St. Nicholas Historic District

The St. Nicholas Historic District, known colloquially as "Striver's Row",

• the red brick and
  Georgian Revival style
  ;
• the yellow brick and white limestone with
  terra cotta trim buildings on the north (odd-numbered) side of 138th and on the south (even-numbered) side of 139th Street and at 2360–2378 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard were designed in the Colonial Revival style by Bruce Price and Clarence S. Luce
  ;
• the dark brick, brownstone and terra cotta buildings on the north (odd-numbered) side of 139th Street and at 2380 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard were designed in the Italian Renaissance Revival style by Stanford White of the firm McKim, Mead & White.^[2][3][5]

The district was designated by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1967,^[3] and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1975.^[1] The district's name reflects the nearby St. Nicholas Park.^[6]

History

David H. King Jr., the developer of what came to be called "Striver's Row", had previously been responsible for building the 1870

The houses sit back-to-back, which allowed King to specify that they would share rear courtyards. The alleyways between them – a rarity in Manhattan[3] – are gated off; some entrance gates still have signs that read "Walk Your Horses". At one time, these alleys allowed discreet stabling of horses and delivery of supplies without disrupting activities in the main houses. Today, the back areas are used almost exclusively for parking.

King sold very few houses and the development failed, with

Between Seventh and Eighth Avenues, is 139th Street, known among Harlemites as 'strivers' row.' It is the most aristocratic street in Harlem. Stanford White designed the houses for a wealthy white clientele. Moneyed African-Americans now own and inhabit them. When one lives on 'strivers' row' one has supposedly arrived. Harry Rills resides there, as do a number of the leading Babbitts and professional folk of Harlem.[8]

By the 1940s, many of the houses had decayed and were converted to single-room occupancies (SROs). Much of the original decorative detail inside the houses was lost at this time, though the exteriors generally remained unaltered. With the post-1995 real-estate boom in Harlem, many of these buildings are being restored to something resembling their original condition.

Notable residents

Among those who lived on Striver's Row were:

In popular culture

• A Night At The Village Vanguard
  .
• Jazz singer Cab Calloway mentions Striver's Row in his songs "Hard Times (Topsy Turvy)" and "The Ghost of Smokey Joe".
• Abram Hill's 1940 satirical comedy of manners On Strivers Row, produced with the American Negro Theatre (ANT), concerns "the follies of both social climbing and subtle racism among African Americans during Harlem's Renaissance".^[6][12]
• The Row is mentioned in the W. C. Handy song "Harlem Blues" which appears on the soundtrack to Spike Lee's 1990 film Mo' Better Blues.
• Strivers Row is the name for Penguin Random House publishing imprint created to elevate African-American writers.^[13][14]
• One of the chapters of Colson Whitehead's 2001 novel John Henry Days is set on Striver's Row in the early 1940s.
• Striver's Row, A Novel (2006) by Kevin Baker. This is the third book in Baker's trilogy of historical novels that take place in early 20th-century Harlem. Striver's Row is about a young Malcolm X before he becomes Malcolm X.^[15][16]
• The Strivers' Row Spy by Jason Overstreet. Jason Overstreet's first novel is a historical fiction account of the Harlem Renaissance.^[17] Characters include Marcus Garvey, W. E. B. Du Bois, James Weldon Johnson, Adam Clayton Powell, among other historically significant figures.
• In the conclusion of Colson Whitehead’s 2021 novel Harlem Shuffle, the protagonist, Ray Carney considers purchasing a place on Striver’s Row.^[18]
• Striver's Row is mentioned as the home of a white murder victim in Law & Order: SVU S10E18 "Baggage"

See also

• List of New York City Landmarks
• National Register of Historic Places listings in New York County, New York

References