Washington Arms at 554 West 148th Street, date unknown.

135 Hamilton Place, ca. 1910. Unfortunately the flourishes at the roofline of this building has since been removed and bricked up.

The plain style of the Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. School defies the dynamic community activism that facilitated its completion in an era of disinvestment in the city’s black and Latino neighborhoods. However, the school’s almost Brutalist style façades are typical of schools built during the postwar era, with its solid mass of red brick punctuated by narrow bands of windows on the upper stories. In the late 1960s, the city commissioned P.S. 153 to replace the aging and overcrowded P.S. 186, acquiring and clearing a tract of residential buildings. After the school was not included in the Board of Education’s austere annual budget in 1971, the locally-led National Economic Growth and Reconstruction Organization (NEGRO) staged a boycott, with staff and students relocating to temporary classrooms throughout the neighborhood until construction began on P.S. 153. Finally completed in 1975, the school was named after Adam Clayton Powell, Jr., who, in 1941, was the first African-American elected to New York City Council before representing Harlem in the U.S. House of Representatives from 1945 to 1971. In 1994-95, the school constructed an addition on the site of its playground (which was relocated to the roof) to house kindergarten and first grade students.

Known locally as the “castle,” A late Gothic Revival building with a façade of roughhewn stone and terra-cotta trim was built for Saint Walburga’s Academy of the Holy Child of Jesus. Founded in 1904 to educate and house orphans, the convent and school were originally located in the two ornate mid-19th century mansions shown here. In their place rose an imposing, five-story, nine-bay structure with a crenellated tower puncturing its gable roof. Similar in appearance to the nearby City College campus, both institutions were constructed of schist excavated during the construction of the IRT subway. In 1957, the academy relocated to Rye, New York, and rechristened itself as the School of the Holy Child. After numerous failed attempts to repurpose the abandoned school, the Fortune Society purchased the building in 1998 and utilized historic tax credits to restore the exterior. It was converted into emergency and longterm housing for the formerly incarcerated

603 West 148th Street, 1932. The staircase leading down the the home at least 15 feet below the grade. Today no. 603 is a narrow apartment house at the level of the street.

Hamilton Apartments, ca. 1910.

Hamilton Theatre, 1915. Constructed in 1912-1913, the Hamilton Theatre was vaudeville house designed by famed theatre architect Thomas Lamb.The neo-Renaissance building has large round-arched windows that dominate the facades. The upper floors are clad in terra cotta and cast iron, with an elaborate bracketed cornice (since removed). The marquee in this 1915 photo advertises Ethel Barrymore in "The Final Judgement" and "Vaudeville Photo Plays." The building became an RKO movie theatre in 1928 as vaudeville was being replaced by "talking pictures." The theatre operated until 1958. In the later 20th century, the building was a sports venue and disco. An evangelical church owned and occupied the building from 1965 until the mid 1990s. The lobby has been converted to retail space, the auditorium has been unused since the 1990s and the marquee has been removed.

(Charles F. McKim of McKim, Mead & White, 1905-06) The New York Public Library’s Hamilton Grange branch, named for the nearby home of Alexander Hamilton, was one of over 60 circulating libraries built with funds from Andrew Carnegie in the early 20th century. Charles McKim designed this Italian Renaissance-inspired, three-story, mid-block building— three characteristics typical of branch libraries during this period. The illusion created by the grading of the building’s fenestration, from the round-arch windows and door on the first floor to the five small, rectangular windows on the third floor, imbues a grand scale to this otherwise modest “palazzo.” The grandeur of the Renaissance style is also reflected in details like the first story window grills and the fleur-de-lis-patterned frieze under the dentilled cornice. The library underwent an interior modernization in 1975 and contains a collection of Spanish publications and works on African-American heritage to serve its local constituency

St. Walburga Convent and School, 1931. St. Walburga Convent and School (named after an 8th-century British female saint) provided housing and education for orphans administered by nuns. It was both a boarding and a day school for girls. It was originally housed in a pair of large 19th-century homes. This Gothic Revival building was constructed between 1911 and 1913 and remained St. Walburga until the late 1950s when the school moved upstate. In 1998 the building was purchased by an organization that assists formerly incarcerated people in reintegrating to society called the Fortune Society. With this new occupant, the building was restored and now can house up to 62 individuals.

Hamilton Grange, prior to its first move, 1889. When the house was moved the main entrance and staircase were removed because the house was going to be facing the street with what was the original side facade. Here the main entrance is seen cut back and the home is on piles of brick pillars in preparation for the move. Notice the rowhouses that had already been constructed in the distance. Much of Hamilton's original 32-acre estate would become residents on the newly implemented street grid.

Hamilton Grange in its original location, pre-1889. The 1802 home of Alexander Hamilton was originally located here at approximately West 143rd Street between Convent Avenue and Hamilton Place. Built by John McComb Jr, the two-story Federal style home was only home to Hamilton for two years before his death. The home remained in his family until the 1840s. In 1889 the home was moved south about 250 feet to 287 Convent Avenue by the St. Luke's Episcopal Church. Notice at right the grove of trees. While Hamilton lived in the home, he had 13 sweet gum trees planted in honor of the 13 original states. When the home was moved a second time in 2008 to St. Nicholas Park, the new landscaping included a new grove of 13 trees.

He told her she could “guess and guess again,” but that he would let her in on his “scheme” when they next saw each other. Now that Alexander Hamilton has been restored as one of the most talked-about New Yorkers, reminders of his footsteps through the city are cropping up all over the grid. He's also a featured personality in New York at its Core, where visitors will have the opportunity to “meet” him through an innovative interactive storyline that highlights his founding of the Bank of New York, a central aspect of the city’s recovery after the devastation of the Revolutionary War and British occupation.

