With Dr. Walter Ivey Delph on board&nbsp;with the project,&nbsp;the government decided to help build this apartment complex. This was significant because these apartments would be "the first large-scale project by and for African Americans in New York backed by a Federal Housing Administration (FHA)." There had never been a housing development for a certain race let alone African Americans. This was also the first time an African American, Vertner Tandy, was granted an architect license in New York, making this apartment complex a significant achievement for the African American community at the time.&nbsp; Today, the apartment building looks the same as others in the area with no distinct markers, but it does hold a lot of history even though there is nothing to mark it. People can drive down the&nbsp;historic&nbsp;district to&nbsp;see the building still standing.

Still functioning as apartments today, these apartment buildings were finished in 1951. The architect went by the name of Vertner Tandy. The building was named for Dr. Walter Ivery Delph - a prominent doctor in Harlem and a large investor in reality. His concern was the low-end housing available for the poor socioeconomic society in the area, which consisted of a large African American population. 

Ivey Delph Apartments

Start at W. 155th St. & Broadway by Trinity Cemetery; drive to historic sites west of St. Nicholas Ave. from the Revolutionary War, 19th century, & early 20th century, including Alexander Hamilton's home & a former silk ribbon factory.

Trinity Church in Lower Manhattan at Broadway and Wall Street has a burial ground but the cemetery was nearly full by the early nineteenth century, after about 150 years of interments. The church bought land in Uptown Manhattan to create a new cemetery; the church also considered buying land in the Bronx or Brooklyn. When the city's street grid was designed on paper in 1811, the grid's northern edge stopped at W. 155th Street. It was thought that it would take many years for settlement to spread north of this grid. The 23 acres purchased by Trinity cemetery to establish a new burial ground in Washington Heights bordered W. 155th Street on the north, so was essentially on the edge of town.Architect James Renwick Jr. was hired to design the new cemetery's landscape with pathways winding through the hilly terrain. Renwick was the designer of the famous "castle" building in Washington, D.C., the original Smithsonian Museum building. Calvert Vaux designed the stone walls surrounding the cemetery's east and west sections in 1876, after the extension of Broadway bisected the cemetery, A plaque was inserted into the wall in 1901 to commemorate the Revolutionary War activities connected with this high ground, as General George Washington's main line of defense in 1776 was established here. When Fort Washington was captured by the British in November 1776, some of the fighting took place within what is now the cemetery. Vaux also revamped the serpentine pathways and designed a Gate House/ Keeper's Lodge which stands at the corner of W. 153rd Street and Amsterdam Avenue in the east section, near heavy iron gates.The Chapel of the Intercession's footprint is shaped like a Latin cross, with the main entrance at the west end (on Broadway), atop a flight of steps. The altar is near the east end of the building, as is a square bell tower. The tower contains a bell gifted to the parish in 1704 by the Bishop of London. The marble altar is set with hundreds of stones collected from places with religious significance and held in place by inlaid bronze. Tiffany and Company created the church's crucifix, candlesticks, and ritual vessels. Bertram G. Goodhue's tomb is topped by an effigy of the architect of the Chapel, sculpted by Lew Lawrie. Goodhue also designed St. Thomas' Church in New York City, the Cadet Chapel at West Point in New York State, Yale Library in Connecticut, and the Nebraska State Capitol in Lincoln; the tomb includes reliefs of these other works. The Chapel was consecrated in 1915.To the southeast of the Chapel are two related buildings, a three-story Parish House and a two-story Vicarage. The Parish House contains a large social hall, a kitchen, and office space for the parish. The Vicarage is a Tudor style residence. All three buildings are part of the National Register listing and are built of random ashlar with trim and details in limestone.Trinity Cemetery continues to be an active burial ground owned by the Parish of Trinity Church, offering mausoleum spaces. As of October 2021, the cemetery requires that visitors wear face masks. Entrance is through the pedestrian gate at 770 Riverside Drive; hours are 9a-4p Mondays to Sundays. Funeral procession vehicles enter through the main gate at 601 W. 153rd Street; the gate is currently closed to other vehicles.

Trinity Cemetery is a park-like burial ground bordered by W. 153rd Street, Riverside Drive, W. 155th Street, and Amsterdam Avenue. The famed naturalist and artist, John James Audubon is buried in Trinity Cemetery; the cemetery is on land that was formerly part of Audubon's farm. Trinity Church bought the 23 acres in 1842 from Richard Carman. Broadway Avenue was extended northward through the cemetery in the 1870s and a suspension footbridge was constructed to join the east and west parts of the cemetery. The footbridge was removed in 1911 to build the Chapel of the Intercession in the northwest corner of the east part. The Chapel was designed by Bertram Grosvenor Goodhue in Late Gothic Revival style; the renowned architect died in 1924 and is entombed in the chapel transept's north wall. Trinity Cemetery and the Chapel of the Intercession Complex were listed in the New York and National Registers of Historic Places in 1980.

