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234 West 131st Street
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234 West 131st Street, ca. 1932.
565 Manhattan Avenue
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Sydenham Hospital, 1925. Sydenham opened as a private hospital in a Harlem brownstone in 1892. The hospital served mostly African-American patients who lived in the neighborhood. To meet the needs of its growing community, Sydenham moved to West 125th Street and Lenox Avenue in 1924. Though Harlem was a largely African-American neighborhood, the staff of the hospital was reported to be all-white in 1944; likely due to the fact that discrimination within the medical community left little to no opportunities for African American healthcare professionals. To amend this, the hospital employed a desegregation policy, which was radical at the time. Sydenham hired twenty African Americans to its staff and brought six African Americans onto its Board, making it the first full-service hospital to hire black physicians. By 1947, the New York Times wrote that it was "praised...for its inter-racial activities...an example for the entire world," by Eleanor Roosevelt, who spoke at a fundraiser on behalf of the hospital. After the fundraiser, the director Dr. Sigmund L. Friedman made the statement that Sydenham was "the best place to prove that race, creed, and color have no importance in the hospital." The fundraiser that Mrs. Roosevelt spoke at was just one of many attempts to keep the hospital fiscally afloat. Throughout its existence, Sydenham was ridden with money problems. Finally bending to financial strain in 1949, the hospital was transferred from private ownership to New York City's municipal hospital system, though it allowed private patients to continue seeing doctors at Sydenham to "preserve the interracial practice of the hospital." In 1979, Sydenham Hospital became the center of a massive walk-out staged by the Committee for Interns and Residents. When Ed Koch took office as the Mayor in 1977, he reduced city spending on all municipal hospitals. Two hospitals in Harlem, Sydenham and Metropolitan, were slated for closure. Harlem was a "medically underserved area," and the two public hospitals were vital for the community's wellbeing. Additionally, Sydenham's sickle cell anemia clinic, led by Florence Gaynor, was of importance to the medical community at large. Unfortunately, countless public rallies and demonstrations were ignored by the city and in 1980, the city officially closed Sydenham. The hospital was subsequently occupied by "The People's Administration," for 10-days of protest, who brought national attention to the importance of the hospital. Sydenham's demise provided a cautionary lesson. In 1998, reflecting on the changing terrain of public healthcare in New York City, Sharon Lerner wrote in the Village Voice: "The Sydenham blunder paved the way for today’s more clandestine approach to hospital downsizing, in which the city reduces its contribution to the Health and Hospitals Corporation and the agency is thereby ”forced” to make cuts to the public hospitals."
H.C.F. Koch & Company Building
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H. C. F. Koch & Company Department, ca. 1891. C. F. Koch & Company was established in 1860 in Greenwich Village as a purveyor of dry good and "fancy good." The business successful moved uptown to the Ladies Mile shopping district by the 1870s. Shocking their competitors in the neighborhood, Koch announced that they would close their 20th Street store for a move to Harlem in 1890. The Harlem building, designed by architect William H. Hume, was a five-story shopping emporium. Opened in 1891, the store sold its previous ware but, according to a contemporary article, also offered "a full line of millinery, china and glassware, bedding and furniture, shoes, boys’ clothing, etc." The building also featured passenger elevators, electric lighting, and a pneumatic tube cash system. The store remained successful through the mid 1920s but suffered as the neighborhood demographics shifted in the late 1920s and early 1930s. They closed in 1932 after the founder passed away. Somewhat surprisingly though the 1891 building remains on 125th Street looking very much like it must have 125 years ago.
L.M. Blumstein Department Store
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L.M. Blumstein department store, 125th Street. March 21, 1954. Louis Blumstein, a German Immigrant, opened a department store on West 125th Street in 1898. Over the next two decades, the street continued to develop into an uptown shopping district. Blumstein died in 1920, but his family pressed on with expansion plans, breaking ground on a new, eight-story building in 1921. The hybrid Art Nouveau-Art Deco structure stretched the entire block between 124th and 125th Streets and made extensive use of copper ornamentation on its main facade. As African-American families moved to Harlem in greater numbers, the entirely white sales staff at Blumstein’s became a point of tension in the neighborhood. In 1934, the Citizens’ League For Fair Play organized a successful boycott of the store, leading to a change in its hiring practices. In 1943, Blumstein’s became the first department store to feature black mannequins and a black Santa Claus as part of its holiday programming. On September 20, 1958, Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. was stabbed at a book signing held at Blumstein’s. Izola Curry stabbed the civil rights leader with a letter opener, nearly piercing his aorta. A bystander wisely cautioned onlookers not to remove the letter opener, lest it cause damage on the way out, likely saving King’s life. The Blumstein family sold the building in 1976.
