234 West 131st Street, ca. 1932.

Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church ARCHITECT: George W. Foster, Jr. DATE: 1923-25 STYLE: Neo-Gothic The Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church, built in 1923-25, is the sixth home of New York City’s first black congregation and the founding church of the A.M.E. Zion Conference of churches, which spread throughout the United States and Canada. Established in 1796, under the leadership of James Varick, Mother Zion has a long and illustrious history of religious and social activism. In the nineteenth century, the A.M.E. Zion conference was popularly known as the “Freedom Church” because of its important role in the abolitionist movement; many conference churches, including Mother Zion, served as stations on the Underground Railroad. The movement of the Mother Zion congregation northward, beginning in lower Manhattan, to the present location in Harlem, reflects the residential patterns of New York City’s black population. At the time the present church was constructed, Harlem contained the majority of New York’s black residents. A distinguished composition in the neo-Gothic style, reflecting the tradition of Protestant church design in the 1920s, the church building was designed by George W. Foster, Jr., one of the first black architects to be registered in the United States. During the twentieth-century leadership of Pastor James W. Brown and his successor, Dr. Benjamin C. Robeson, Mother Zion rose to even greater prominence as a religious and social institution. Robeson’s civil rights crusade attracted such notable Harlem residents as Langston Hughes and W.E.B. DuBois, and the Zion pulpit was often a platform for the social and political activism of Robeson’s brother, Paul Robeson. Mother Zion has continued its almost two-hundred year tradition of service to its congregation and community, not only addressing the spiritual needs of its members but also providing an array of social programs.

The Mother African Methodist Episcopal Zion Church at 140-148 West 137th Street is the sixth home of New York City’s very first black church, and the founding church of the A.M.E. Zion Conference of churches. Today, the gorgeous neo-Gothic structure, built in 1923-1925, stands as a symbol of the city’s black, religious, and civil rights history while continuing to serve as a touchstone for over 1.4 million followers. In honor of Black History Month, we delve into the remarkable story of Mother Zion, which takes us beyond the Village and back. This story is adapted from a Village Preservation blog, which can be viewed here.

"Wurts residence, ca. 1912. The Wurts brothers were the premier architectural photographers of early 20th century New York City — in fact, they took this photo!"

St. Philip’s Episcopal Church, founded in 1809, is one of the country’s oldest black parishes. From its origins in Lower Manhattan, the church moved uptown several times, following the black community and seeking safety from sporadic violence such as the race riot of 1900. Around the turn of the century, church rector Hutchens Chew Bishop began buying Harlem rental properties, evicting whites and renting to blacks. With the income, he bought land on 134th Street and hired black architect Vertner Tandy to design a new building. The impressive Gothic structure provided a spiritual and community home for black parishioners in Harlem.

New York Public Library, Schomburg Collection for Research in Black Culture ARCHITECT: McKim, Mead & White; Charles F. McKim DATE: 1903-05 STYLE: Neo-Classical Built as the West 135th Street Branch Library, the former Schomburg Collection building at 103 West 135th Street was designed in 1904 by the eminent firm of McKim, Mead & White. Small and dignified, the structure is one of the eleven elegant neo-Classical buildings that the firm designed for the New York City Public Library system under a generous grant from Andrew Carnegie. Located in the heart of Harlem, the Library Branch became a center of black cultural events during the 1920s, as the well-known Schomburg Collection on black history and culture, housed in the building, served as a magnet to countless intellectuals drawn to the area during the “Harlem Renaissance.” Distinguished by a fine architectural design, the building is also nationally significant as a cultural center and a site where the documentation of the black experience was a long and important tradition.

H. Adolph Howell Funeral Chapel, ca. 1926. The H. Adolph Howell Funeral Chapel was considered one of the first "funeral churches" (what would come to be known as funeral parlors). Howell was a Caribbean immigrant, local Harlem businessman and undertaker, who moved to Harlem in the first decades of the 20th century. The building at 2332 Seventh Avenue became the funeral facility in the middle of the 1920s and quickly became a prominent part of the community, a space where the neighborhood's deceased were mourned and celebrated. Often the bodies of the recently departed were laid out in state for a few days before their Sunday afternoon burials (as Sunday was the traditional day for funerals). This was the case for two famous burials that occurred at H. Adolph Howell's. In 1927 famed Harlem cabaret singer, dancer, and comedian laid in state for five days while more than 10,000 mourners passed by her coffin. In 1931 the funeral services for A'Lelia Walker, daughter of Madam C.J. Walker and mainstay of the Harlem Renaissance in her own right, also saw 10,000 mourners files passed her casket at Howell's. On the day of the funeral itself, more than 1000 people gathered outside the funeral parlor for the invite-only funeral. In later years the building served as the John Joyce-Rodney Dade Funeral Home, which only ceased operations in 2007.