Trinity Cemetery and Chapel of the Intercession

Nathaniel Bush, the official architect for New York's Police Department, designed the new building for the 32nd Police Precinct in 1870; their earlier station house was a small, three-story brick building with no jail space. In the 1870s, the new building was built in the same spot, on land bought in 1864 in the New York suburb of Carmansville. Both the shorter (main) side, facing Amsterdam Avenue, and the longer side along W. 152nd Street, had central entrances with brownstone round-arched pediments; the W. 152nd Street doorway has been changed into a window. At times in the past, the red brick has been painted white to simulate stone. The building's corners are edged in brownstone quoins, as are slightly projecting, three-bay wide central sections. A full basement is surrounded now by a wrought iron fence. The original doors have been replaced; the lanterns that once flanked the doorways and decorative urns atop the cast iron cornice have been removed. There are central pavilions in the upper story of the mansard roof, flanked by metal pedimented windows.Up to the time of a new law in 1844, New York City's policemen had a different day job and only patrolled the streets on alternate nights. The city's police force received its first set of written rules in 1845: the "Regulations for the Day and Night Police of the City of New York with Instructions as to the Legal Powers and Duties of Policemen." Police officers received a copper badge shaped like an eight-pointed star and were sometimes nicknamed the "star police" or "coppers." Full uniforms weren't adopted until 1853: a blue coat with "M P" (for Municipal Police) on the collar, gray trousers with a narrow Black stripe on the outer edge of each leg, and a 22-inch long baton. A telegraph line connection was built in the early 1850s between the police chief and the precincts. A new police force under the control of New York State was established in 1857 to deal with increasing crime in the city and was called the Metropolitan Police. New York's Municipal Police force was still in existence but was intended to be phased out; the two forces often clashed over turf but eventually the Metropolitan force won out. Some precincts had more than one station house; the station house was staffed with an inspector, a captain, four sergeants, patrolmen, and officers. Architect Nathaniel Bush was hired to modernize station houses; he had an office at Police Headquarters on Mulberry Street. Bush designed over twenty new or renovated station houses for the city's police in the 1860s and 1870s. The force was restructured after the 1870 "Tweed Charter" returned police powers to the restored Municipal Police, governed by four commissioners appointed by the Mayor; the number of commissioners rose to five in 1873. Telephone lines replaced the telegraph lines by 1880. The first women joined the force in 1888; the four were assigned as "precinct matrons." When the five boroughs became one city in 1898, the "New York Police Department" combined 18 smaller police forces.The new building for the 32nd Precinct was finished in 1872 and included a brick stable for their 14 horses and jail space. Mounted police were part of the 32nd's force of over 70 men by the 1880s. The former precinct house was designated a New York City Landmark in 1982. By that time, it was owned by the St. Luke African Methodist Episcopal Church; the church building is one block north of the station house. By 2006, the former police precinct building was being used by the church for their Self Help Program. The church also rents out space in the building for medical offices.

The four-story red brick building on the southeast corner of Amsterdam Avenue and W. 152nd Street, across from the Carmansville Playground, is the 32nd Police Precinct House. The structure was built in the early 1870s for the 32nd Precinct and later was used by the 40th Precinct and the 30th Precinct. The building is covered by a French Second Empire mansard style roof with decorative iron fencing on top. The brick building next door at 1850 Amsterdam Avenue was built as the 32nd Police Precinct Garage around 1920. The building complex (station house and garage) was listed in the New York and National Registers of Historic Places in 2019 and is part of the West Harlem National Register-eligible Historic District. The station house is owned by a local church who rents out part of the building for medical offices.

