Most of the grand Hunts Point, Bronx, estates disappeared in the early 20th Century. Peter Hoe’s magnificent Sunnyslope on Faile Street and Lafayette Avenue, a Gothic Revival extravaganza built in 1860, is still standing. The Hoe family business was printing; Peter’s brother, Colonel Richard Hoe, invented the rotary printing press. The Hoe family was revered enough that in 1897, a series of streets in Longwood cut through Richard Hoe’s estate, Brightside, was named for them: Hoe Avenue, Aldus Street and Guttenberg Street. The most famous name, Guttenberg, was renamed East 165th; Aldus Street is named for 16th Century Venetian printer Aldus Manutius. Aldus, an early name in computer printing software, sold its Pagemaker program to Adobe, Inc. in the 1990s.
Sunnyslope was originally built on land belonging to William Gilbert. Its asymmetrical graystone construction is said to be derivative of some of the houses and cottages Calvert Vaux, co-architect of Central and Prospect Park, was producing at the time it was built. It became a synagogue in 1919 and most recently has been the home of African Methodist Episcopal Bright Temple.
2/8/14