BADAHA, the Internet and Advocacy.
The second paragraph of the About page states our purpose.
“BronxArtDecoApartmentHouseArchive has been compiled to bring greater attention to these wonderful buildings and their gifted architects with the ultimate aim of expanding the scope of official recognition and protection that presently exists for them.”
Since BADAHA was launched in the Spring of 2024, here is a summary of its efforts to get noticed in the world of Building Landmarking/Preservation in New York City.
Historic Districts Council of NYC
Subsequently, BADAHA was invited to make a presentation to and become a member of the Bronx HDC Committee. Following that, HDC requested that BADAHA provide a class for their celebrated Preservation School series which would also include a brief history of the Art Deco style. Here is event announcement (https://hdc.org/events/preservation-school-art-deco-in-the-bronx/) & the YouTube recording of the Preservation School Class.
HDC have asked that BADAHA join the newly created Bronx Landmarks Committee. And we have also been asked to submit an application for HDC’s celebrated “Six to Celebrate” series for 2026. Needless to say we are delighted to participate in both.
Bronx County Historical Society
The success of the Walking Tour – Art Deco Beyond the Grand Concourse – sponsored by Bronx County Historical Society (https://bronxhistoricalsociety.org/) was an extremely pleasant surprise. 30 or so people responded to this BCHS announcement.
The new website https://www.talkteav.com/bronx-art-deco-walking-tour-badaha-bchs also helped with the turn out.
On hand to assist were Lowell Cochrane, (posting on Reddit as u/ArtDecoNewYork, see his help for BADAHA on Reddit below) and Brandon Mitchell who connected with BADAHA via HDC. Brandon has provided a substantial list of buildings that will be soon be added to the website. Thanks to them and BCHS’s Director of Education Roger McCormack for making the Walking Tour such a success.
Here is u/ArtDecoNewYork Reddit post about the Tour.
Compare the comments with those from Bronxites when it was cross posted to r/Bronx.
Some photos from the Tour.
Building on the success of this Walking Tour.
Part 11 was announced with this :
Apparently those that braved the rain enjoyed it:
https://www.instagram.com/p/DPzHrm_Dh_D/
More photos from Part 11.
We value BCHS for its encouragement of BADAHA and look forward to working with them for Part 111 of the Beyond the Concourse Walking Tour in the Spring of 2026.
East Bronx History Forum
BADAHA was pleased to be invited to give a lecture to the East Bronx History Forum
(https://www.instagram.com/p/DQyQlyUDSDy/). These buildings were discussed: https://badaha.org/search-archive/?tx_category=ebhf-presentation
The Riverdale Press
The Riverdale Press carried an article on the Tour.
BADAHA was also cited by the Riverdale Press in this article concerning the depressing loss of the original casement windows at 135 West 225th Street in Marble Hill.
In both articles the journalists mangled some of the facts but any exposure for BADAHA in the traditional media is a positive thing.
Art Deco Society of New York
In the Fall of 2024 former ADSNY Vice-President Anthony W. Robins (https://anthonywrobins.com/) facilitated, with the help of a summer intern, the transfer of data for 267 buildings listed in BADAHA that are not in the ADSNY Register of AD buildings. The Society does not have the resources to maintain and update the Register and to date the transferred addresses have not been entered in it.
ADSNY Board Member George Calderaro participated supportively in the BADAHA’s HDC Preservation School Zoom presentation and discussion. We hoped at that time that these interactions would lead to a more fruitful relationship and the endorsement by ADSNY of BADAHA’s agenda.
Since then we are delighted and honored to report that ADSNY (https://www.artdeco.org/)
has asked BADAHA to propose a Bronx Walking Tour for its members in the Spring of 2026. This has come about because Matt Postal, frequent guide for ADSNY’s famous Walking Tours and an esteemed architectural historian, was dispatched to attend Part 11 of the BCHS Beyond the Grand Concourse Walking Tour along Mosholu Parkway. Despite the lousy weather Matt’s report back to ADSNY’s President, Roberta Nusim, was so positive that she has invited us to set up the proposed tour. These are positive developments in our association with ADSNY.
Social Media Outreach.
Reddit has proved to be a much more useful and useable social media site than Instagram. BADAHA has posted as u/FormalLeft1719 (a name not of our choosing and ascribed to us by the Reddit Bot but no matter!) to the r/ArtDeco subReddit.
This is an all encompassing Art Deco page that covers any and all related fields : Architecture, Sculpture, Jewelry, Graphics, Automobiles, Fashion etc. A quick browse therein will give an idea of the range of subjects and the kind of posts that elicit the most enthusiastic responses. u/FormalLeft1719 has posted to other subReddits with no connection to BADAHA because life is simpler with one Reddit moniker.
The responses have mostly been positive but they do confirm that for the most part Redditors are no different from Instagram users in that their interest is mostly superficial. Most Comments reacting to the posts are confirmation of this. However there are those that display a knowledge and understanding of the subject and others with the clear desire to learn more about it. Here are a few of our posts for examples.
These have been compiled to emphasize Redditor’s preference for decorative and ornamental details in the architecture which generally receive more upvotes than those posts featuring the whole building, unless it is a truly spectacular building.
When the subject is more serious the Up Votes are conspicuously fewer.
The most encouraging and positive results of posting on Reddit have been from fellow Redditors who share our enthusiasm for Bronx Art Deco and have contributed valuable information to the site. Lowell Cochrane has found this wonderful BADAH at 785 Mace Avenue : https://badaha.org/785-mace-avenue-2/ as well as providing much useful information about buildings that have had their parapets removed. Unfortunately this has now been the fate for 785 Mace!
Look out also for Brandon Mitchell’s mportant new research that identifies architects for buildings outside the neighborhoods covered by Sullivan & Danforth and his new BADAH finds soon to be added.
BADAHA confesses to a certain naiveté regarding social media and was advised to have a presence on Instagram to increase visibility of the website. Photos from the Home Page Slide Show were posted at https://www.instagram.com/bronxartdeco and garnered a respectable response but it became clear the respondents were more interested in visual stimulation than engaging with the purpose of the site. It is galling to note how some postings are reposted without attribution and provoke a better response!
Although Instagram is immensely popular BADAHA does not find it to be very accessible or easy to navigate. Neither are we enamored by Meta, owner of Instagram. The subject based focus of r/ArtDeco on Reddit is more appropriate for BADAHA.
Summary
According to Google’s Analytics over 1,400 people have visited badaha.org despite Google taking more than a year to bring it up in its search engine!
Evidently some progress has been made in getting BADAHA noticed in various preservation organizations and social media sites. But not enough yet to for buildings from the “Should be Landmarked” list to be under consideration by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission.
The implementation of the LPC program is subject to severe political and real estate industry pressures. Recently departing Chair, Sarah Carroll, leaves with a mixed record after a long tenure. The existing LPC procedures are not conducive to rapid intervention when buildings like BADAHs are put at risk.
In the meantime nearly half a dozen parapets have been lost to NYC’s FISP Program. The list is depressing but we will keep plugging away for our agenda. Stay posted for any progress.