Harlem Historic District, Library Move Closer To Landmark Status

Harlem NY

02 February, 2021

12:43 PM

Description

HARLEM, NY — The city moved closer on Tuesday to designating two new landmarks in Harlem, responding to a push by neighborhood preservationists. The Landmarks Preservation Commission voted unanimously Tuesday to "calendar" the Dorrance Brooks Historic District — an area along Frederick Douglass Boulevard between 136th and 140th streets — and the Harlem Branch of the New York Public Library on West 124th Street. Calendaring is the first step in the city's landmarks process. The commission will meet again in the spring to vote on whether to officially designate the two sites. The Dorrance Brooks district is prized for its "remarkably cohesive streetscapes," lined with Renaissance Revival and Queen Anne-style rowhouses, LPC researcher Kate Lemos McHale said. It is also historically significant, having been home to W.E.B. DuBois and the Brotherhood of Sleeping Car Porters headquarters during the Harlem Renaissance. A map of architectural styles in the Dorrance Brooks Square Historic District (Landmarks Preservation Commission) A dispute emerged earlier this week when the LPC told neighborhood groups that the Mt. Calvary Church at 116 Edgecombe Ave. would be excluded from the landmarked district, according to Save Harlem Now and the Dorrance Brooks Property Owners & Residents Association, which have been pushing for years for the city to preserve the area. By Monday, the groups learned that the church and two adjoining rowhouses would, in fact, be included in the district. Still, commissioners noted Tuesday that demolition permits are on file for the church building, and the LPC would be powerless to act if the developer decides to knock down the structure. A landmark designation may not be enough to save the Mt. Calvary United Methodist Church on Edgecombe Avenue from Demolition. (Google Maps) "If they act on that permit prior to us designating it, there really isn't anything we can do," commissioner Sarah Carroll said. "We may be confronted with a vacant lot on the edge of the district." The commission is in talks with the developer and hopes to persuade them not to demolish the church, Carroll said. Next in line for possible preservation was the Harlem Library branch at 9 West 124th St., on the northern edge of Marcus Garvey Park. Completed in 1909 and funded by Andrew Carnegie, the branch "nurtured African-American cultural and intellectual life, especially during the Harlem Renaissance," said Timothy Frye, the LPC's director of special projects. The library once housed the groundbreaking Rose McClendon Players theater group, and is the only one of Harlem's five Carnegie libraries that has not been designated a city landmark. Thank you to the @nyclandmarks Commission for keeping Mt. Calvary Church within the proposed Dorrance Square Historic District. It is the right thing to do for Black history, this neighborhood, Harlem and American history. #dorrancebrooks #fighting4harlemhttps://t.co/D0M0SaUVQX pic.twitter.com/B4KQinu9Sc— Keith Taylor (@Taylor4Harlem) February 2, 2021