Saint Paul Roman Catholic Church ARCHITECT: Neville & Bagge DATE: 1907-08 STYLE: Romanesque Revival, Church Saint Paul Roman Catholic Church, completed in 1908, is significant as an excellent example of the late Romanesque Revival style. Designed by the firm of Neville & Bagge, the facade incorporates both medieval and classical features. It is also historically significant as one of the earliest Roman Catholic parishes in Manhattan, serving the East Harlem neighborhood since 1834. Dominating the street facade are symmetrical corner towers, an extraordinary row of five entry portals, and large round-arch stained-glass windows with simple geometric tracery. These dramatic windows on the front and side facades figure prominently in the design and their construction was facilitated by the building’s structural use of steel and concrete. Typical Romanesque Revival features include round-arch openings, towers, steep roofs, and carved medieval-style ornamentation.

232 East 113th Street William Schickel & Co. 1886 Though it was built when East Harlem was largely rural, Our Lady Queen of Angels is located on a hidden cul-de-sac within NYCHA’s Jefferson Houses. The charming neo-Romanesque structure, flanked on either side by a convent and rectory, was constructed at the request of New York Archbishop Corrigan for East Harlem’s German immigrant population. It is known for its association with Father Bonaventure Frey, co-founder of the Capuchin Franciscan Catholic Order in the United States. Frey, an important figure in the Catholic Church, was given the task of building the church and its congregation, acting as Superior in the church’s infancy. Due to a lack of priests and declining attendance, and despite opposition from parishioners and elected officials, the Archdiocese closed dozens of churches in the region, including this one, in 2007. Its school remains open, but despite popular support for preservation, the future of the church itself is uncertain.

In 1837, the New York and Harlem Railroad extended its Fourth Avenue (now Park Avenue) tracks to Harlem. In 1872, the tracks south of 98th Street were sunk below ground to reduce their street-level impact, and in 1874, a brownstone viaduct was built where the tracks emerged above ground (later the line continued northward with the construction of a steel viaduct). The viaduct, which, from 102nd to 110th Streets, allows vehicular and pedestrian crossing via rounded archways, had a lasting impact on the neighborhood. While the grand rowhouses west of Mount Morris Park (now Marcus Garvey Park) thrived, those to the east were replaced with subsidized housing. Beneath the tracks from 111th to 116th Streets is La Marqueta, a marketplace that originally served as an informal gathering place for pushcart vendors until the city officially sanctioned it in 1936. Around that time, Mayor Fiorello LaGuardia waged war against the city’s pushcarts, which were widely believed to be a traffic menace and sanitation hazard. La Marqueta became one of several enclosed markets operated by the city, with merchants renting stalls. It reached its apex in the 1950s and 1960s with over 500 vendors, and was an important cultural hub for the neighborhood’s Hispanic population. After decades of decline, the City Council allocated $3 million to revitalize the market in 2014.

Aguilar Branch, NYPL, 1928. The Aguilar Free Library was a library structure built between 1898 and 1899 in an Art Nouveau style by the architecture firm Herts & Tallant. The firm was well-known for their work on theaters. Largely funded through the philanthropic support of Grace Aguilar, a popular British novelist and essayist of Sephardic Jewish descent, the Free Library merged with NYPL in 1903. In 1904 the same architecture firm extensively renovated (and nearly tripled in size) the original building. Funded by the Carnegie bequest the new library had an exaggerated classical style with two massive columns flanking the three-story facade. This feature and the iron and glass structure that fills in most of the rest of the facade, this branch is distinctive among the Carnegie libraries.

Welcome! This is a digital tour companion for our 2024 Jane's Walk tour on May 4th, 2024, led by Kathy Benson-Haskins, co-founder of Landmark East Harlem (landmarkeastharlem.org). For those who don’t know, Jane’s Walk is a global festival of volunteer-led walks inspired by urbanist Jane Jacobs and occurs annually during the first weekend in May. And the Municipal Art Society of NY hosts the largest of the fests right here in New York City—this year some 165 tours over the three days. This walk focuses on the original village of Nieuw Haarlem, established by the Dutch in 1658 when New York was New Amsterdam. We are currently standing two blocks south of the village center, but I wanted to start here because there are two interesting sites that I want you to see beforehand. The first is one of the three most recent buildings to be designated New York City landmarks.

Accident on Lexington Avenue at the intersection of 121st Street, July 21, 1915.

Storefront law offices in East Harlem, May 18, 1938. These law offices, run by the two sons of founder David Flam, occupied 165 East 121st Street for 25 years. Located directly across the street from the Harlem Courthouse, the firm offered an array of court-related services. A variant image shows two lawyers, perhaps the brothers Flam, standing at the front door. Abbott rejected this version, however, in which the men detracted from the colorful names stenciled on the plate glass. Only weeks after Abbott’s photograph, the firm moved to larger quarters at 181 East 121st Street. Today no. 165 is an overgrown vacant lot, and the rest of the block is largely abandoned. The imposing courthouse, built in 1891 and long neglected, was granted landmark status in 1967 and is under renovation.