Harlem YMCA, ca. 1930. Officially designed by the Architectural Bureau of the National Council of the YMCA, the architect in charge of the project was James C. Mackenzie, Jr. The red brick, neo-Georgian building was completed in 1932 and replaced a former YMCA building across the street. The building became an important location for the African American community in Harlem, with a number of well-known residents, including authors Ralph Ellison and Maria Celeste and Malcolm X.

161 West 129th Street, ca. 1932.

Saint Philip’s Protestant Episcopal Church ARCHITECT: Tandy & Foster DATE: 1910-11 STYLE: Neo-Gothic, Church St. Philip’s Protestant Episcopal Church is the fourth home of New York City’s first African-American congregation of Protestant Episcopalians. From its beginnings as the African Episcopal Catechetical Institution in the City of New York shortly after the American Revolution, St. Philip’s was established as its own parish in 1818 under the leadership of Bishop John Henry Hobart and the Reverend Peter Williams, Jr. St. Philip’s long and inspiring chronicle of religious and social activism adds a depth to our national history not generally acknowledged. The movement of St. Philip’s congregation northward, beginning in lower Manhattan, to the present location in Harlem, reflects the residential patterns of New York City’s African-American population. When the Reverend Hutchens Chew Bishop purchased residential property in Harlem in 1908 on behalf of St. Philip’s and the church building was constructed at its present location, St. Philip’s became one of the first institutions to attract African-Americans to Harlem. St. Philip’s Church building was designed in the neo-Gothic style by the firm of Tandy & Foster. The design of the facade, a response to certain liturgical requirements, incorporates fourteenth-century English, or Perpendicular, Gothic elements in contrasting orange Roman brick and cast-stone aggregate. Vertner W. Tandy was the first African-American architect to be registered in the State of New York and George Washington Foster, Jr., was among the first African-Americans to practice within the architectural profession in the United States. St. Philip’s has continued its nearly two-hundred-year tradition of service to its congregation and community, addressing the spiritual needs of its members and providing a variety of social programs.

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, unknown date.

135th Street branch of the New York Public Library, home of the “Division of Negro Literature, History and Prints.” March 20, 1928. The Carnegie-funded library, designed by Charles Follen McKim, opened in July, 1905. During the 1920s, the 135th Street branch led the NYPL’s gradual integration of African-American works into its collections and programming. In 1921, the branch hosted the first annual exhibition of African-American art — the first show of its kind in Harlem. In 1926, the Afro-Puerto Rican scholar and book collector Arturo Alfonso Schomburg sold his collection — including “5,000 books; 3,000 manuscripts; 2,000 etchings and paintings; and several thousand pamphlets” — to the library, with the stipulation that the collection remain in Harlem. Schomburg himself was the collection’s curator from 1932 until his death in 1938. In 1940, the archive was renamed the Schomburg Collection of Negro Literature, History and Prints. In 1972, the branch became a Research Library and was renamed the Schomburg Collection for Research in Black Culture. In 1980, a new Schomburg Center extension opened on nearby Lenox Avenue.

Once called the "richest Negro church in America," St. Philip's Episcopal Church is also one of the oldest black congregations in New York. The church was organized in 1818 by, among others, Peter Williams Jr., a passionate political activist, and abolitionist. Many of the parishioners of St. Philip's were members of New York's extremely small nineteenth-century black elite. Located since 1886 in the infamous Tenderloin neighborhood on the middle west side of Manhattan, St. Philip's acquired a new church site on the south side of West 134th Street near Seventh Avenue in 1909. (The church also purchased ten apartment houses on West 135th Street that had previously been restricted to whites. When the congregation began its move to Harlem, St. Philip's evicted the white tenants and made the apartments available to blacks. For half a century, rent from those apartments subsidized the St. Philip's endowment). One of the architects of the church, which opened in 1911, was Vertner Woodson Tandy, the first black architect registered in New York and designer of Madam C. J. Walker's townhouse/hair parlor.

