Parkchester is a planned community and neighborhood originally developed by the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company and located in the east Bronx, New York City. The immediate surrounding area also takes its name from the complex. Its boundaries, starting from the north and moving clockwise, are East Tremont Avenue to the north, Castle Hill Avenue to the east, Westchester Avenue to the south, East 177th Street/Cross Bronx Expressway to the southwest, and White Plains Road to the west. Metropolitan Avenue, Unionport Road, and White Plains Road are the primary thoroughfares through Parkchester.
The neighborhood is part of Bronx Community District 9 and is mostly located within ZIP Code 10462, with small sections in 10460 and 10461. The of the New York City Subway operate along Westchester Avenue. The neighborhood is patrolled by the New York City Police Department's 43rd Precinct. The privately owned housing complex is patrolled by the Parkchester Department of Public Safety.
History
The housing development has the same origins as Stuyvesant Town–Peter Cooper Village, and Riverton Houses in Manhattan, which were also originally developed and owned by MetLife. The name was later unofficially applied to the entire neighborhood surrounding the apartment complex. The name "Parkchester" itself was derived from the two neighborhoods on each side of the site of the housing development — Park VersaillesPollak, Michael. "F.Y.I.: A Key to the Past" (section: "Versailles in the Bronx"), The New York Times, January 30, 2009 and Westchester Heights. — Frattini, Dave. The Underground Guide to New York City Subways (Macmillan, 2000); , , p. 330The Columbia Gazetteer of North America (Columbia University Press, 2000), via Bartleby.com
MetLife displayed an intricate scale model of the proposed development at the 1939 New York World's Fair. The model showed all of the buildings and facilities, and was accurate down to inclusion of each of the 66,000 windows in the complex. The 51 groups of buildings were planned to house 12,000 families."Model Of Housing Displayed At Fair; Metropolitan Life's Project in Bronx to Be Known as 'Parkchester'; Site Linked To History; Fifty-one Groups of Apartment Buildings Will House 12,000 Families", The New York Times, May 5, 1939. p. 47
The Parkchester residential development was originally designed and operated as a self-contained rental community for middle-class white families new to home ownership. MetLife chairman Frederick H. Ecker said that Black renters were excluded because "Negroes and whites don't mix."
It was built from 1939 to 1942 (despite emergency building restrictions during World War II) on the farmland of the New York Catholic Protectory, a home for orphaned and troubled boys conducted by the Brothers of the Christian Schools, which relocated to Lincolndale, Westchester County, where it still exists. Macy's opened their first branch store after their 34th Street flagship store in Parkchester in 1941.Weisbrod, Bill. "Macy’s: Parkchester store staying put", Bronx Times, November 16, 2011. Accessed March 9, 2021. "The Parkchester Macy's opened in 1941. It was the department store’s second location, after its original store on 34th street in Midtown. It is about 175,000 square feet and underwent a renovation in the early 2000s."
The Fair Housing Act, enacted in April 1968, prohibited discrimination in renting, which, along with mounting pressure from the NAACP and other groups, forced a change in policy. In the face of charges by the New York City Commission on Human Rights that Metropolitan Life had been engaging in "deliberate, intentional and systematic" racial discrimination and claims that Parkchester had rented only 25 apartments to Black or Hispanic tenants in its history, Metropolitan Life agreed to open rentals without considering racial backgrounds at Parkchester and its other apartment complexes.Fried, Joseph P. "3 Projects Move to Admit Negores; Metropolitan Life Agrees to Seek Puerto Ricans, Too, After Charge of Bias", The New York Times, July 19, 1968. Accessed March 5, 2026. "One of the city's biggest landlords, the Metropolitan Life Insurance Company, said yesterday that it would provide more opportunities for Negroes and Puerto Ricans to move into three of its major apartment developments. The City Commission on Human Rights had charged the company with 'deliberate, intentional and systematic' exclusion of such persons from Stuyvesant Town and Peter Cooper Village on Manhattan's East Side and Parkchester in the Bronx. The following steps designed to alter racial and ethnic imbalances were announced: New applications will be accepted and will be 'considered simultaneously' with those on existing lists 'without regard' to race or national origin.... The commission's complaint had said that only 25 Negroes and Puerto Ricans had ever been rented apartments in the 27-year-old Parkchester, which, with 12,271 apartments, is the nation's largest completed apartment development."
In 1974, approximately one-third of the complex was converted to condominiums, with the remaining portion, now Parkchester South Condominium converted later, in 1986. The complex is best known for its broad, tree-lined walkways between the distinctive red-brown buildings, and for its Works Progress Administration-style terracotta decorations on the buildings, that represent animal and human figures of many types. Many of these are the work of sculptor Joseph Kiselewski.
In 2015 Parkchester celebrated its 75th anniversary with a family event on the Parkchester North Ball Field.Wirsing, Robert (August 14–20, 2015), "Parkchester celebrates 75th", Bronx Times Reporter, p. 14.
