My Archive Summer 2019 “My great grandmother Adele Felitti (third adult from the left) and family in front of her father Dr. Pasquale Felitti's Italian "Farmacia Del Vesuvio" in East Harlem, 1916 (personal family photo). A neighborhood physician and much-revered friend to the community, Dr. Felitti succumbed to pneumonia on Christmas day 1915 not long before this photo was taken. Dr. Felitti saved the life of a newborn baby just days before his death, which was said to have hastened his decline. His grieving daughter Adele in part dealt with this by attending Columbia school of pharmacy, graduating in 1918 and becoming the pharmacist for the family business. She died when I was about 14 years old." —Conor Welch

My Archive Spring 2019 "The photo of the house is No. 405 East 114th Street in East Harlem, near the corner of East 114th and 1st Avenue. It was taken about 1906-1907. Dr. Pasquale Felitti and family, my great-great-grandfather, a neighborhood physician. He died tragically on Christmas Day 1915 of pneumonia. About a week earlier he braved snowy cold weather to save a mother in labor in the tenement next door and paid with his life. He saved the baby and mother. He left his wife and seven children, but all persisted and lived incredible lives." —Conor Welch

125th Street Branch, NYPL, July 18, 1928. Constructed as the Harlem Branch in 1904, the library on East 15th Street is a McKim, Mead & White building. It was given its current designation when a new library was named the Harlem Branch upon completion in 1909. (That branch is on West 124th Street.) The three-story facade is of an Italian Renaissance palazzo style. The semi- circular decorative sections over the second floor windows (called tympanum) depict iconography of classical architecture such as laurels and anchors. The one over the center window depicts a shield with part of the seal of the City of New York: a four-blade windmill (representing the Dutch settlers), two beavers, and two flour barrels (symbolizing the two most important exports of New Amsterdam: furs and flour).

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.

New York Public Library, 125th Street Branch ARCHITECT: McKim, Mead & White DATE: 1904 STYLE: Renaissance Revival McKim, Mead & White’s philosophy was that the libraries were designed to serve two purposes: to be specific to their neighborhood yet universal in character, and to be expressive of a municipal building type. The striking Renaissance Revival-style building is of the palazzo type. The building is clad in rusticated Indiana limestone and is three stories high and three bays wide. Large arched windows dominate the first floor with an entrance offset to the right with an arched glass transom above. The tall second-floor window openings are topped by arched decorative transom panels. The third floor has three small square windows that pierce the façade, creating a clerestory.

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.

My Archive Spring 2019 "Dr. Pasquale Felitti was my great-great-grandfather, a neighborhood physician. His pharmacy was at 2222 First Avenue. This photo was 1916 in front of the pharmacy, the building still stands today but is in rough shape. I wrote a nearly 1000 page book about this family, and there exists no other book like it on any Italian family from East Harlem. I'm very proud of the book, and even more proud to claim a family heritage connection to them." — Conor Welch

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.

125th Street approach to the Triborough Bridge, 1937.

My Archive Summer 2019 “This is my great-great-grandfather Pasquale Felitti's Italian Farmacia del Vesuvio at the corner of East 114th Street and 1st Avenue in East Harlem. Across the street is Jefferson Park, ca. 1910. I had the photo restored and color tinted, which adds vibrancy and energy to this once-thriving Italian community.” —Conor Welch

My Archive Spring 2019 "A photo in front of our house, Fourth of July 2007. Dan Evans in Uncle Sam tails, Roxana Evans, and Mugsy the dog." —Dan Evans