Mother AME Zion Church, 1925. Designed by one of the first African American architects in the United States, George W. Foster Jr., Mother Zion was completed in 1925, as the sixth and final home of the religious community. The congregation that moved into this new Gothic Revival building dates to 1796 when it was founded as the first African American church in New York. The community became the "mother" church of the African Methodist Episcopal Zion Conference denomination when the church broke from the predominantly white Methodist Episcopal Church in 1820. During the 1930s the charismatic preacher of the this church was Reverend Dr. Benjamin C. Robeson, who spoke passionately of civil rights activism. Parishioners, both here and in its previous locations, included singer Paul Robeson (brother to the pastor) Langston Hughes, W.E.B. DuBois, Marian Anderson, and Madam C.J. Walker.

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.

Interior of Hamilton Grange, date unknown.

136 West 137th Street, ca. 1932.

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, ca. 1932.

202-204 West 136th Street, ca. 1936. This building has been home to the New York Urban League (NYUL) for over a century. NYUL is part of a much larger, nationwide organization that formed in 1910 to help African American migrants assimilate into urban life. Since the inception of the National Urban League's New York branch in 1918, NYUL has provided essential social services in New York City, helping black individuals find jobs, healthcare, educational opportunities, and also expand their employment.

Interior view of the original front door of Hamilton Grange, date unknown. During the home's time at 287 Convent Avenue (1889-2008), this original door was facing the side of the church next door.

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.

108-110 West 136th Street, 1936. In 1913 and 1915 Madam C.J. Walker, the African American businesswoman who made millions selling hair care products purchased two brownstones in Harlem. She was prompted to move to Harlem by her daughter A'Lelia, who had arrived in the city a few years earlier. Walker hired African American architect Vertner Tandy, the first black architect registered in New York State, to redesign the buildings. The resulting structure was a handsome, single, Georgian style townhouse. The building not only served as Walker's home, but the garden level was used as a beauty parlor, college, and spa. Women were able to receive training in the use of Walker's products, while also providing services to clients in an upscale locale. Walker died in 1919. Her daughter, who by the mid-1920s had become an influential figure in the Harlem Renaissance (known for hosting well-attended and extravagant parties), turned the 136th Street home into an event space and cultural salon she called the Dark Tower. Lasting only a year as the Dark Tower, the house was later rented to the city for use as a health clinic (pictured here as the Harlem Health Center). In 1941, the home, then owned by the city, was demolished for a branch of the New York Public Library, which in 1951 would be renamed for Countee Cullen, black poet, and friend of A'Lelia Walker.

The Constitution of the United States of America establishes the laws and governmental structure of the United States. It was first drafted by James Madison and explains which rights are reserved to the national and state governments. The Constitution was ratified in 1787, four years after the official ending of the Revolutionary War. In the years between the Treaty of Paris, which ended the war, and the Constitutional Convention, the United States was governed by a document titled Articles of Confederation. This document gave more power to the various states instead of a single national government. This made important decisions regarding trade, taxation, and defense, very hard to make. Many people recognized the serious situation the new nation found itself in and met in Philadelphia to create a new guiding document. After intense debate, they produced the US Constitution, which still forms the basis of our government. In fact, the US Constitution is the oldest constitution still in use today. While not perfect, this document laid out the fundamental rights that all Americans enjoy today. These different locations throughout New York help to highlight some of the powers and rules laid out in our founding document. NYS Social Studies Scope and Sequence Standards 7.4 & 11.2 For Teachers: US Constitution Lesson Plan