32nd Police Precinct House

Joseph Loth left Hartford, Connecticut for New York City in 1862. J. Loth &amp; Co. trademarked "Fair &amp; Square" as their brand name for silk ribbons in 1877. In 1877, Loth lived at 212 E. 20th Street in Manhattan. The company added a trademark in 1887 of "Fair and Square" for silk dress goods, ribbons, velvets, plushes, and ties. Patterson, New Jersey held the most silk ribbon manufacturing factories in the U.S. in the late nineteenth century, but New York City was second. The main competition was from factories in England. J. Loth &amp; Co. kept their SoHo offices and wholesale showroom at 28 Greene Street and manufactured "gros grain and segar" ribbon from an industrial building in West Midtown at 494 Broadway. The company sold wholesale only instead of directly to consumers, but advertised extensively.The new factory for J. Loth &amp; Company in the 1880s was designed with a footprint resembling a backwards "K" with the longest side along Amsterdam Avenue. It was one of the first industrial buildings in the area, which was mainly residential. While factories typically were designed by engineers in that era to accommodate machinery, the Loth Mill needed an architect to keep the building in line with New York City's building codes. Czech-born Hugo Kafka emigrated to the United States to assist in designing the 1876 Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia, and then opened an office in New York City. Kafka placed the angled, narrow wings of the Loth factory with large, glass windows to take advantage of natural light; under the floor were long drive shafts and electrical wiring for the electric lighting. The wings were under 30 feet wide to eliminate the need for structural supports or fire walls that would block space needed for mill machinery. A brick frieze on the W. 151th Street side reads "Silk - Ribbons"; a frieze on the corner of Amsterdam and W. 150th used to read "Joseph Loth &amp; Co."In the late 1890s, Mr. and Mrs. Joseph Loth donated cash, silk ribbons, and silk remnants to The Home for Aged and Infirm Hebrews of New York, located at West 105th Street near Columbus Avenue. The Loths, who lived then at 884 St. Nicholas Avenue in Manhattan, were life members of the Home, as were their sons Bernard and Henry A. Mrs. Loth served the Home as a trustee from 1873 to 1874.Joseph Loth died in 1900 and the factory on Amsterdam Avenue was vacant several years later, although the business continued under Henry A. Loth with a factory in Norwalk, Connecticut. Henry served as chairman of the Ribbon Manufacturers of the United States in 1912 (a division of the Silk Association of America). Behind the Amsterdam Avenue building, a skating rink was built in 1906 and a "moving picture show" in 1907. The central entrance of the former factory on Amsterdam Avenue used to feature a clock tower but the tower was destroyed by fire in 1916 (see the photo below). The Lofts sold the building in 1928. The structure came to house garment and furniture operations.Anthony Morfesis owned the building by 1989 and considered rebuilding the clock tower. The ground floor along Anderson Avenue continues to contain commercial businesses, including Wimpy's Restaurant &amp; Pizzeria, Guzman Barber Shop, and Amsterdam Mini Market. Upstairs includes the New Heights Academy Charter School, established in 2006 as the first charter school in their district. The school has an enrollment of over 750 students in grades 5 to 12.

Joseph Loth founded a silk mill in 1875 on Greene Street in Manhattan to manufacture mainly ribbons. He built a new factory here on Amsterdam Avenue in Sugar Hill that opened in 1886. The brick building is three stories tall and a block long. Loth's "Fair &amp; Square Ribbons" were very popular and sold in stores across the country. About 600 people worked in the Philadelphia red brick building, creating 165 shades of ribbon in 14 widths and multiple styles. Loth died in 1900 and the business moved from this factory in 1902. Loth's son, Bernard converted the vacant Amsterdam Avenue factory building into general loft space in 1904 and added ground floor, cast iron storefronts. Commercial spaces were added along the Amsterdam Avenue ground floor and continue as businesses today. The upper floors are a charter school. You can still see the "ghost" of the painted sign advertising the company's ribbons on the whitewashed brick facade at the rear corner on W. 150th Street.

Loth Silk Factory

The three-story, three-bay-wide configuration of the library building is typical of the Carnegie libraries built in Manhattan in the early twentieth century. The Beaux Arts style main facade is loosely based on Renaissance-era Italian palazzi residences. The large windows and doorway on the first floor are arched; the second-floor windows are rectangular and pedimented. Narrow windows are wedged between the main windows no all three stories. "New York Public Library" is inscribed in the cornice; the seal of the City of New York is in the keystone above the doorway. The rear windows were removed and a one-story-flat-roofed wing was added in 1973. Most of the interior of this library branch was renovated in 1975; the interior was gutted so no original interior details remain. The library re-opened in June 1976.Alexander Hamilton commuted to his law office in Lower Manhattan from his country home in Harlem that he built in 1802 and named The Grange. The trip took two hours by carriage! The house has been moved a couple times but still survives in Hamilton Heights (yes, the neighborhood was named after him, too) and now serves as a museum (see the Clio entry for Hamilton Grange, now located off of W. 141st Street and Hamilton Terrace). New York Public Library (NYPL) was founded in 1895. At that time, The Grange had already been moved to W. 144th Street and 10th Avenue (Amsterdam Avenue now). The new library branch built in 1905 to 1906 named for The Grange was only about a block away from its namesake when it was constructed; at that time, the neighborhood was mainly residential and middle class. By the middle of the twentieth century, the area had become more multicultural and of lower economic status.Three public libraries - the Astor, Lenox, and Tilden Library Trust - merged in 1895 to form the NYPL. The NYPL now has 92 branches in Manhattan, the Bronx, and Staten Island, making it the largest public library system in the U.S. Ten other branch libraries were designed by McKim, Mead and White for the NYPL; while all are similar, none are identical. The building is fully accessible for those in wheelchairs and offers programs for children, teens, and adults. It has meeting space for groups and provides materials geared toward new adult readers.

