Astor Row

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Astor Row

Astor Row is the name of 130th Street between Fifth Avenue and Lenox Avenue in Harlem in New York City's Manhattan borough .

Appearance

The special thing about Astor Row are the semi-detached houses on the south side of the street, the design of which is very unusual: the houses were set back from the street. They all have wooden porches and a front yard - a Manhattan curiosity. This makes a southern impression and has been compared to the appearance of part of Savannah, Georgia .

The houses on the north side of the street, on the other hand, are large, attractive brownstone townhouses of a more typical style. In 1932, Father Divine , leader of the Peace Mission Movement , lived on the north side of Astor Row.

history

The houses were built on land purchased by John Jacob Astor in 1844 for $ 10,000. However, the construction project was implemented by his grandson William Backhouse Astor , who hired the architect and developer Charles Buek to oversee the project. The houses were all built between 1880 and 1883.

After William Backhouse Astor's death, the houses were divided among his grandsons: Mary, James and Sarah Van Alen. The property remained in the hands of the Astor family until 1911, when the ten westernmost homes were sold to real estate investor Max Marx, who traded them for a stake in an apartment building in Washington Heights . However, the new owners, the Brown Realty Company, could not service the loan, so that the houses became the property of the New York Savings Bank.

In 1920 a New York Times reporter described the houses as one of the most attractive and exclusive home centers in Harlem, offering an image of domestic tranquility and comfort that only a few other blocks in Manhattan have ("a picture of domestic tranquility and comfort which few other blocks in the city possess"). In 1928, Claude McKay described Astor Row as “the block beautiful” in his novel Home to Harlem .

Astor Row homes were originally rented for $ 1,000 a year and were in such high demand that there was a waiting list for these properties for years to come. At first, white people lived here. In 1920, real estate entrepreneur James Cruikshank bought 20 of the 28 houses (ten owned by New York Savings Bank and ten still owned by the Astor family) and rented them to black people.

Decline

Homes were neglected during Harlem's decline from 1930 to 1990 and porches were gradually lost. In the second edition of the AIA Guide to New York City from 1978, Astor Row is attested that it has a subtle beauty that has been tarnished by years of economic misery (“ restrained beauty which has been tarnished by years of economic distress ”).

Redevelopment

In 1981, New York City listed these houses as a historic monument and provided funds to restore the facades and rehabilitate the plumbing, heating, and electrical installations. The institutions that oversaw and funded these redevelopments were the New York Landmarks Conservancy , the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission , the Vincent Astor Foundation , the Manhattan Community Board 10 , the Abyssian Development Corporation , the Commonwealth Fund , the New York City Department of Housing Preservation and Development and various local banks.

In 1992 Ella Fitzgerald performed a benefit concert at Radio City Music Hall to raise money for the renovation. In the late 1990s, the verandas and other ornamental elements were renovated on almost all buildings in the block. In August 2009, the New York Times wrote that the block was in the middle of the strong , as yet unfinished , upswing in the surrounding streets in Central Harlem (“ the block is at the center of an intense but, as yet, unfinished revival of the surrounding streets in Central Harlem ").

Astor Row today

Mount Moriah Baptist Church

Today, Astor Row is multicultural and one of the outstanding architectural sights in Harlem. It is located near Sylvia's Restaurant of Harlem , Mount Moriah Baptist Church , the former home of Langston Hughes, and other Harlem attractions.

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b 1981 NYCLPC Landmark Designation Report
  2. ↑ LATEST DEALINGS IN REALTY FIELD; Two Big Washington Heights Apartments Figure in Trades for Private Dwellings . In: The New York Times , November 13, 1912, p. 21. Retrieved August 22, 2009. 
  3. ^ A b More Sales in Astor Row . In: The New York Times , November 12, 1920, p. 32. Retrieved August 22, 2009. 
  4. ↑ HARLEM'S ASTOR ROW FOR COLORED TENANTS; Radical Changes in 130th Street, for Years the Block Beautiful in That Section . In: The New York Times , November 21, 1920, p. 106. Retrieved August 22, 2009. 
  5. ↑ Anemona Hartocollis: The Long Journey of the Lord of the House . In: The New York Times , January 5, 2003. Retrieved August 22, 2009. 
  6. ↑ Christopher Gray: Astor Row on West 130th; In Harlem, Restoration of Rowhouses at Mid-Stage . In: The New York Times , October 9, 1994. Retrieved August 22, 2009. 
  7. ↑ Josh Barbanel: A Front-Porch Block, Once and Again . In: The New York Times , August 6, 2009. Retrieved August 22, 2009. 

swell

  • "Past & Present On Astor Row in Harlem, Two Restorations Stand As Reminders Of What Once Was," Newsday , October 8, 1992, p. 77
  • "The Sky Line: On Astor Row," Brendan Gill, The New Yorker , Nov. 2, 1992, p. 51
  • Harlem: Lost and Found , Michael Henry Adams, Monacelli, 2002, p. 103