An area known as a historic and cultural hub for the Black community and known for being home to many leaders, activists, and artists is receiving a marker to recognize it for what it has given to the world.
Local elected officials and members of the NYC Landmark Preservation Commission gathered outside Friendship Baptist Church in Harlem on Feb. 20 to unveil a new Historic District Marker to celebrate and honor West 130th-132nd Streets.
The blocks are representative of significant architectural development and history that took place. In the early 1900s, the neighborhood transitioned from a majority white area into the hub of the largest urban Black community in the country. From the 1920s through the 1960s the historic district became an area of significant cultural, religious, civic, and political organizations.
“When LPC designated the Central Harlem — West 130th-132nd Streets Historic District in 2018, we recognized both the distinguished architecture and also the critical role these buildings played in the cultural and political life of Harlem’s Black population in the 20th century,” said Landmarks Preservation Commission Executive Director Lisa Kersavage.
The Landmark Preservation Commission has created an interactive online map which allows. people can scroll through the district’s layered history.
“The New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation today celebrates the designation of this significant Harlem neighborhood where block by block these architecturally beautiful townhomes were also the host to the cultural movement that is known worldwide as the Harlem Renaissance,” said New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation Chair Tom Krizmanic.
The landmark district has also been home to multiple organizations and institutions that have contributed to the Civil Rights Movement.
The property at 170 West 130th St. was the National Headquarters for the 1963 March on Washington. It was here where Baynard Rustin planned the march’s route, and oversaw transportation and fundraising for the legendary protest.
The New Amsterdam Musical Association, founded in 1904 and located at 107 West 130th St. is the nation’s oldest African American Musical Association. The association was established as a response to Black musicians who at the time were denied access to white only local unions.
At 111 West 132nd St., the Frogs were founded in 1908. The Frogs were a group of Black theatrical professionals. They worked to book events and venues for their members as a response to being excluded from the American Actors Beneficial Association.
“If the sidewalks and stoops of Harlem could speak, they would sing. They would tell a story of ragtime and jazz, of tenant meetings and mass marches, of block parties, and hard-won victories,” said Mayor Zohran Mamdani. “They would tell us that Harlem has always been more than a neighborhood; it is a movement.”