Image Credit: Bronx Borough President
The Cottage is one of 101 projects the Borough President has provided capital dollars for this year. On August 14, 2019, Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. announced that he will provide the Edgar Allen Poe cottage with $450,000 in capital funding through his 2020 Fiscal Year budget. Poe Cottage, built in 1812, is known for being horror writer Edgar Allen Poe’s final home. The Cottage is now a historic house museum and is a New York City and State landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
The Borough President’s allocation will fund the installation of the Cottage’s roof, exterior woodwork, and its exterior masonry.
Poe Cottage will also be receiving funds from the City Council for upgrades. Upgrades include an accessible entrance to the structure and reconstruction of the surrounding landscape including planting, pavement and fencing.
This year, Borough President Diaz has provided $31,477,000 in total capital dollars to 101 different projects, including the Cottage.
Since taking office in 2009, Borough President Diaz has allocated $65,496,400 towards 83 Parks Department projects and $303,374,000 in total capital funding to 905 projects.
Bronx Borough President Ruben Diaz Jr. stated, “The Edgar Allen Poe Cottage is an important piece of living history in The Bronx. In the constantly changing landscape of our city, Poe Cottage is an anchor to another time and a tribute to one of the most consequential writers who ever lived. I am proud to contribute to the conservation of this cultural gem so that we never lose our connection to the great Bronxites of the past.”
Bronx Borough Historian Lloyd Ultan stated, “It is important that the cottage be preserved because it is the only home that Poe lived that is still standing. It is where his beloved wife died and where he wrote The Cask of Amontillado and the poems, ‘The Bells,’ and, ‘Annabel Lee.’ Preserving the past preserves our heritage, and it must be passed down to future generations as our legacy to them.”
By: May Vutrapongvatana (May is the CityLaw Fellow and New York Law School Graduate, Class of 2019).