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.

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.

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.

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.

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

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.

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

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.