Hotel Theresa
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Hotel Theresa ARCHITECT: George & Edward Blum DATE: 1912-13 STYLE: Terra-cotta The Theresa entered the national limelight in 1960 when Cuban premier Fidel Castro chose to stay at the hotel while visiting New York to speak at the United Nations General Assembly; while at the Theresa, Castro hosted a visit from Soviet premier Nikita Khrushchev. The Hotel Theresa, built in 1912-13, is significant in the history of Harlem, America’s most prominent African-American community, as one of the most important social centers of that community. It is a major work by the noted architectural firm of George & Edward Blum, exemplifying this firm’s singular approach to ornamentation and inventive use of terra-cotta.
161 West 129th Street
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161 West 129th Street, ca. 1932.
Salem Methodist Episcopal Church
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Salem United Methodist Church, not dated. The Salem United Methodist Church was founded in 1881 as a mission church of a larger congregation. The community first met in a storefront and then a private home. By 1908 Salam was recognized as a separate church from St. Mark's Methodist Episcopal. By the 1920s the congregation had grown to more than 600 and the chapel and meeting rooms used by the parish in brownstones at 133rd Street and Lenox Avenue were no longer sufficient. The congregation moved into this building at 129th Street in 1924. The Calvary Methodist Episcopal Church had moved to the Bronx and sold this late 1880s-built Romanesque Revival church. Between 1908 and 1948 Salem was led by Rev. Frederick A. Cullen, pastor, activist, and adoptive father of poet Countee Cullen. It was here that Cullen married Yolande Du Bois, daughter of W.E.B. Du Bois in 1928. The wedding was a major social event in the history of the Harlem Renaissance. The opera singer Marian Anderson was also a congregant. In the 1950s, the community undertook an interior restoration that honored the historic character of the building but included new floors, organ, pews, and heating and cooling infrastructure. Today the church remains the home of the Salem United Methodist Church.
407 West 130th Street
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407 West 130th Street, unknown date.
Winfield Scott Hancock Statue
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The Winfield Scott Hancock Statue commemorates the United States Army Officer and presidential nominee who fought in numerous wars including the Mexican War, Seminole War, and Civil War. The Board of Aldermen dedicated this recently acquired plot of land to the war hero in 1886. Sculptor James Wilson Alexander MacDonald likely based this piece on a plaster mask taken of Hancock the year he ran for president. A smaller casting is part of the Metropolitan Museum of Art's collection.
Hotel Theresa
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"Settling in for what they initially assumed would be a temporary stay at Harlem’s Theresa Hotel, Anna and Merritt \[Hedgeman] set about looking for employment and permanent housing… The Theresa offered a suite of rooms at a reasonable rate, a central location, and a bit of celebrity. The stately white terra cotta and brick hotel had only recently opened its doors to black guests, but now a bevy of black entertainers, artists, and socialites called the “Waldorf of Harlem” home… The tallest building in Harlem, standing on the corner of 125th Street and 7th Avenue, now Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard, and near Frank’s Restaurant, the Apollo Theater, the Harlem Opera House, the African Memorial National Bookstore, and Blumstein’s Department Store, the Theresa literally offered a window on Harlem’s political, social, and cultural life. Anna and Merritt would become two of the hotel’s high-profile residents, a group that included writer Zora Neale Hurston, socialite Grace Nail Johnson, Negro Yearbook editor Florence Murray, and entertainer Bill 'Bojangles' Robinson." For more on the social world at Harlem's Theresa, check out this article by Jennifer Scanlon on the forgotten civil rights pioneer Anna Hedgeman in Gotham: A Blog for Scholars of New York City History.