Documentation of gay men and lesbians living and socializing in New York City dates back well over 150 years. In this curated collection, cultural institutions, residences, and bars reveal a gay community that thrived in pre-20th century New York.

Temple B'Nai Israel ca. 1922 Because this was the most aesthetically-accomplished synagogue designed by Henry Roth in the metropolitan New York area, it's all the more sad that the domed interior ornamented with neo-classical elements, like the rosette above, no longer survives and the square dome of the exterior had much of its elaborately-embossed copper cladding stolen. Fortunately, a profusion of finely-carved Jewish iconography, including citrons (citrus fruits) and menorrahs, are still intact.

P.S. 186, 1920. Public School 186 opened in 1903, one of over 170 school buildings designed by prolific Superintendent of School Buildings C.B.J. Snyder during his 32-year tenure. By the mid-70s, the school had slid into disrepair and was plagued by hazardous overcrowding and crime. After the school was shuttered in 1975, the building's condition continued to deteriorate. The building was purchased by the Boys and Girls Club of Harlem in 1986, but an expected redevelopment as a community center never came to pass. For decades, the building sat vacant. In 2013, the building was purchased by a construction firm and converted to private residences. Today, the refurbished building — which is listed on the National Register of Historic Places — retains Snyder's original layout, and includes ground floor space operated by the Boys and Girls Club.

New York is the city that never sleeps, and these photos prove it. If you were looking for a (neon) sign, we've got a few here!

Block 2075, made up of 17 apartment buildings, is representative of the “Apartment Court” building typology found throughout West Harlem. Derived from Ernest Flagg’s “New Law Tenement” design, these apartment buildings were designed to meet the 1901 Tenement House Act requirement that every room contain at least one window. Building codes only permitted self-service elevators in low rise buildings, so apartment courts typically ranged from five to seven stories. These buildings proliferated in the city’s expanding middle class districts, with 63 apartment courts built on Broadway and Riverside, from West 135th to West 165th Streets, between 1905 and 1908. The prolific firm of Neville & Bagge designed at least three of the buildings on Block 2075: Washington Court at 3502-3512 Broadway; Lucerne Court at 505 West 143rd Street; and Hamilton Court at 501 West 143rd Street and 144 Hamilton Place. All of these feature brick and limestone façades designed in the neo-Renaissance and Italianate styles and included self-service elevators and servants’ quarters. Before these buildings’ construction, this block was the home of the Colored Orphan Asylum, constructed in 1867. Founded in 1836 by Quakers, it was originally located at 5th Avenue and 42nd Street until it was burnt to the ground during the Draft Riots of 1863. Although the 233 children at the orphanage escaped unharmed, the building’s destruction prompted the institution to move to the then isolated environs of rural West Harlem. The three-story brick building with a central tower was laid out in a cross plan and positioned mid-block. As professional opinion shifted against large institutions, the asylum constructed a new campus of smaller “cottages” in Riverdale in 1907, selling off its West Harlem site just as the construction of the IRT subway spurred a building boom in the neighborhood.

603 West 148th Street, 1932. This wood-frame home dated to a time when this very steep street was at a much lower grade.

The 11-story Beaumont Apartments was one of many apartment buildings constructed in West Harlem following the 1904 opening of the subway along Broadway. It is a fine example of George & Edward Blum’s use of the Arts & Crafts style. Rising up from a two-story limestone base, the building’s façade is enlivened by patterned brickwork, geometric tile patterns, ornate iron balconies and terracotta bandcourses. Perhaps in reference to its proximity to the home of John James Audubon, the Blums’ design features decorative terra-cotta medallions with images of owls, eagles and parakeets, among other birds. Similar to many of the luxury courtyard apartment buildings of the time, the Beaumont originally offered apartments ranging from five to eight rooms, including entrance foyers and ample closet space. The building has been the home of such notable residents as Congressman Jacob Javits and writer Ralph Ellison.The Beaumont Apartments is a NYC Individual Landmark.

(Thomas W. Lamb, 1912-13) Although missing its original ornate cornice, the Hamilton Theater, designed by famed movie architect Thomas Lamb, prominently stands out on its corner lot. The building’s round-arch windows feature cast-iron caryatids supporting pediments at the second story and oculi at the third story apex of the arches. The Hamilton is typical of Lamb’s early, smaller neighborhood theaters in its neo-Renaissance style, three-story height and use of terra cotta. As Harlem developed at the end of the 19th century, the theater became one of the many satellite centers of entertainment appearing in the burgeoning residential neighborhoods along the new subway system. The 2,500-seat theater was conceived in 1912 by theater operators B.S. Moss and Solomon Brill to host vaudeville performances, screen motion pictures and feature dining and recreational space in the basement and rooftop. Moss sold his theater empire to RadioKeith-Orpheum Radio Pictures, Inc. in 1928, which operated the Hamilton until its closure and conversion to a sports arena in 1958.

This group of 15 Italianate rowhouses was constructed around 1899 by an unknown developer. Each three stories with an English basement, they were built as speculative housing for working class families, including some European immigrants. The houses can be divided into four sub-groups based on their distinctive ornamentation, such as the rock-faced brownstone basements at 611-619. Over time, the houses were subdivided and eventually hosted a number of artists after the 1921 opening of the Gotham Theatre (site 19). The unified appearance of this block has been compromised over the years, as stoops have been removed and window openings altered.