Not So Matchy-Matchy: Poe Cottage And Its New Visitors Center

Edgar Allan Poe's old home in the Bronx is shockingly still standing, but the circa-1812 cottage is need of some help to keep it that way. The Real Deal has the latest regarding the writer's old digs, including these renderings of the new (still not complete!) Poe Park Visitor Center. Oddly, it is metallic, gray, angular, and modern—as the site reports, the architect "was not interested in contextualism. Nothing could possibly look more foreign to these parts, either to the nearby wooden cottage or to the fin de siecle and art deco buildings that predominate in this area of the Bronx."

Will the 2,700-square-foot center get more people to the corner of 192nd Street and Kingsbridge Road? It might, in conjunction with the extensive repair work the cottage is undergoing. After all, according to this Poe fan, it's the safest of his homes to visit (allegedly his Philadelphia and Baltimore homes are in "pretty rough neighborhoods"—though you can always visit the facade of his Manhattan apartment).

Fun fact: Poe paid $100 a year for the house and the two acre property surrounding it.