2240 Adam Clayton Powell Jr Blvd
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The Wishing Tree was originally located in front of the Lafayette Theater on 7th Ave and 132nd Street. In the 1920s and 1930s, 7th Avenue was commonly called the "Boulevard of Dreams" by Harlem residents, as it was lined with prominent performance venues. Reportedly, before performances, actors, musicians and the like would touch the branches and bark of this tree for good luck on stage. The tree was a symbol of promise for Harlem. Unfortunately, the good-fortune granting shrub was chopped down by the Parks Department in 1934 to widen the Avenue, and sections of it were cut up and sold to private hands. Seeking to preserve the public tradition of the lucky charm, Bill "Bojangles" Robinson saved the stump and brought it at a nearby traffic island. The "replanting" ceremony was attended by over 5,000 Harlem residents, who led a "rhythmic planting" in homage to the music industry the tree served. Even Mayor LaGuardia attended the ceremony. A young sapling was planted at the original location of the Wishing Tree, but hope-seekers continued to visit the stump. Soon, a plaque was laid in front of it, which read "The Original Tree of Hope Beloved by Citizens of Harlem." On November 13th, 1934, the New York Daily News interviewed a few visitors to the newly-minted Wishing Tree. Here are their accounts: George A. Seward, of West 132nd Street, unemployed at the time: "My wish is for tolerance among men and between races. We would all be happier if we could live together without hate or prejudice, each man respecting the other's rights and feelings. If you let me make another wish, I'll make a wish for a good job." Miss Margaret G. Jackson of West 143rd Street, a homemaker: "I've just made a wish and that's a good one, brother. I wish that prosperity will return soon to Harlem, like we used to have it five or six years ago. This Wishing Tree was planted in bad times, and if things go by opposites I will get my wish." Edward M. Fentress, of Seventh Avenue, mortician: "To be able to minister to my fellow men. In particular, I want to minister to the aged and infirm and to children. Boy, how I love the little pickaninnies! Everybody does, and I'm also wishing that we will have a fine playground for them somewhere in Harlem." Miss Peg Buckhoy of West 138th Street, a dancer: "$1,000,000 in cash. Just watch my smoke when my wish comes true. It's bound to come true, because this is the Wishing Tree, and that's what they planted it in Harlem for. I'll give Bill Robinson $1,000 a night to teach me the secret of his dancing, although I'm some dancer myself." Mrs. Roberta T. Williams, of West 143rd Street, a homemaker: This Wishing Tree is new in Harlem, and I've come here to wish that every person who makes a wish her will have his or her wish granted. I'm coming again tomorrow to make another wish, and then I'm wishing that I will always continue to look young enough to be mistaken for my daughter's sister." J.W. Stewart, West 128th Street, steward: "I'm wishing for money and plenty of it. With money I can have all the friends in the world and do anything I want to do. Without it there are few friends and very little liberty. People say that money isn't everything in the world, but try to do something without it." The Wishing Tree has since been removed, but a commemorative sculpture, titled "Tree of Hope III," by Harlem artist Algernon Miller, takes its place. A portion of the original stump can be visited in the Apollo Theater.
Hancock Park
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Hancock Park was dedicated to war hero Winfield Scott Hancock in 1886 by the New York City Board of Aldermen. The board gained possession of this property the year of Hancock's death and saw fit to celebrate the decorated general. The Coalition of 100 Black Women has maintained this small park since 1981. Recent plantings have included the introduction of evergreens, tulips, and a perennial garden.
Apollo Theater
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The Apollo Theater is located at 253 West 125th Street. For more than forty years it was the country’s most important venue for black entertainment. Built in 1913, it was originally a vaudeville and burlesque house known as Hurtig & Seamon’s New Theater. Amateur Night, introduced by showman Ralph Cooper, Sr., has been a staple at the Apollo since its opening in 1934. Ella Fitzgerald, Sarah Vaughan, Billie Holiday, James Brown, and the Jackson Five are just a few of the winners of Amateur Night.
170 WEST 130 STREET
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Originally constructed for the Baptist Church of the Redeemer, this freestanding Romanesque Revival style building is of great cultural importance to the city for its ties to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s-60’s. After changing hands several times, it was sold in 1936 to the Friendship Baptist Church, founded by the Rev. Dr. John Iverson Mumford. From the beginning, the church supported Civil Rights. Its second pastor, Dr. Thomas Kilgore Jr., was an associate of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who delivered a sermon here in 1955. Among Rev. Kilgore’s other local and national Civil Rights efforts, he led the church to found the House of Friendship Community Center, which, in 1963, became the National Headquarters for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, organized by Bayard Rustin. The congregation, still active today, was deeply involved in organizing the Harlem community’s participation in that historic March. In addition to its social and political significance, 170 West 130th Street’s façade is architecturally significant as the work of Vertner Woodson Tandy, the first African-American architect registered in New York State. The House of Friendship Community Center is located in the Central Harlem West -- 130-132nd Street Historic District.
240 West 131st Street
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240 West 131st Street, ca. 1932.