The Harlem Renaissance was one of the most important cultural movements in American history. The legacies left behind, whether musical, political, or legacies of social activism, are ones whose impacts we still see everywhere in American culture today. As a part of my personal project with the Living City Project, I led a walk around Harlem, looking at historical buildings, streets, and institutions, or at least where they once were, and discussing the important people, events and activities associated with those iconic sites. I started this project with an interest in the influential jazz scene of NYC in the early 20th century. As I began to study this, I came across Billie Holiday’s incredible art and life. Although Holiday wasn’t from New York, one of her most famous songs, “Strange Fruit,” was a product of the city’s writers and musicians at the time. The lyrics were written by a Jewish school teacher, Abel Meeropol, who originally wrote them as a poem. The song was heard being sung in Cafe Society by the floor manager at the time, who told the club’s founder, Barney Josephson. Josephson then invited Holiday to come to hear the song. From there, it became the iconic and deeply powerful song we know today. Billie performed it all over the world. It became one of her signature songs. I was equally as fascinated by Holiday’s relentless, fearless singing of the song, the national interest in hearing her sing it, and the federal government’s alarm at her performing the song. Furthermore, as I read more about her and her music, I began to understand how, in many ways, “Strange Fruit” was the catalyst for other protest songs of the 20th century. After beginning with an interest in NYC Jazz, and then Billie Holiday, I arrived at the Harlem Renaissance because of the way it aligned with what fascinated me about Billie. The Harlem Renaissance was also a meeting of civil rights activism, art, and the movement, and has had long-lasting effects on American culture, just as Holiday has. This is only a small sampling of some of these incredibly important and influential institutions and figures, and it is only a fraction of the information out there about this topic. There are many scholars and organizations who have delved deeper into some of these topics, and I encourage the viewer to look beyond this introduction if they're interested. I also recognize that I am a young white woman from out of town, and this is not my community in many senses. I created this walk in hopes of appreciating and better understanding the great cultural influence that many of the figures and institutions from The Harlem Renaissance have had on my own life as well as on the lives of many Americans to this day. Spotify playlist with all songs from the tour: Harlem Renaissance Walk. I chose to include this playlist because the music is what initially drew me to this topic, and I want the reader to get to experience it as well. In addition, sometimes with history, it is hard for the reader to completely feel and understand what was going on; I feel that music is a vivid, real way to gain even the slightest understanding of the moment they’re learning about, especially when discussing an artistic, musical movement. I would encourage the reader to either listen to the playlist before starting the tour, after doing it or both. At each stop, I have included which song from the playlist goes with the stop - I encourage the viewer to play these at each stop in addition to listening to the playlist all the way through.

The 135th Street Branch of the YMCA, unknown date. The third of 12 Carnegie libraries designed by the preeminent firm of McKim, Mead & White for the New York Public Library (NYPL), the 135th Street Branch opened in 1905. Within the next ten years, African Americans started to move to Harlem in large numbers. Under newly-appointed white librarian Ernestine Rose in 1921, the 135th Street Library made significant changes to better serve a burgeoning black community. That same year, it became the first NYPL branch to have an integrated staff; in 1922, Nella Larsen began working here as an assistant and was promoted to children’s librarian two years later. The 135th Street Branch, with its literary gatherings, art exhibitions, theatrical and musical productions, and lectures, was known as “the place to go” during the Harlem Renaissance. Importantly, the library provided a rare public platform for black artists, writers, and performers as well as the opportunity to share their work with audiences of color. A young Langston Hughes made a point to visit the library the day he arrived in Harlem in 1921 (he later wrote about it in his 1963 essay “My Early Days in Harlem”). Other Harlem Renaissance luminaries who frequented the branch included poet Countee Cullen (who met Hughes here), performer Florence Mills, poet Claude McKay and writer Eric Walrond, the latter two of whom also reserved space here to work. In 1926, the Krigwa Players Little Negro Theatre, which included playwright Harold Jackman, performed plays by, about, and for people of color in the library’s basement (The American Negro Theatre still performs here.)

A residential enclave, this neighborhood east of St. Nicholas Park features remarkably intact and finely detailed residential rowhouse architecture, built for upper-middle-class professionals in the late 19th century. The community is named for the adjoining park dedicated in 1925 that honors African-American infantryman Dorrance Brooks, who displayed ”signal bravery” in World War I. The square became a rallying point for civil rights protests. Closely associated with the Harlem Renaissance, the area was home to jazz musician Lionel Hampton. Dorrance Brooks Square was designated a historic district on June 15, 2021. Watch the 2020 Grassroots Prersvation presentation on Dorrance Brooks Square

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.

Drawing of Hamilton Grange, pre-1889. Hamilton's home has only been in its new (and likely final) location in St. Nicholas Park since 2008– not long enough for photographs to be in the collections of NYC archives. For a series of historic photos, make sure to visit the pins for 287 Convent Avenue and 143rd Street between Convent and Hamilton Place. This drawing of the home in its original location (approximately West 143rd Street between Convent Avenue and Hamilton Place) is very similar to how the building looks today. In its final move the original entrance was restored.

