By Bill Dowling, Former Co-chair of The Bronxville Historical Conservancy and a Past President of the Lawrence Park Hilltop Association

Nov. 25, 2015:  A historic brick road on the Lawrence Park Hilltop came one step closer to being restored this week when 36,500 bricks arrived at Bronxville Village Hall. The new bricks are for the rebuilding of a portion of Park Avenue leading down from Wellington Circle. The restoration of the brick roadway was approved by the village trustees last September after a campaign by The Bronxville Historical Conservancy to prevent the road from being paved over with tarmac.

The Conservancy found a small brick maker, Colonial Bricks, in Cayuga, Indiana, that was able to make handmade bricks in the same size and shape as the original bricks that were used in the roadway at the turn of the last century. The only difference is that they are a light rose color, much like the bricks on Valley near Red Oak Road. There was no more yellow clay available. The Conservancy funded the manufacture of the bricks.

The village's contractor has already removed the old brick road and the department of public works has sorted and stored those bricks for future use on other Hilltop roads. Con Ed should finish installing a new gas line in the roadway this week. The contractor should finish the underground drainage work, including the installation of several new catch basins to properly capture storm water runoff (unlike the original road), by the end of the month. 

Jim Palmer, Bronxville village administrator, said he hopes the road base work, including new granite curbing, can be completed in December and the base paved after that. Laying of the bricks, however, will depend on weather and may not occur until spring.

This has been a textbook example of Bronxville Village, The Bronxville Historical Conservancy, and the Lawrence Park Hilltop Association working together to preserve the legacy of this historic village.

Pictured here: The Park Avenue construction site where the bricks are soon to go (top) and the stacks of rose-colored bricks that will be laid there.
 
Photos by A. Warner