Apollo Theater
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Apollo Theater, ca. 1985. The most famous music venue in Harlem was opened as a “Whites Only” burlesque theater in 1914. It reopened as the Apollo Theater in 1934. From the swing bands of the 1930s to soul and gospel, rock, and blues, the Apollo has been host to Duke Ellington, Count Basie, the Staple Sisters, Mahalia Jackson, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, Buddy Holly, Billie Holiday, Diana Ross & the Supremes, The Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, Luther Vandross, Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, James Brown, George Clinton and the Parliament-Funkadelic, Al Green, and in 2012, President Barack Obama singing "Let’s Stay Together" to Al Green.
St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church
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Saint Aloysius Roman Catholic Church ARCHITECT: William W. Renwich DATE: 1902-04 STYLE: Italian Gothic, Church The richly ornamented, polychrome St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church was built in 1902-04 to the design of William W. Renwick based on Italian Gothic prototypes, an unusual source of stylistic inspiration for buildings in New York City. Named after the 16th-century Italian St. Aloysius Gonzaga, the church was organized in 1899 by Rev. John A. McKenna and constructed during a church-building campaign in Harlem to accommodate the growing immigrant population. W.W. Renwick, nephew of noted architect James Renwick, Jr., joined his uncle’s firm in 1885 and became a junior partner in 1890. In his work in that firm and its successors, and in independent practice after 1900, he specialized in ecclesiastical architecture and decoration. The intricate facade of St. Aloysius, considered one of W.W. Renwick’s most important commissions, consists of alternating bands of red brick, celadon-colored glazed brick (by the Grueby Faience Co.), and glazed “granitex” (with the color and texture of grey granite) terra cotta with cobalt blue accents (by the New York Architectural Terra Cotta Co.) in a wide variety of molded motifs.
258 St. Nicholas Avenue
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O'Reilly Storage, April 13, 1925. One of the tallest structures in this area of Harlem, the O'Reilly Storage was constructed in 1892 as a storage facility to serve the new residents of the booming middle class neighborhood. The orange and red brick building stood for more than a century, becoming the Dwyer Warehouse in the 1960s. By the start of the 21st century, the building was in poor condition and was largely razed in 2005. The condominium that rose in its place includes some small portion of the original building's base and calls to mind the former structure with orange bricks and a similar silhouette, complete with hexagonal corner tower.
Church of St. Joseph of the Holy Family
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ST. JOSEPH’S CHURCH, MANHATTAN Address: 401-403 West 125th Street Architect: Constructed: 1860 Church of St. Joseph of the Holy Family is the oldest church in Harlem and the oldest church north of 44th Street, completed in 1860. The modest Romanesque structure was originally built for German immigrants, and was expanded in 1889 by the Herter Brothers.
Hotel Theresa
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Hotel Theresa ca. 1934 Built by Gustavus Sidenberg, a lace dealer who named the hotel for his late wife before marrying another Theresa, the Hotel Theresa was hailed as a triumphant testament to Harlem's arrival as a self-contained district. It was the tallest Harlem structure of its day, retaining that distinction until 1973, when the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. state office building was erected. The structure's height, together with the stylized sunrise on the façade, symbolized the builder's hopes for all the good things modernity was still to bring to Harlem. Sidenberg maintained a strict policy that excluded black people, except as servants. Many other hotels, theaters, and department stores discriminated against blacks during the years now celebrated as the Harlem Renaissance. Not until 1937, nearly twenty years after African Americans came to dominate Harlem's population, was this discriminatory policy rescinded at the Hotel Theresa. New black owners welcomed boxer Joe Louis, singer and actress Lena Horne, and dancer and singer Josephine Baker, as well as Cuban premiere Fidel Castro. Senator John F. Kennedy would choose the Hotel Theresa as his forum when he asked Harlem blacks for their support, and Malcolm X would form the Organization of Afro-American Unity in the top floor's double-height dining room.
Harlem Opera House, 211 West 125th Street
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Harlem Opera House ca. 1905 Impresario Oscar Hammerstein's 1,800-seat Harlem Opera House was designed by one of the city's most productive theater specialists, J. B. McElfatrick & Sons. The facade was ornately embellished with arabesque panels and a hierarchy of pilasters; allegorical statuary surmounted its crowning parapet. Its interpretation of European architecture was as free as that of any Disney castle. Jules Hurtig and Harry Seamon took over the Harlem Opera House around 1903 and operated there until they leased a newly-built theater at 253 West 125th Street (corner of Lenox Avenue) in 1914. Hurtig & Seamon's (New) Burlesque Theatre played to an all-white clientele, but in 1928, that structure became the Apollo Theatre.