The building at 503 W. 145th Street is one of the 65 libraries built in New York City in the early twentieth century with millions of dollars donated by businessman and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. The Hamilton Grange Branch of the New York Public Library was constructed from 1905 to 1906 and opened on January 8th 1907. The three-story, Beaux Arts style building was designed by Charles F. McKim of the well-known architectural firm McKim, Mead &amp; White. The name comes from the country home called The Grange that Alexander Hamilton built nearby for his family in 1802. The library building was listed in the New York and National Registers of Historic Places in 1981 and has been a New York City Landmark since 1970. It still houses a library branch.

Hamilton Grange Branch, N.Y. Public Library

About Alexander Hamilton 	 	 	Alexander Hamilton was one of the most influential founding fathers of the United States of America. He played a significant role in the fight against Britain during the Revolutionary War. He was also New York's most prominent lawyer during the 1780s, but he is best known for his efforts in establishing a foundation for the young country.
After the end of the Revolutionary War, Hamilton argued that a stronger central government was needed to correct the mistakes made by relying on the Articles of Confederation. He would go on to serve as Secretary of Treasury, where he wrote five key reports that established American economic policy. He also encouraged Congress to pay the interest on the debt the country owed, not just the principle. To help with this, he wrote a report to convince Congress to establish a national bank to control the country's finances.&nbsp; Not everyone agreed with Hamilton's views though. When Hamilton wrote the prophetic 'On the Subject of Manufactures,' which argued that the United States should shift the bulk of its economy from agriculture to industry, Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson stood in disagreement, mainly because Jefferson came from the agrarian South. Even with backlash and disagreements, though, Hamilton's impact on the country is still felt today.&nbsp; The Grange The Grange was originally built because Alexander Hamilton and his wife Elizabeth wanted to avoid yellow fever - a threat during the summer in lower Manhattan - and sought Harlem-Heights' cool breezes. In 1802, they moved in and immediately began entertaining friends, colleagues, and leaders in their home and gardens. After Hamilton's death, Elizabeth was helped by friends, who made sure she had enough money to live with her children at the Grange. The Grange has been relocated twice over the years (further detailed explanation&nbsp;below.) The house has been mostly untouched, except for some rooms which have been modified (i.e.&nbsp;film rooms, rooms filled with&nbsp;information boards)&nbsp;in order to help visitors understand more about the place and the man who lived in it.&nbsp; The Re-locations The first relocation&nbsp;was due to changes in the Manhattan&nbsp;street grid during 1889. The Grange (in foreclosure)&nbsp;was in the way of 143rd Street&nbsp;and was in peril of being demolished. The local church (Luke's Episcopal Church), however, decided to take on the responsibility of relocating the Grange. It bought the house and moved it&nbsp;a two block distance from its original location (1889). It was moved a second time (2006-2008) in order to restore lost features from the first relocation. The house was moved to St. Nicholas Park, which was judged as a more appropriate setting for display. The building was elevated in one piece and moved to its current position.&nbsp;Many lost features such as the front porch and main staircase were restored.&nbsp;The Grange was re-opened to the general public in 2011.

Hamilton Grange National Memorial is the relocated home of Alexander Hamilton, who was one of the founding fathers of the United States of America. The house itself has three floors, including the basement, which is where the visitor entrance is located. Visitors to the Memorial can learn more about Hamilton's view of the nation, along with details about the house itself, which has been relocated twice.

