates for fireproof building design. The firm also designed the New Amsterdam Theater, the Lyceum Theater, and the Booth Theater. This firehouse was the only one the pair had designed, and it was completed before the adoption of a standardized Model Fire House Plan in 1910. 

The firehouse was constructed to serve the growing Belmont neighborhood. After the consolidation of the five boroughs in 1898, the city’s professional firefighting service expanded. Many new firehouses were constructed in the city in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Around the turn of the century, more mechanized fire fighting equipment required newly created firehouses, like Engine Company 88’s, to accommodate both horses and mechanical equipment. 

Landmarks will hold a public hearing at a later date. 

By: Veronica Rose (Veronica is the CityLaw fellow and a New York Law School graduate, Class of 2018.)

LPC: Engine Company 88 Firehouse, LP-2669 (March 14, 2023.)