St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church
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St. Aloysius Roman Catholic Church ca. 1908 It is possible to time-travel in Harlem simply by turning the corner from Seventh Avenue onto West 132nd Street and unexpectedly coming upon William W. Renwick's St. Aloysius's Roman Catholic Church. Built in 1904, following a journey of Renwick's to Italy, its scarlet doors and polychromed terra-cotta so convincingly evoke Italy's late medieval churches that the effect can be somewhat disorienting. The church was built for a primarily Irish congregation. Of particular note was the gold-framed window of yellow leaded glass in the nave, which produced a warm focal point in the space of quiet repose. The window's glow abruptly vanished when a tall apartment building was constructed on the next block.
Apollo Theater
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Apollo Theater ARCHITECT: George Keister DATE: 1913-14 The Apollo Theater was for four decades starting in the 1930s one of New York City’s and the nation’s foremost arenas for leading popular black American performing talent. It retains much of its original character, including its proscenium and flanking boxes and classically-inspired plaster ornament. Its construction reflects the early twentieth-century entertainment history of vaudeville and burlesque in Harlem, in particular, the tradition of Harlem theaters which displayed black performers in a variety show format. The Apollo Theater was graced by the presence of nearly all major black American performers at some point in their careers, reflects the migration of blacks to Harlem and represents the cultural contributions of Harlem and black Americans to New York City and the nation.
Metropolitan Baptist Church
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Metropolitan Baptist Church ARCHITECT: John R. Thomas DATE: 1884-85 STYLE: Gothic, Romanesque Revival Designed in two sections by different architects, the Metropolitan Baptist Church (originally the New York Presbyterian Church) is a fine example of the many new churches built in Harlem during the late 19th century at a time when the local church represented wealth and stability to the community. The building is distinguished by a somewhat unusual blend of the Gothic and Romanesque Revival styles, both favored in part for their imposing character, and reflects the importance of its original congregation. The earlier section of rough-faced limestone church, fronting on West 128th Street, was planned by John Rochester Thomas in 1884. It housed a small lecture room/chapel and was erected with the intention of adding a principal auditorium structure at a later date. The addition, comprising the Seventh Avenue facade and the northern section of the church, was completed in 1890 and designed by Richard R. Davis. Davis’ extension, with its dominating gable and towers, complemented the Thomas design incorporating many details from the earlier structure.
315 West 125th Street
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West 125th Street, north side between St. Nicholas Avenue and Fredrick Douglas Boulevard, June 21, 1934. Frank's Restaurant is seen at center with the neon sign hanging out from the building. For much of its early 20th century history Frank's only allowed African Americans in the bar but not the restaurant proper. Exceptions to this were famous entertainers and politicians. The story goes that in the 1940s heavyweight champ Joe Louis would often bring large groups to Frank's and they would seat them, not wanting to reject the wishes of the celebrity. By the 1950s Frank's was integrated.
Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and 126th Street
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Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard and 126th Street ca. 1964 Following the killing of James Powell, a fifteen-year-old boy, by police, on July 16th, 1964, Harlem and Bedford-Stuyvesant erupted into six consecutive nights of rioting and protests. Disparate groups in both communities, outraged at continued racism and police brutality, organized a series of meetings that looked for solutions in the form of everything from passive protest to active revolution. Throughout the riots, protestors clashed with the police, whose presence and anti-riot tactics were inflammatory for the grieving neighborhood. Four thousand New Yorkers were said to have taken part in the riots that ended on July 22nd, leaving one rioter dead, and hundreds more injured and arrested.
146 WEST 131 STREET
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Originally constructed for the Baptist Church of the Redeemer, this freestanding Romanesque Revival style building is of great cultural importance to the city for its ties to the Civil Rights Movement of the 1950’s-60’s. After changing hands several times, it was sold in 1936 to the Friendship Baptist Church, founded by the Rev. Dr. John Iverson Mumford. From the beginning, the church supported Civil Rights. Its second pastor, Dr. Thomas Kilgore Jr., was an associate of the Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King Jr., who delivered a sermon here in 1955. Among Rev. Kilgore’s other local and national Civil Rights efforts, he led the church to found the House of Friendship Community Center, which, in 1963, became the National Headquarters for the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, organized by Bayard Rustin. The congregation, still active today, was deeply involved in organizing the Harlem community’s participation in that historic March. In addition to its social and political significance, 170 West 130th Street’s façade is architecturally significant as the work of Vertner Woodson Tandy, the first African-American architect registered in New York State. The House of Friendship Community Center is located in the Central Harlem West -- 130-132nd Street Historic District.
