234 West 131st Street, ca. 1932.

498 West 130th Street, ca. 1932.

407 West 130th Street, unknown date.

The High School of Music & Art, April 3, 1926. The High School of Music & Art for Gifted Children opened for the spring term of 1936, in a William H. Gompert-designed school building at 135th Street and Convent Avenue. Built in 1924 for the New York Training School for Teachers and the associated New York Model School (where the training teachers taught), by the mid-1930s, the hilltop Collegiate Gothic structure housed P.S. 193 and an annex of the Wadleigh High School for Girls. The New York Times reported that the initial Music & Art enrollment of 215 “specially gifted students” would receive instruction “not only to develop their abilities in fine arts or music but to pursue courses leading either to the academic high school diploma for college entrance or the general high school diploma.” Piano instruction was also compulsory. Music & Art opened during the administration of Mayor Fiorello La Guardia, himself an enthusiastic patron of the performing arts. In his remarks at the school’s dedication ceremony, La Guardia predicted that “in five years this will be one of the outstanding high schools in the country.” Over 70 years later, the Mayor’s prediction has been validated by the lengthy list of notable alumcross every discipline of the arts. The “castle on the hill” campus was home to Music & Art from 1936 to 1984, when the school merged with the High School of Performing Arts upon moving into a new campus at Lincoln Center. The new facility was named the Fiorello H. La Guardia High School for Music & Art and Performing Arts. Today, over 2,700 students are enrolled at La Guardia, each with a studio or performing arts concentration. Gompert’s building is today part of the City College south campus, and includes the A. Philip Randolph Campus High School.

Interior of Hamilton Grange, date unknown.

240 West 131st Street, ca. 1932.

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.

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

A. Philip Randolph Campus High School, Manhattan Established in 1979, the A. Philip Randolph Campus High School (H.S. 540) occupies the former High School of Music & Art, located on West 135th Street in Harlem. Designed by William H. Gompert and built between 1924 and 1926 in Collegiate Gothic style, the L-shaped building is clad in limestone and mottled buff-to-brown ironspot brick features distinctive square towers. Designated as a New York City Landmark in 1977, the school is named in honor of Asa Philip Randolph, founder of the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters, who is considered to be the greatest African-American labor leader in American history.

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.

Jacob Schieffelin gave the land for St. Mary's Episcopal Church. The parish was formed to minister to the poor in 1823 by fashionable St. Michael's Church in Bloomingdale at the north end of the present-day Upper West Side, where Schieffelin served as a vestryman. By the 1830s, St. Mary's had the distinction of being the first "free" Episcopal church in the nation, charging no annual fee for pew rental. The rectory of St. Mary's Church at present-day 521 West 126th Street was built about 1840 by architect Robert Oughton. It survived a turn-of-the-century fire that destroyed the church. The church was quickly replaced-and enlarged-by the Schieffelin family (newly enriched through an alliance with the Vanderbilts). With a long history of serving the poor and the working class, it would survive in a changing Harlem where other churches failed.

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.

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.

St. Mary's Episcopal Church, 1931. The parish of St. Mary's dates to the early 19th century when Manhattanville was its own town. Organized in 1823, the first church building, a simple wood-frame chapel with a short steeple, was constructed in 1824-1826. It was once described, "St. Mary's was white and severely plain on the outside and square and bare within." In 1831 this parish became New York's first Episcopal church to abolish pew rentals, a practice of raising funds that often created a hierarchy among the community. The first structure survived until the turn of the century, but then succumbed to the oft destroyer of wood-frame buildings: fire. A new neo-Gothic church was constructed in 1908-1909 by Theodore E. Blake, in association with Carrère & Hastings. The simple church with herringbone brickwork trimmed with concrete, was a sort of departure for all architects involved. Blake worked more commonly on homes, especially later as a individual architect, while Carrère & Hastings (Blake was long Hastings' assistant) were usually involved in much more ornate structures.

New York Training School for Teachers, 1926. Known as the "Castle on the Hill," the school building seen here was built in an "abstracted contemporary Collegiate Gothic style," according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission. Designed by William H. Gompert, Architect and Superintendent of School Buildings for the Board of Education and constructed in 1924-1926, the building originally housed the New York Training School for Teachers. In this buildings teachers were educated and allowed to "practice" teaching. It became the New York Teachers Training College for a few years, but was closed in 1933 when, during the Depression the city had a surplus of 5000 teachers waiting for appointments. Next, the building became Public School 193 briefly before becoming the High School of Music and Art, which it remained for nearly 50 years. Created by Mayor LaGuardia in 1936, it is considered to be the first public high school in the country to have a specialized study of art and music. The school merged with the High School for Performing Arts in 1984 and moved to Lincoln Center. Today the building is occupied by the A. Philip Randolph Campus High School, a public school where screened applicants offered a place in one of three academic academies within. An educational collaboration between the Board of Education and CCNY, the school was established in 1979 and moved into this building in 1983.

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.