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Today, Google Maps is showing that building and the one to the north of it as the Russian Diplomatic Compound and the Russian Mission School, respectively.
Back in the day, a Good Humor truck and a Bungalo Bar truck would park outside of the Riverdale Neighborhood House (RNH) on Mosholu Avenue around lunch time to supply the boys and girls of P.S.81 with good tasting treats. That whole section opposite RNH was just woods. I remember the first construction beginning down the road on that side when I graduated in 1950.
The swings, slides, monkey bars and merry-go-round that were so much fun to play on, between the school and RNH, are long gone. No more dangerous, unsupervised outdoor fun for our little boys and girls.
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This article has some good background about the site: https://www.lehman.edu/vpadvance/artgallery/arch/buildings/Russian_mission.html
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Is there any published information on how zoning laws allowed this monstrosity to be built in a low-rise residential neighborhood where it’s totally out of scale with its surroundings?
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According to this New York Times article from 1974, the project was exempt from zoning laws as a diplomatic enclave. The article has more details about the construction process. It also mentions a friendly reception from neighbors, including Riverdale Country School: https://www.nytimes.com/1974/06/17/archives/russian-building-going-up-form-the-top-down-the-construction.html
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Interesting is the fact that they build their building like they run their country, from the top down.
Years ago there were articles that the building was in poor shape, and they wanted to take it down and rebuild it and few other buildings in its place but believe it was not approved by NYC.
It should also be remembered that it was built for the USSR – the United Soviet Socialist Republic that consisted of 14 countries when the USSR fell apart at end of Dec. 1991 it now only contains Russia. The building holds diplomats (and spies) that support the U.N. Every day you will see large, unmarked buses leave in the morning and return at night. The countries which made up the USSR were: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Estonia, Georgia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan,Latvia , Lithuania, Moldova, Russia, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan , Ukraine (which Russia is trying to get back today!) and Uzbekistan.
I like to kid that you can still notice these other former USSR country staff still in Riverdale as the women are the ones wearing winter boots in the warm weather and you can tell our Russian ‘comrades’ from the Mission building by their dour unsmiling faces. Seeing what just happened to Navalny you know why they don’t smile.
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The FBI also had offices to watch and listen in on transmission at the Russian building from an apartment on ground floor of 5200 Fieldston Rd across from the Russian mission. They also owned a private house across the street right next to the Russian Mission. This private house was knocked down 8-10 years ago after being purchased by a Jewish temple as the site for a new temple. Nothing has ever been built on this site.
Have to wonder who is listening or monitoring the Russian mission these days.
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