278 West 125th Street
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The Borden’s Milk ice cream parlor at Eighth Avenue (Frederick Douglass Boulevard) and West 125th Street, 1939. Photographer Sid Grossman’s shot captures a busy street scene on Eighth Avenue, underneath the tracks of the IRT Ninth Avenue El, which ran over Eighth Avenue above 110th Street. The shot also includes a No. 10 bus, bound for Macombs Place and West 154th Street.
Apollo Theater
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As African Americans migrated uptown to Harlem in large numbers in the 1910s and ’20s, existing theaters began showcasing black performers. Some of these venues welcomed black audiences. The Apollo Theater, which had operated as a burlesque venue in the 1910s and ’20s, was relatively late in bringing on black entertainers. Although performers such as blues singer Alberta Hunter are said to have appeared here as early as 1930, African-American performers became the rule under new ownership in 1932. Three years later, again under new ownership, the Apollo instituted a permanent variety show format featuring leading black talent that would last until the 1970s. This was particularly important as, even through the 1950s, few major theaters across the United States featured black entertainers. Every form of popular African-American entertainment – comedy, drama, dance, gospel, blues, jazz, rhythm and blues, swing, bebop, rock and roll, and soul music – was showcased at the Apollo. LGBT luminaries included comedian Jackie “Moms” Mabley; singers Bessie Smith, Alberta Hunter, Billie Holiday, Ethel Waters, Willie Mae “Big Mama” Thornton, Josephine Baker, Clyde McPhatter, Little Richard, Carmen McRae, Johnny Mathis, Arthur Conley, Carolyn Franklin (and sister of Aretha), Billy Preston, Nona Hendryx, Teddy Pendergrass, and Luther Vandross; and gospel greats Clara Ward, Sister Rosetta Tharpe, Marie Knight, Alex Bradford, Ruth Davis, Jackie Verdell, and James Cleveland.
Lafayette Theatre
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Lafayette Theatre, 1936. Known to Harlem locals as "the House Beautiful", the Lafayette Theatre was a Renaissance-style building that became a neighborhood landmark. Completed in 1912 to the plans of theatre architect, Victor Hugo Koehler, the two-story, 1500 seat venue was the brainchild of Lower East Side banker, Meyer Jarmulowsky (of the Jarmulowsky Bank family). Initially, African Americans were only allowed seating in the balcony and then were permitted to buy seats in the orchestra, but were charged double the cost of a ticket for a white patron. Through complaints and the loss of revenue, due to this policy, the theatre made a change. One year after opening, the Lafayette became one of the first major theatres to desegregate. This action brought larger black audiences, and a contemporary critic suggested that this would mean more serious black productions. The Lafayette Players, Harlem's first black legitimate theater group, was founded here in 1916 and the theatre and its adjacent nightclub hosted some of the well-known performers of the day, including Bessie Smith, Moms Mabley, Leadbelly, and Duke Ellington. The theatre closed in the 1930s but was revived as part of the Works Progress Administration's Negro Theater Project. In 1936, its most famous production debuted: a performance of "Macbeth," which moved the action to a Caribbean island, directed by 20-year-old Orson Welles. Referred to as "Voodoo Macbeth," the show played here for 10 weeks before transferring to Broadway and having a national tour. The theatre closed once again in 1951 and the building was purchased by the Williams Christian Methodist Episcopal Church. While the interiors were altered, other than removing the marquee, the exterior remained unchanged until 1990. That year the church demolished the exterior, which was unprotected, and replaced it with a somewhat Brutalist marble and concrete facade. The building and its abutting structure to the south, which once housed the Ubangi Club, a nightclub known for its openness to all races, genders, and sexual orientations, were demolished in 2013. The replacement apartment house is called The Lafayette.
West End Theatre
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West End Theatre, ca. 1915. Designed by the firm of Neville & Bragge in a Spanish Baroque style, the West End Theatre opened in 1902. The following year it was sold to a duo of comedians and theatre producers named Webber and Fields. Between 1975 and 2016 the building was occupied by the La Gree Baptist Church. After being sold in 2016, plan have been announced to convert the building into a mixed use, residential and commercial building.
Photos
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2367 Eighth Avenue
Eighth Avenue #2367-69
2365 Frederick Douglass Boulevard
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 125th Street, June 3-5, 1940.