Hamilton Grange National Memorial

The City College of New York was established in 1847 by Townsend Harris as the Free Academy. The original location was the corner of Lexington Avenue and 23rd Street in a four-story building with corner towers. The Free Academy was the first higher education institution in the U.S. to be entirely publicly supported and became the College of the City of New York in 1866. Students held a procession along Fifth Avenue from 42nd to 23rd Street on April 30, 1866, announcing the "burial" of Free Academy and the "christening" of the College of the City of New York. One member of the committee that planned the celebration was then-freshman Everett M. Shepard of the Class of 1869.Decades later, alumnus and college trustee Everett M. Shepard was instrumental in helping the college obtain land for the new campus in the Hamilton Heights area of West Harlem. Ground was broken for the Main Building (later renamed Shepard Hall) in March 1903 but construction took much longer than anticipated due to disputes between the contractors and the client. Shepard Hall and four other buildings lining the new campus quad were finally ready for students in the fall of 1907.In the last three decades, several ambitious projects aimed at restoring the building have been completed. Architect Carl Stein replaced more than 70,000 terra cotta pieces using modern technologies and materials but keeping the same style. The project won the Lucy G. Moses Preservation Award in 2018 from the New York Landmarks Conservancy. Restoration of Shepard Hall's Great Hall, along the building's central axis on the second floor, won the same honor in 1997. The cathedral-ceilinged space has been the scene of speeches by many notables including Albert Einstein, and U.S. Presidents Woodrow Wilson, William Howard Taft, and Franklin Delano Roosevelt. The two-story stained glass windows in the Great Hall contain emblems from many other U.S. colleges. A mural on one end wall by artist Edwin H. Blashfield is titled "The Graduate" depicts a seated woman representing knowledge holding a globe with a student in the center, about to receive his diploma from the female figure Alma Mater. The curving side wings of the building contained classrooms for subjects not taught in the four Quad buildings.Shepard Hall is the one building on campus that "never sleeps" - like the city it serves, the building is always open. The building houses the Departments of Music and Media and Communication Arts. The Music Library is in room 160. A hallway called Lincoln Corridor is lined with portraits of CCNY past presidents. A bronze bust of Lincoln in this hallway has a lighter-colored nose from the tradition of students rubbing the statue's nose for good luck before an exam. The bust, by artist John Gutzon-Mothe Borglum, used to be located outside, near an entrance to Shepard Hall. the bust was presented to the college at a ceremony held in the Great Hall in 1908. Duplicate castings of the bust are located at the White House and at Lincoln's grave in Springfield, Illinois.First Lady Michelle Obama chose CCNY to give a commencement address in 2016 because its campus was one of the most diverse in the country. Colin Powell, former U.S. Secretary of State, is one of the notable graduates of CCNY, as was scientist Jonas Salk.

Constructed from 1903 to 1907, Shepard Hall became the first building on the College of the City of New York's new campus and was originally known as the Main Building. The Late Gothic Revival, castle or cathedral-like structure designed by George Browne Post was built of stone and terra cotta. Shepard Hall is east of the Quad, which is lined with four other early campus stone, Late Gothic Revival buildings that constitute North Campus. There are more modern buildings on the adjacent South Campus, south of W. 138th Street. Shepard Hall was listed in the New York and National Registers of Historic Places in 1984.

Shepard Hall (CCNY Main Building)

The Hebrew Benevolent Society of the City of New York (HBSNY) formed in 1822 with Daniel Jackson as president and Joseph Jackson as treasurer. Their goal was to "ameliorate the condition of the unfortunate of the same fate" residing in New York City and elsewhere. The Jacksons was Ashkenazim Jews, a group that hailed mainly from central and eastern Europe. Another prominent group in New York City at the time were Sephardic Jews with a history in Spain before being expelled in 1492. The latter group had been the first to arrive in New York (New Amsterdam) in 1654 and tended to be wealthier than the newcomers and transient members of the former group.The HBSNY met in a room in the Shearith Israel Synagogue, a congregation dominated by the Sephardic Jews. The Jacksons and other Ashkenazim Jews split from the congregation and formed their own, B'nai Jeshurun, in 1825. The HBSNY became an affiliate of the new congregation, but still attracted members from the Sephardic community. In 1832, the HBSNY was incorporated by the New York State legislature. In the early decades, the organization aided many families, mainly widows, orphans and immigrants, by aiding them with funds, firewood, and clothing in their homes, and providing jobs. Immigration from Europe accelerated in the 1840s and 1850s; the city's Jewish population swelled to 16,000 by the early 1850s, doubling in one decade. Dozens more Jewish welfare societies were formed in New York City from the late 1840s to the early 1860s.The first Hebrew Orphan Asylum in Manhattan was established in April 1860 in a four-story, rented building at 1 Lamartine Place in the Chelsea neighborhood. The brick rowhouse was on what is now W. 29th Street between Eighth and Ninth Avenues. The building was meant to house up to 30 orphans and half-orphans (where the surviving parent could no longer care for their child). In 1860, the New York State legislature authorized the city's Common Council to grant lots on E. 77th Street near Third Avenue to the HBSNY to establish a permanent orphanage. The three-story building was about 120 feet by 60 feet with two wings, one for housing each sex.After a couple decades, the E. 77th Street orphanage proved to be too small, and plans were made to move further Uptown to Amsterdam Avenue, on high ground near W. 137th Street. General George Washington had occupied this area in September 1776 during the Revolution's Battle for Manhattan. Work on the foundation of the massive building along Amsterdam Avenue began in 1882, and more adjacent land was bought. The brick and brownstone building was finished in 1884, with few other structures nearby. A cable car/ trolley line began running along Amsterdam Avenue by the new Asylum in 1887.A musical band was formed by the 1870s at the orphanage; the young men of the Hebrew Orphan Asylum Band played in local parades, fundraising events, and at special ceremonies. The band played at the laying of the cornerstone for a new neighborhood school building, Public School No. 46, in December 1889 at the corner of St. Nicholas and W. 156th Streets. The band played in the funeral procession of Civil War General William T. Sherman in 1891 in New York; Sherman had been a friend of the Asylum's president, Jesse Seligman. In 1895, the band played a benefit concert at Madison Square Garden as part of the Hebrew Fair. The band got to play at home in November 1896 in a ceremony to mark the opening of two new wings of the Asylum. The Gothic/ Renaissance style building was shaped like a backwards E, with a main building of four stories with two connecting wings at right angles, and a small center wing of three stories.The New York Yankees baseball team expressed interest in buying the Amsterdam Avenue former orphanage property in the early 1940s for a new stadium; they had been sharing the Polo grounds with the New York Giants; the deal fell through.