In August 2024, the New York City Council voted to rezone 46 city blocks in Parkchester, Van Nest, and Morris Park, around the Metro-North Railroad's Parkchester/Van Nest and Morris Park stations, as part of the Penn Station Access project. The city government also promised to spend $500 million on infrastructure upgrades around these stations. The rezoning was intended to encourage development around these stations. As a result, up to 7,000 housing units could be constructed in the three neighborhoods.
Demographics Based on data from the 2020 United States Census, the population of the Parkchester neighborhood tabulation area was 33,602, an increase of 3,781 (12.7%) from the 29,821 counted in 2010. Covering an area of , the neighborhood had a population density of .Table PL-P5 NTA: Total Population and Persons Per Acre - New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010, Population Division - New York City Department of City Planning, February 2012. Accessed June 16, 2016.
The racial makeup of the neighborhood was 35.1% (11,788) African American, 25.4% (8,550) Asian, 2.7% (907) Non-Hispanic White, 1.4% (479) from other races, and 2.4% (795) from two or more races. Hispanic or Latino of any race were 33.0% (11,083) of the population.Table PL-P3A NTA: Total Population by Mutually Exclusive Race and Hispanic Origin - New York City Neighborhood Tabulation Areas*, 2010, Population Division - New York City Department of City Planning, March 29, 2011. Accessed June 14, 2016.
The Parkchester apartment complex has a total residential population over 25,000 and a population density over 125,000 people per sq mi. It includes a significant South Asian population: Pakistani, Bangladeshi, Indian, including Catholics, Muslims, and Hindus. There are also a number of Italian, Polish, Irish, Eritrean and Albanian residents. Asian residents include Thais, Chinese, Japanese, Vietnamese, Filipinos, Burmese, and Cambodians. Parkchester also is home to a large and longstanding population of Puerto Ricans, like Luis R. Sepulveda who represents the area in the New York State Assembly and has his office on Westchester Avenue. Parkchester has one of the highest concentrations of Puerto Ricans in New York City, as is it situated between Soundview and Castle Hill, which are also notable for having a significantly denser Puerto Rican population in comparison to other parts of the Bronx or the city as a whole. While the population is approximately over 38% African American and 30% Latino, the complex once had a whites-only policy. The resident population of the Parkchester apartment complex reflects a broad age distribution and the changing ethnic makeup of the Bronx.
The entirety of Bronx Community District 9, which comprises Bronx River, Castle Hill, Clason Point, Harding Park, Parkchester, Soundview, and Unionport, had 188,249 inhabitants with an average life expectancy of 79.7 years. This is about the same as the median life expectancy of 81.2 for all New York City neighborhoods. Most inhabitants are youth and middle-aged adults: 25% are between the ages of between 0–17, 29% between 25–44, and 24% between 45–64. The ratio of college-aged and elderly residents was lower, at 10% and 12% respectively.
As of 2017, the median household income in Bronx Community District 9 was $40,005.
In 2018, an estimated 26% of Bronx Community District 9 residents lived in poverty, compared to 25% in all of the Bronx and 20% in all of New York City. One in eight residents (13%) were unemployed, compared to 13% in the Bronx and 9% in New York City. Rent burden, or the percentage of residents who have difficulty paying their rent, is 55% in Bronx Community District 9, compared to the boroughwide and citywide rates of 58% and 51% respectively. Based on this calculation, , Bronx Community District 9 is considered low-income relative to the rest of the city and not gentrifying.
Land use
The Parkchester complex is composed of 171 four-sided brick buildings, either eight or 13 stories in height and numbered M (for Main) through 7 and M through 12, respectively. The 13 story buildings have dual elevators positioned side-by-side, while the eight-story buildings only have one. Some buildings even have Terrace-level apartments that are located on the ground floor and noted by the T in front of the apartment letter, i.e., TA, TB, etc. These apartments differ from all others in the community in that they have an additional screened door in the living room section of the apartment that leads out onto a concrete patio where tenants usually put patio/lawn furniture.
The surrounding area, commonly referred to as "Parkchester", is dominated by multi-unit buildings unrelated to Parkchester complex. 78.4% of housing units are renter occupied. Retail locations are interspersed throughout the neighborhood as well as along Starling Avenue, McGraw Avenue, Metropolitan Avenue, Tremont Avenue, Unionport Road, and White Plains Road; the latter four streets are considered the backbones of the area.
Points of interest include: American Theater, formerly Loews American, established in 1939, operated by Bow Tie Cinemas as a seven-screen multiplex until it closed in 2013. Converted to a Marshall's store. Macy's Department Store, with of selling space, opened in October 1941 as the company's first branch store."Macy Branch To Open; 5,000 Attend Preview of New Store in Parkchester", The New York Times, October 12, 1941. Accessed March 9, 2021. Zaro's Bakery, established in 1959, temporarily closed in 2015, reopened in 2017 close to its original location.
A prominent feature of Parkchester is the Bangla Bazaar located throughout Olmstead Avenue, Odell Street, Purdy Street, and Castle Hill Avenue. The long stretch of blocks are occupied by businesses owned by Bangladeshis.