2365 Frederick Douglass Boulevard
Manhattan: 8th Avenue - 127th Street
2394 Eighth Avenue
Manhattan: 8th Avenue - 128th Street
2355 Frederick Douglass Boulevard
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 126th Street north, January 5, 1941.
2351 Eighth Avenue
Eighth Avenue #2351-53
326 St. Nicholas Avenue
View of Houses at 324, 326 and 328 St. Nicholas Avenue: Eighth Avenue Line (IND) Survey photograph of houses on St. Nicholas Avenue between West 126th and 127th Streets, Harlem; for the construction of the IND Eighth Avenue Line. Shows sidewalk, curbs, street, pedestrians and buildings. Original photographic logbook notation reads: West sidewalk of St. Nicholas Avenue, 2 feet west of west curb and 3 feet south of north end of portico, to Public School 157, looking east showing view of numbers 324, 326 and 328 St. Nicholas Avenue.
St. Nicholas Avenue and West 128th Street
\[St. Nicholas Avenue, New York, NY: IND Eighth Avenue Line] One in a series of survey photographs documenting conditions along St. Nicholas Avenue in New York, NY, in preparation for construction and maintenance of the Independent System (IND) Eighth Avenue Line. Original photographic log reads: "In east roadway of St. Nicholas Ave., opposite south building line of W. 129th St., and 7 feet west of east curb, looking north showing view of roadway of St. Nicholas slate at station 1307+50."
Post Office Station J
Manhattan: 125th Street (West) - 8th Avenue View 1, and 2; 309 West 125th Street, north side bet- ween Eighth And St Nickolas Avenue show- ing Post Office Station J west of 8th Avenue. P.L.Speer. May 4, 1938.
2338 Eighth Avenue
Manhattan: 8th Avenue - 125th Street (West) Eighth Avenue, east side, between W. 125th and 126th Streets, showing a two story frame building that bears No. 2338. Bromleys Atlas of 1922 gives this as No. 2346. The brick building at the right is the 4-story Bishop Building, located at the N. E. corner of 125th Street. Overhead is the Ninth Avenue Elevated Line. May 5, 1940 Views 1,2 P. L. Sperr
2338 Eighth Avenue
Manhattan: 8th Avenue - 125th Street (West) Eighth Avenue, east side, between W. 125th and 126th Streets, showing a two story frame building that bears No. 2338. Bromleys Atlas of 1922 gives this as No. 2346. The brick building at the right is the 4-story Bishop Building, located at the N. E. corner of 125th Street. Overhead is the Ninth Avenue Elevated Line. May 5, 1940 Views 1,2 P. L. Sperr
Public School 157
Manhattan: St. Nicholas Avenue - 126th Street (West) 327 St Nicholas Avenue, west side beteen West 126th and West 127th Street, showing P.S. 157, Board of Education.N.Y.C. CREDIT LINE IMPERATIVE. 1920.
Public School 157
View of 126th Street @ Nicholas Avenue View of 126th Street with laborers, pipes, cables, crane and excavation.
Public School 157
Manhattan 209, P.S. 157, 327 St. Nicholas Ave; Jerry Spearman, Photographer
2323 Eighth Avenue
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at Eighth Avenue north of 124th Street station, December 22, 1940.
315 West 125th Street
St. Nicholas Avenue and West 129th Street
St. Nicholas Ave North from 129th Street St. Nicholas Ave North from 129th Street \[handwritten on recto] View of boys standing in the street at St. Nicholas Avenue. Scrapbook page from "Views of New York City, Brooklyn and other places. Vol. 2." by Eugene Armbruster.
2411 Eighth Avenue
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 130th Street station north, December 1, 1940.
279 West 125th Street
Drink Borden's Milk, 8th Avenue and 125th Street.; Harlem
271 West 125th Street
Cars under the "El" Tracks.; Harlem
2330 Frederick Douglass Boulevard
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 124th Street northwest, December 22, 1940.
271 West 125th Street
Under the "El" Tracks.; Harlem
2330 Frederick Douglass Boulevard
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 124th Street northeast, January 5, 1941.
321 West 125th Street
Damaged Telephone Cables due to Fire w/ Workers at St. Nicholas Avenue Underground view from mezzanine floor of telephone company workers working on fire damaged telephone cables at St. Nicholas Avenue between 125th to 126th Streets.
321 West 125th Street
Manhattan: 125th Street (West) - St. Nicholas Avenue 323-317 West 125th Street, at, adjoining and east of the N.E. corner of St. Nicholas Ave. June 21, 1934. P. L. Sperr.