Where Schiff Park is now, on the west side of Amsterdam Avenue between W. 136th and 138th Streets, once stood the Hebrew Orphan Asylum. The core of the massive building was constructed from 1882 to 1884 by the Hebrew Benevolent Society of the City of New York to house Jewish orphans. The structure could house almost 1,800 orphans. When the cottage style of housing was shown to be more beneficial for raising children, the society decided to sell the building to fund a new campus in the Bronx, and the building was vacated in 1941. The asylum building then housed U.S. Armed Forces for the City College of New York's Army Specialized Training Program and was renamed "Army Hall." The building was vacated once again in 1955 and demolished. The New York City Department of Parks established the Jacob H. Schiff Playground on the cleared site in 1956.

Hebrew Orphan Asylum, former (now Schiff Playground)

The Gate House was part of the system that brought water to New York City from the Croton Aqueduct in upper Westchester County. The heart of the building is 75 feet deep with sloped dam walls six feet thick. The gate house functioned to control the amount of water flowing from the underground masonry aqueduct to the Central Park Reservoir and elsewhere in Manhattan.The building was vacant after 1984 and was deteriorating. The acquisition of the Gatehouse space in 2006 allowed for Harlem Stage to offer extended runs of theater performances. The building is owned by New York City and leased to Harlem Stage. The renovated building includes a 192-seat theater space. The renovation, designed by architect Rolf Ohlhausen of the firm Ohlhaufsen DuBois, cost $21 Million ($18 million from the city and $3 million from private donors). Within the former deep space where water was once stored, the architect created three levels. The cellar contains offices and a green room; the first floor is an entrance space with a lobby and box office; and the top level is the theater. Stained glass windows and door transoms were restored. The octagonal tower was repurposed as a romantic entry point for the theater. Portions of the interior still show the original brownstone or cream-colored brick. New front doors were carved out of the six-foot walls facing Convent Avenue. From the outside, a balcony faces south toward the Empire State Building.The slogan of Harlem Stage is "Diverse Artists. Transformative Art." The organization provides "opportunity, commissioning, and support for artists of color" and presents work that "responds to the historical and contemporary conditions that shape our lives and the communities" they serve. They commission or produce artistic performances that are premiered at the Harlem Stage Gatehouse under its WaterWorks program. They partner with organizations including Classical Theater of Harlem. Since its founding in 1979, Harlem Stage had been using a large auditorium nearby at City College of New York's Aaron Hall. A drop-down screen in the new theater space presents films like the annual Harlem Film Series of independent works by artists of color. Part of Harlem Stage's mission is to educate children on the diversity, excitement, and inspiration of the performing arts. They typically reach over 2,300 of the city's students annually. They target schools with under-funded arts programs and students with little easy access to live performances.Harlem Stage at the Gatehouse reopened in September 2021 after closing in 2020 due to the pandemic. As of October 2021, proof of vaccination is required for entry and masks are required. The building also is available for events and space rental. The organization provides some digital events, including a treasure hunt (see events link below).