While the vast majority of people experiencing homelessness in New York City reside in homeless shelters there are reasons why this isn't a viable option for some: Safety Concerns: Fear of violence or theft within crowded and shelter environments. Mental Health Challenges: Mental health conditions may be exacerbated by the chaotic and crowded nature of shelters Bureaucratic Hurdles: Complex intake processes are not always accessible to people who lack documentation/identification requirements or the capacity to understand these hurdles Loss of Autonomy: Shelters often have strict rules and regulations, limiting personal freedom and autonomy. Maximum Capacity: Shelters are frequently either overcrowded or declared full. While not devoid of all of the issues prominent in homeless shelters, alternative spaces of refuge, have offered many people, Consistent communities of people whom they trust, Safety by means of public the mutual surveillance that occurs on streets and sidewalks A greater degree of autonomy and less strict regulation than a facility would require. For most, these places of refuge would be subway stations or sidewalks in proximity to prominent buildings. There are unique locations that have been consistent spaces of refuge embedded in communities and in proximity to historical landmarks. As the city battles the surmounting housing crisis, it can be easy to dismiss the issue due to lack of space. However, there are parts of the city that have been enveloped in history and can provide a substantial amount of real estate to accommodate a few hundred that have resorted to squatting or sleeping on the streets. While systemic change is necessary, the following examples of unusual spaces that have paved the way to affordable housing can provide a refreshed perspective. This City Story will engage with the subject of alternative places for refuge by exploring 3 locations in New York that are/have been used as such.

Former Italian Savings Bank 204 East 116th Street Designed by C. P. H. Gilbert 1923 Presently the R. G. Ortiz Funeral Home, this handsome structure was originally the Italian Savings Bank, whose name was engraved in the limestone façade where the funeral home’s name is now located. The building, which has undergone some alterations, was designed by noted architect Cass Gilbert, whose many commissions include the Woolworth Building in Lower Manhattan. The former bank, resembling a triumphal Roman arch, stands as one of many reminders of East Harlem’s formerly sizable Italian immigrant population.

ST. PAUL’S RC CHURCH, MANHATTAN Address: 121 East 117th Street (aka 115-125 East 117th Street) Constructed: 1907-08 Architect: Neville & Bagge This grand church and school were designed by the noted firm of Neville & Bagge in the Romanesque Revival style of brick clad in Indiana limestone. In addition to commanding a strong presence on East 117th Street, the complex provides an important spiritual and cultural link to East Harlem’s past. The parish of St. Paul’s was established in 1834 to serve the northern reaches of the city, when Harlem was sparsely populated and rural, and bears the distinction of being one of the city’s first Roman Catholic churches. The present structures replaced the earlier church and school buildings, which were located roughly on the same site.

151 East 116th Street Henry Devoe 1870 Since 1948, Casa Latina has sold sheet music and instruments to patrons from all over the city. In addition to being the longest-running music store in East Harlem, it also bears the distinction of being the nation’s first Spanish-language music store. Its founder, Bartolo Alvarez, was a Puerto Rican musician and record executive. The business moved to this location in 1962 and its colorful storefront has been a neighborhood icon and an important meeting place ever since. The building in which the store resides was built in 1870 as one in a row of brownstones, and has been heavily altered over the years.

(Henry C. Pelton, 1937) This grand brick, limestone and granite structure was the first city-owned and citybuilt health facility in Manhattan, authorized by Mayor LaGuardia and funded by the Public Works Administration. It was built to provide health clinics, hygiene services and health education for students and the broader public. The structure resembles a classical temple rendered in the streamlined Art Deco style, its vertical brick panels standing in for columns and its wide brick band inscribed with the words “DEPARTMENT OF HEALTH CITY OF NEW YORK” standing in as its pediment. The two-story rooftop and western annex additions likely date to the 1950s.

Our Lady Queen of Angels Church 232 East 113th Street Designed by William Schickel & Co. 1886 Though it was built when East Harlem was largely rural, Our Lady Queen of Angels is located on a hidden cul-de-sac within NYCHA’s Jefferson Houses. The charming neo-Romanesque structure, flanked on either side by a convent and rectory, was constructed at the request of New York Archbishop Corrigan for East Harlem’s German immigrant population. It is known for its association with Father Bonaventure Frey, co-founder of the Capuchin Franciscan Catholic Order in the United States. Frey, an important figure in the Catholic Church, was given the task of building the church and its congregation, acting as Superior in the church’s infancy. Due to a lack of priests and declining attendance, and despite opposition from parishioners and elected officials, the Archdiocese closed dozens of churches in the region, including this one, in 2007. Its school remains open, but despite popular support for preservation, the future of the church itself is uncertain.