125th Street and Eigth Avenue
Street Scenes - 1915, 8th Ave. N.E. Cor. 125th St. (Kelly Bros. Bar). The Kelly Bros. bar and other commercial retail businesses are seen along 125th Street, including Ritchie and Cornell, Tailors and Stephen Merritt Burial Co. Pedestrians are crossing 8th Avenue and walking along West 125th Street. Automobiles are seen on West 125th Street. A small section of elevated subway track can be seen overhead at right.
Apollo Theater
253-59 West 125th Street, Apollo Theater The most famous music venue in Harlem was opened as a “Whites Only” burlesque theater in 1914. It reopened as the Apollo Theater in 1934. From the swing bands of the 1930s to soul and gospel, rock, and blues, the Apollo has been host to Duke Ellington, Count Basie, the Staple Sisters, Mahalia Jackson, Ray Charles, Otis Redding, Aretha Franklin, Dave Brubeck, Stan Getz, Buddy Holly, Billie Holiday, Diana Ross & the Supremes, The Jackson 5, Marvin Gaye, Luther Vandross, Art Blakey, Dizzy Gillespie, James Brown, George Clinton and the Parliament-Funkadelic, Al Green, and in 2012 President Barack Obama singing Let’s Stay Together to Al Green.
125th Street and Eigth Avenue
Cafe, Kelly Bros Saloon, N.W. 125th St. & 8th Ave. Taken from across West 125th Street of the Kelly Bros Saloon.
Apollo Theater
\[125th Street.]
Apollo Theater
\[Apollo Theater, 253 West 125th Street.] Originally Hurtig & Seamon's New Burlesque Theater.
Apollo Theater
\[Marquee of the Apollo Theater] Primary subject: Apollo Theater Secondary subject: Marquee Features Natalie Cole Ice Cube Stylistics
125th Street Station, Ninth and Sixth Avenue El
Second Avenue El, Manhattan, at 125th Street Station, April 2, 1941. Removing the last girder.
125th Street Station, Ninth and Sixth Avenue El
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 125th Street south, December 22, 1940.
125th Street Station, Ninth and Sixth Avenue El
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 125th Street station, January 5, 1941.
125th Street Station, Ninth and Sixth Avenue El
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 125th Street station north, downtown side, December 1, 1940.
125th Street Station, Ninth and Sixth Avenue El
Second Avenue El, Manhattan, at 125th Street Station, April 2, 1941. Removing the last girder.
125th Street Station, Ninth and Sixth Avenue El
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 125th Street, June 3-5, 1940.
125th Street Station, Ninth and Sixth Avenue El
Second Avenue El, Manhattan, at 125th Street Station, April 2, 1941. Removing the last girder.
321 St. Nicholas Avenue
\[St. Nicholas Avenue, New York, NY: IND Eighth Avenue Line] One in a series of survey photographs documenting conditions along St. Nicholas Avenue in New York, NY, in preparation for construction and maintenance of the Independent System (IND) Eighth Avenue Line. Original photographic log reads: "St. Nicholas Ave. & 125th-126th Sts.--Camera on centreline of St. Nicholas Ave. 10' N. of W. curb of 125th St., looking N. showing a view of roadway. Slate at sta. 1297+50. 3:41 P.M."
Loew's Victoria
233-237 W. 125th Street under construction, New York City, undated (ca. May 1917).
Loew's Victoria
The Loew's Victoria Theater, W. 125th Street, New York City, undated (ca. October 1917). Photographed for the United Electric Light & Power Company.
130th Street Station, Ninth and Sixth Avenue El
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 130th Street, January 5, 1941. View looking north from between 129th and 130th Street.
130th Street Station, Ninth and Sixth Avenue El
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 130th Street station west, December 1, 1940.
130th Street Station, Ninth and Sixth Avenue El
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 130th Street station at Eighth Avenue, January 9, 1941.
130th Street Station, Ninth and Sixth Avenue El
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 130th Street, January 5, 1941. View looking north from between 129th and 130th Street.
130th Street Station, Ninth and Sixth Avenue El
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 130th Street, June 3-5, 1940.
130th Street Station, Ninth and Sixth Avenue El
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 130th Street, January 9, 1941.
130th Street Station, Ninth and Sixth Avenue El
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 129th Street north, January 5, 1941.
130th Street Station, Ninth and Sixth Avenue El
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 130th Street station east, December 1, 1940.
130th Street Station, Ninth and Sixth Avenue El
Ninth Avenue El, Manhattan, at 130th Street, June 3-5, 1940.
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