The stone building at the southwest corner of Convent Avenue and W. 135th Street was built from 1884 to 1890 as part of the Croton Aqueduct system to bring fresh water into New York City. The Romanesque Revival style structure was designed by Frederick S. Cook. Since 2006, the renovated building has been the Harlem Stage Gatehouse, a performing arts center, with spaces for rehearsal, performance, and support of cultural arts. The mission of Harlem Stage is to "perpetuate and celebrate the unique and diverse artistic legacy of Harlem and the indelible impression it has made on American culture." The building was listed in the National Register in 1983 for its significance in architecture and engineering.

Harlem Stage Gatehouse

In October 1911, a group of Jewish men in the Manhattanville neighborhood of West Harlem incorporated their newly created minyan as the Chevra Talmud Torah Anshei Marovi, Inc. The original trustees and the signers of the Certificate of Incorporation were Charles Leischer, Osias Fuhrman, Wold Teitelbaum, Isaac Mittleman, Morris Schiff, and Simon Teicher. For the first nine years, the small group of Eastern European immigrants met in rented space in storefronts and a bar. In 1920, the group purchased a two-story house at 15 Old Broadway. They hired the architectural firm Meisner &amp; Uffner to design the new synagogue that was built in this spot.Old Broadway Synagogue is a two-story plus basement, vernacular building and not based on a particular architectural style. Blueprints show that the structure was originally intended to be three stories; only two were built, probably due to limited funds. Due to vandalism and the deterioration of the framing, the original stained glass window on the front of the building was removed in the 1960s and the arched space was bricked up for many decades. Using old photos and the remaining stained glass in the transom above the doorway as a guide, the stained glass windows were recreated. A grant from the New York Landmarks Conservancy was awarded to the synagogue for the windows in 2001. Other parts of the building have been renovated off and on since the late 1990s, including a new roof and restoration of skylights.The Principal Rabbi at Old Broadway Synagogue in the 1940s was Shepard Brode. Old Broadway Synagogue offered a Hebrew School (Talmud Torah) until the 1960s or 1970s. Rabbi Jacob Kret, a native of northern Poland, was the head of Old Broadway Synagogue from 1950 until his retirement in 1997. During World War II, Rabbi Kret fled to Lithuania; he was later sent by the Soviet occupiers of Lithuania to a labor camp in Siberia. He and his family emigrated to the U.S. in 1950. In the 1950s, many Holocaust survivors arrived in the area and the congregation grew. Rabbi Kret also served as a Talmud tutor at the Jewish Theological Seminary nearby; seminary students and other local college students worshiped at Old Broadway. He passed away at age 97 in 2007.Old Broadway Synagogue, also sometimes called the Manhattanville Jewish Center, had a congregation of 70 at the time of its 100th anniversary in 2011. The synagogue reopened after the pandemic-related closure in October 2020.

The buff brick building at 15 Old Broadway is the Old Broadway Synagogue, constructed in 1923 for a local Jewish congregation formed in 1911. Immigrants from Russia and Poland made up most of the early congregants and were mainly Ashkenazi Jews. While much of the population of local permanent residents in the congregation has moved out of West Harlem, the Orthodox Jewish synagogue still draws from young people affiliated with local colleges and universities. The original stained glass window above the doorway was replaced with brick for many decades and was restored around 2003. The Old Broadway Synagogue was listed in the New York and National Registers in 2001 and 2002.