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.

Originally the West 135th Street Branch of the NYPL, this library grew exponentially over the 20th century to encompass a complex of buildings housing the prestigious Schomburg Collection for Research in Black Culture. The original building was one of 11 Carnegie-funded branches designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White. All that remains of the building, which was designed in the firm’s characteristic Italian Renaissance Revival style, is its West 135th Street façade. During the 1920s Harlem Renaissance, the library became an important center for black cultural events and scholarship. This was due to the pioneering work of Branch Librarian Ernestine Rose, who began compiling a collection of black literature and history books beginning in the 1920s. As a result of this growing and influential collection, the library was renamed the 135th Street Branch Division of Negro Literature, History and Prints in 1925, and the following year, the NYPL increased it with the acquisition of historian, writer, and activist Arturo Alfonso Schomburg’s famous private collection. With its continued expansion, a new wing was added to the rear of the building on West 136th Street in 1941. With this addition, the library, which had doubled in size, was renamed the Countee Cullen Branch. In 1972 the collection was renamed the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture. In 1980, a new building was constructed at 515 Malcolm X Boulevard. The complex now represents three distinct eras for this venerable institution. 103 West 135th Street is a New York City Individual Landmark.

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.

Fire at 102 West 129th Street, May 5, 1925. A fire was discovered in the basement of No. 102 West 129th Street, at Lenox Avenue, in the early morning hours of Tuesday, May 5. All tenants were evacuated without serious injury.

There have been two Young Men’s Christian Association (YMCA) buildings on this street. The original, which was built in 1918-19, was the YMCA Building, West 135th Street Branch at 181 West 135th Street. In 1931-32, a new building was constructed across the street at 180 West 135th Street; still in use today as the Harlem YMCA, it was first known as the YMCA Building, 135th Street Branch. The original location at 181 West 135th Street was the successor to the “Colored Men’s Branch” of the YMCA, located on West 53rd Street (1901-19). African-American YMCAs were the result of the YMCA’s official policy of racial segregation, from the organization’s beginnings in the United States in 1851 until 1946. Though excluded from white YMCAs, African Americans were encouraged to form separate branches, which became autonomous community centers. As the African-American population of Harlem rapidly increased and this facility became overcrowded, a new 135th Street Branch YMCA (today’s Harlem YMCA) was constructed across the street from the earlier building. This new 135th Street Branch, partially funded by John D. Rockefeller, Jr., Julius Rosenwald (former president of Sears, Roebuck & Co.), and the Phelps-Stokes Fund, was called at the time of its completion the largest such facility for African-American men and boys, as well as one of the best-equipped YMCA buildings, in the country.

187 West 135th Street, 1931. Between 1925 and 1938, this apartment was the residence of Civil Rights activist James Weldon Johnson . Johnson could be described as a modern "Renaissance man" - he taught and practiced law, songwriting, poetry, as well as authored novels, and served as the United States consul in Venezuela and Nicaragua all before he was appointed head of the National Association of Colored People (NAACP). Johnson was born in Jacksonville Florida. While studying for the bar exam, Johnson was a schoolteacher and eventually served as the principal of the prestigious Stanton Preparatory School. In 1897, Stanton passed the bar making him the first African American admitted to the Florida Bar. Johnson opened a law practice in Florida while concurrently writing poetry and songs, which led him to New York in 1901 during the Great Migration. He moved to the city with his brother, John Rosamond Johnson, and together they authored around 200 songs (many of which were sung on Broadway.) While in New York, Johnson remained interested in law and thus, became involved in politics. He participated in Theodore Roosevelt's presidential campaign and when Roosevelt was elected, he served as consul to Venezuela in 1906 and to Nicaragua in 1913. During this time, he anonymously published his novel, "The Autobiography of an Ex-Coloured Man." By the 1920s, Johnson had become a leading voice of the Harlem Renaissance as a poet and songwriter. He began working for the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) in 1916 and by 1920 he was appointed executive secretary. Johnson lived in this house on 135th Street during his time as head of the NAACP, a position he held for ten years. In "Negro Americans, what now?" an essay published in 1934, Johnson writes the following: "Black America is called upon to stand as the protagonist of tolerance, of fair play, of justice, and of goodwill...White America cannot save itself if it prevents us from being saved." His home was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1976.

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.