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Mount Morris Park, Manhattan

The Mount Morris Park neighborhood is a residential area in central Harlem, bounded by 125th and 117th Streets from north to south, by Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard to the west, and by Marcus Garvey Memorial Park to the east. The park, known as Mount Morris Park until 1973, has always been the centerpiece of the neighborhood. Besides the park, the area is characterized by attractive low-scale rowhouses, townhouses and institutional buildings, including many churches. Stylistically, most of the architecture found in Mount Morris Park is Romanesque Revival, French Neo-Grec and Queen Anne, as well as Classical and Renaissance. There is also much transition among styles in the architecture here, which results in a charming, eclectic mix, and the neighborhood retains a strong turn-of-the-20th-century architectural character today.

To learn more about Mount Morris Park click here

 

Deserving but not Designated: Mount Morris Park Extension

The Mount Morris Park Historic District in Harlem was calendared and heard in 1966, just one year after the Landmark Preservation Commission’s creation, and designated five years later. It is a prime example of the overly cautious boundaries set during the early years of the LPC, excluding the area west of Lenox Avenue, not reflecting the traditional extent of the neighborhood and leaving unprotected many buildings of the same character, scale, style and architects as those in the district.

Development began in the area in 1872 when the elevated train was extended north to Harlem. Some of the most elegant rowhouses in the neighborhood were constructed on the blocks around and between Central Park and Mount Morris Park. Like the existing Mount Morris Park Historic District, the proposed extension consists primarily of handsome late 19th- and early 20th-century rowhouses whose Romanesque Revival, neo-Grec and Queen Anne styles inspired by the World’s Columbian Exposition in Chicago of 1893. Larger apartment buildings with similar styles and details can also be found here.

In 2011, HDC chose the first class of our “Six to Celebrate”, New York City’s only list of preservation priorities selected directly from the communities. Placing Mount Morris Park on that list was an obvious choice, given the architectural quality of the neighborhood, the significance of its history to New York City and the strength of its community. The district boundaries set by the National Register of Historic Places in 1973 were expanded in 1996 to include adjoining streets in Mount Morris Park. Recognition and protection of these architecturally significant blocks should be afforded by the city as well.

To read the National Register report click here 

To read the chronology of Mont Morris Park click here 

To return to the Deserving but not Designated main page click here 

2002–2008 5th Avenue

Christian Brand;
1868|

These Italianate brownstone houses are survivors of the early development that started in Harlem beginning in the 1860s but was temporarily halted because of the Panic of 1873 and the economic depression that followed. They predate the oldest buildings in the designated Mount Morris Park Historic District and are virtually intact.

NEW YORK PUBLIC LIBRARY HARLEM BRANCH

9–11 West 124th Street;
McKim, Mead & White, 1907–08|

This branch library was one of 67 built in New York City between 1901 and 1923 by a grant from Andrew Carnegie. The limestone façade features Corinthian pilasters capped with stylized books that separate the building’s name, “New York Public Library.” It continues to serve the community as a library today.

WATCHTOWER , center of Marcus Garvey Park

Attributed to James Bogardus;
1855|

The Watchtower, located in the center of Marcus Garvey Park, predates the Civil War and has been an individual New York City landmark since 1967. Four stories tall, the cast-iron octagonal tower includes a large alarm bell hanging from the second story. This structure originally was connected to seven other watchtowers in Manhattan via telegraph, and its bell was sounded to indicate in which district a fire was located. The structures’ use was discontinued in 1878 after fire-alarm boxes were installed in Manhattan. This is the only remaining watchtower in New York City.

Note- The Fire Watch Tower was dismantled due to structural concerns by the NYC Parks Department

TENEMENTS

8–14 West 119th Street;
John Hauser, 1897|

This row of Beaux-Arts style buff-brick and limestone dumbbell tenements is an example of housing that was constructed in this area at the turn of the 20th century other than single-family rowhouses and large apartment buildings. Dumbbell tenements get their name from the shape of the apartments, pinched in at the middle to allow for a light and-air shaft.

Harlem Presbyterian Church

16–20 Mount Morris Park West;
Thomas H. Poole, 1905–06|

This church, now known as the Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church, presents a striking face to the street with a granite façade and golden brick detailing. The church is designed in an eclectic Romanesque style and is somewhat incongruously topped by a dome. Thomas H. Poole designed several other houses of worship in the area, usually for Catholic congregations.