Old Broadway Synagogue

St. Walburga's originally operated a school in West Harlem in 1904 that was housed in an Italianate style, two-story Victorian house with a three-story square tower; the convent was next door in another Victorian house with a Mansard roof topped by a widow's walk. The schist rock for constructing St. Walburga's Academy on Riverside Drive came from excavation of tunnels for the city's first subway line, the Interborough Rapid Transit subway. The main block of the building, facing Riverside Drive, is 3-1/2 stories tall over an English basement with a double-stairway central entrance into a five-story tower. A rear wing is two stories tall, built into the land that slopes down toward Riverside Drive. No other buildings were adjacent when the castle-like Academy was first built. The Roman Catholic sisters at St. Walburga's Academy taught 50 girls in four grades in 1915, according to the National Catholic Education Association. The principal of St. Walburga's Academy in 1922 was Mother Mary Cleophas, overseeing a staff of 12 faculty teaching 56 girls. The Sisters of the Holy Child celebrated their school's 25th year at a fete in December 1929.So who was Saint Walburga? She was a nun born in England who traveled to the German town of Heidenheim to head the nuns at a Benedictine double monastery, for men and women. Her elder brother, later Saint Wunibald, led the monks in the monastery. After Wunibald died, Walburga led both the monks and the nuns for a couple decades until she died in 779. Her remains have been moved a few times but ended up at the Holy Cross Church in Eichstatt, Germany, with her brother's remains; the Church of St. Walburga stands there now. Her bones were kept as relics and were said to secrete a liquid that was distributed by the nuns to "cure ills" and produce "miracles."After St. Walburga's Academy relocated to Rye, New York, in 1957, the castle-like building on Riverside Drive was used briefly as a Yeshiva, an Orthodox Jewish school. The building was vacant for decades before being purchased by the Fortune Society in 1998. The Fortune Society considered 21 other sites in New York before deciding upon what they called "the Castle" for its beauty, low cost, and accessibility to transportation. Original plans called for the Fortune Society to move to the Castle from its downtown offices, operate a service center within the Castle, and build a residential facility next door. Plans were altered to keep a downtown presence and to renovate the interior of the Castle for housing. The Fortune Academy opened in the Castle in April 2002, offering apartments for recently released prison inmates returning to New York City who would otherwise become homeless, until they could be placed in more permanent housing. The facility contains 18 emergency beds and 41 longer-term beds in single- and double-occupancy apartments. Occupants receive services and counseling from Fortune Academy employees. Staff offer meals prepared in the building's industrial kitchen, which doubles as a training space for food service career training. A community lounge space holds almost 120 for gatherings; movable partitions can create classroom space. The state donated funds for a computer lab. Historic Tax Credits helped fund costly replacement of the building's slate roof, repair of terra cotta ornamentation, and windows replacement. The Fortune Society won a preservation award in 2003 from the New York Landmarks Conservancy for their restoration of the exterior of the Castle. The "Fortune Academy" has become a model for housing homeless released prisoners.

The Gothic Revival stone building at the corner of Riverside Drive and W. 140th Street was built to house St. Walburga's Academy, which opened in 1913. The Roman Catholic school was a boarding and day school for girls; it was also called Academy of the Holy Child. The academy relocated to Rye, New York in 1957 and became known as the School of the Holy Child. Since 1998, the buildimg has been owned by the Fortune Society, a non-profit organization dedicated to housing homeless, previously-incarcerated individuals. The exterior of the St. Walburga's Academy building was restored and was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2004.

St. Walburga's Academy

The Continental Army, led by Commander in Chief George Washington, was positioned along the Harlem Ridge in three lines of defense. The first line of defense was included three small redoubts, enclosed fortifications constructed to defend against an attack from any direction. The colonists "first line of defense" was roughly located at the modern day 147th Street. Although hastily constructed, this line of defense was the most elaborate of all the defensive lines built near this site built by reserves under General Spencer. This defensive line was constructed leading up to the Battle of Harlem Heights which occurred on September 15, 1776. The works extended from St. Nicholas Avenue (then the King’s Highway) to the summit of “Break Neck Hill”, then crossed west to the old Pinehurst mansion, zigzagging irregularly afterward to the point at Broadway and 147th, finally terminating in the Hudson River. The defensive line saw action on October 27, 1776 when the Americans successfully resisted a British advance. Colonel Robert Magaw led the battle from Fort Washington. During the final assault on Fort Washington on November 16, 1776 a much stronger attack was made on the first line of defense by the combined forces of some 4,000 British and Hessian troops led by Lieutenant General Earl Percy. The position was defended by a mere 600 Pennsylvanians and Connecticut Rangers. They made their stand until they could no longer maintain the position, retreating to Fort Washington and later surrendering to some 14,000 opponents. Most of these men were taken to prison houses and ships following their surrender and many would die in their captivity. This structure was an important part of the defense of New York during the Revolutionary War. The Battle of Harlem Heights is often referenced by historians as a psychologically important, if small, victory for the Continental Army. After demoralizing defeats in New York, this short battle revealed to the troops that they had another option than simply, retreat. For more information about the Battle of Harlem Heights, reference <a href="https://www.theclio.com/entry/23468" target="_blank" style="color:rgb(17, 17, 17);">this Clio post</a>. For more information about the Battle of Fort Washington, reference <a href="https://www.theclio.com/entry/19705" target="_blank">this Clio Post</a>

Dedicated by the Washington Heights Chapter of the Daughters of the American Revolution on December 29, 1909, this boulder and commemorative plaque mark the position of a defensive structure that was used by American colonists during the Revolutionary War. The Continental Army held this position through three British attacks until the fall of Fort Washington. The plaque is inscribed, “This stone marks the position of the First Line of Defence constructed across these heights and bravely defended by the American Army – 1776.” 

West Harlem Historical Driving Tour, W. 155th to W. 125th St.: Sugar Hill, Hamilton Heights, Manhattanville

Ivey Delph Apartments

Introduction

Images

Backstory and Context

Sources