APARTMENT HOUSE

5 West 122nd Street;
Warren C. Dickerson, 1899–1901|

This large seven-story apartment house is an intact example of the multiple-family dwellings constructed in Harlem at the turn of the 20th century. This type of building would have been a step up from the tenement buildings that were also being constructed in this area at the time. This structure with its ornate cornices and window surrounds is architecturally intact in part because of its location within the historic district boundary.

ST . MARTIN ’S EPISCOPAL CHURCH

230 Lenox Avenue;
William A. Potter, 1887–89|

St. Martin’s is thought by many to be the finest example of Romanesque Revival architecture in New York City. Also of note, inside its tower are 42 carillon bells, only second in number in the city to those in Riverside Church. St. Martin’s has long been an important hub of the African-American community here. During the picketing of 125th Street shops in 1933, Reverend John H. Johnson led successful protests against white-owned shops that refused to employ African-Americans during the Depression.

Lenox Lounge

288 Lenox Avenue;
1939|

This bar is renowned for its history as a performance venue in Harlem, hosting such greats as Billie Holliday, Miles Davis and John Coltrane and patrons such as James Baldwin and Langston Hughes in its famed Zebra Room. The exterior and interior contain hallmarks of the Art Deco style including the graphic signage on the front of the building. It has been used in numerous television shows, music videos and movies. The bar was restored in the late 1990s.

Note- The Lenox Lounge is no longer open.

133, 135, 137, 139, 141, 143 West 122nd Street

Francis Kimball;
1885–97|

These six Queen Anne rowhouses arguably make up the most beautiful such row in the Mount Morris Park area. The stoops and first stories are clad in rough-cut and carved brownstone, while the upper stories are a textured mix of red brick and highly ornate red terra cotta. Architect Francis Kimball was known for his highly detailed use of terra cotta, and these buildings attest to his talents. Kimball also designed several skyscrapers in Lower Manhattan, including the landmarked Empire Building located at Rector Street and Broadway and the Corbin Building on John Street and Broadway. The West 122nd Street rowhouses are not in the existing historic district.

102, 104, 106, 108 West 121st Street

Julius Franke;
1890|

This handsome row on the south side of 121st Street is made up of five highly intact Queen Anne/Neo-Renaissance style houses. The buildings have the same architectural quality as buildings located in the historic district, and yet they are not presently protected.

Mount Olivet Baptist Church (Temple Israel)

201–203 Lenox Avenue;
Arnold W. Brunner, 1906–07|

This Neo-Classical limestone building looks like a Roman temple, yet it was originally constructed as a synagogue. Arnold W. Brunner designed many synagogues, including Shearith Israel located on Central Park West, 10 years before this building, in 1897. If one looks closely, Stars of David can be found adorning the building. Mount Olivet, the first African-American congregation on Lenox Avenue, has occupied this building since 1924. The congregation was organized in 1878 and continues to worship at this site today. This building is an example of religious structures in Harlem serving different religions and cultures over time as residents change.

144 West 119th Street

Alfred H. Taylor;
1896|

This three-story residence with raised basement is a transitional Romanesque Revival/Neo-Renaissance rowhouse. It features its original limestone cladding with ornate carving, stoop and a pressed-metal cornice. The building’s high level of architectural integrity is at risk, as it is not protected by the boundaries of the historic district.

145, 147, 149, 151, 153, 155, 157 West 118th Street

Edward L. Angell;
1887–89|

This row of structures features seven Victorian Gothic and Queen Anne rowhouses. Their architect, Edward L. Angell, was from New York City and designed many buildings throughout Manhattan that can still be found in historic districts. Despite the unfortunate removal of several stoops, the row retains original features including a mix of materials such as brick, brownstone and terra cotta and a projecting gable crowning each facade.

114, 116, 118, 120, 122 West 118th Street

P. H. Lynch;
1897|

These five rowhouses along the south side of 118th Street have both Romanesque Revival and Neo-Renaissance style elements. The buildings are clad in limestone, which became fashionable in the 1890s, replacing brownstone as the favorite building material. The highly ornate buildings lay outside of the historic district’s current boundaries.

Graham Court Apartments

1923–1937 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard;
Clinton & Russell, 1899–1901|

This complex was built by major Harlem landowner William Waldorf Astor as a luxury apartment house. Designed in the Italian Renaissance style, the complex features a grand gated-entryway leading to a large, landscaped interior court which provides an abundance of
light and air as well as passive recreation space for the residents. Several years after this building was completed the architects designed a similarly luxurious sister building, the Apthorp Apartments, on Manhattan’s Upper West Side. Graham Court was designated a New York City landmark in 1984.