The actress Cicely Tyson, who died in January 2021, at the age of 96, spent several childhood years living in a 5th floor railroad flat in this five-story brick apartment building, erected in 1910. This historic building now holds 10 units of affordable housing and is owned by the affordable housing nonprofit Ascendant Neighborhood Development, a member of Landmark East Harlem. In 1994, after renovating the house, Ascendant named it in her honor. Cicely Tyson land her family first lived at 311 E 102nd Street. Then, when her parents separated around the time she was nine, she moved with her mom, sister, and brother to 101st Street. She stayed there until she was seventeen, which was around the time she became pregnant and got married to her first husband. Photo: Ms. Tyson's residence at 178 East 101st Street, courtesy of Ascendant Neighborhood Development and Sindayiganza Photography.

Tyson attended the rededication of her childhood home, visited the apartment where she had lived and also went up on the roof, where, she said, she had spent a lot of time. "To have some place memorialized in that manner means more to me than I can verbalize," she said. "It is not a structure that glorifies the name Cicely Tyson. It is a structure that is providing homes for the homeless and low-income people, and that is simply the most rewarding thing that I can have happen." A Cicely Tyson Street Naming and Landmarking Committee has undertaken to co-name East 101st St. from Lex to Third as Cicely Tyson Way. And Ascendant plans to replace the building’s cornice with one more appropriate to the building’s age.

As we proceed north along Lexington Avenue, we pass this block of rowhouses that somehow managed to survive all of the development on Lexington Avenue that has taken place since they were built between 1890 and 1900. 1596 is especially charming, and 1598 is not far behind.

All but the southernmost house have intact cornices. The façade of the northernmost house has been changed to suggest a church, which we believe once occupied the building.

Now we will go down the hill referred to by Spanish-speaking residents as La Colina (simply The Hill), which drops 28 feet in the course of 200 feet. In the late 19th century it was named for Michael James Duffy, a Tammany Hall (Democratic political machine notorious for corruption in the mid to late 19th century) Alderman (like a Councilman) who built dozens of rowhouses between Park and Third Avenues from 101st Street to 104th Street in the 1890s. No doubt Duffy was instrumental in bringing cable car service (first introduced in 1883) to the area that was often called Duffyville. But the cars were forced to accelerate and decelerate so quickly that numerous accidents ensued. By 1937 the New York Railways Corporation stationed a 24-hour guard at the base of the hill. After buses replaced street cars, Lexington Avenue buses would detour onto Park Avenue to avoid the hill.

At the bottom of the hill is St. George and St. Demetrios Greek Orthodox Church. Built in 1891 in the Romanesque Revival style by Frederick Baylies, this church was originally the Binn Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church. The structure was purchased in 1931 by the new Greek Orthodox Church of St. George, which was joined in 1934 by the parish of St. Demetrios. At the time, the immediate area was home to many Greek families and small businesses. Though most of them moved to Astoria, Queens, and other parts of New York starting in the late 1960s, they continued to return to the East Harlem church for services and festivals. You can get a better idea of the height of La Colina by looking up from 103rd Street.

140 East 103rd Street: The Hellenic Orthodox Church of Sts. George and Demetrios was built in 1891 and designed by Franklin Baylies in the Romanesque Revival style. It was originally the Blinn Memorial Methodist Episcopal Church, until 1930. In 1931 the new Greek Orthodox Church of St. George took over the sanctuary, and was joined by the parish of St. Demetrios in 1934; the latter was founded in 1927.

Here on the NE corner of Lexington Avenue and 103rd Street is the first of several murals we will pass on this walk, this is by James De La Vega. Celia Cruz (1925-2003) was a Cuban singer and one of the most popular Latin artists of the 20th century. Best known for singing guarachas (rapid tempo, comic lyrics), she earned the nickname La Guarachera de Cuba. She was also known simply as La Reina (The Queen). James De La Vega was born in East Harlem in 1968 (or 1972) and educated at York Preparatory School and Cornell University. He has painted a number of murals in East Harlem, primarily depicting Puerto Rican heroes as well as two homages to Pablo Picasso’s “Guernica” on East 111th and East 124th Streets. For several years in the early 2000s he roamed around the city making sidewalk chalk drawings of a fish bowl with a fish jumping out of it and the legend “Become Your Dream.”

This mural of Pedro Pietri entitled La Calle de Pedro Pietri (Pedro Pietri Street) was also created by James De La Vega. Pietri (1944-2004) was a poet who was born in Puerto Rico and moved to New York City with his family when he was three years old. He served in the army in Vietnam and on being discharged joined the Young Lords Party, a group modeled on the Black Panther Party. In December 1969, the Young Lords occupied the First Spanish Methodist Church on Lexington Avenue and East 111th Street, renaming it The People’s Church and conducting a free breakfast program, clothing drives, and Spanish classes for neighborhood people. After 11 days a negotiated settlement with the NYPD ended the occupation. While at the church, Pietri gave his first public reading of “Puerto Rican Obituary,” which became his most famous poem. He later helped to found the Nuyorican Poets Café on the Lower East Side.

The Spirit of East Harlem is probably the most famous mural in East Harlem, though Keith Haring’s Crack is Wack mural in a playground at 128th Street and the Harlem River Drive is probably a close second. This mural was created in the mid-1970s by Hank Prussing, a sociology student who did graduate work in the neighborhood. The mural reflects the everyday life of the neighborhood and every person depicted was a real community member. A high school-age budding artist named Manny Vega asked Prussing if he could help with the mural, and thus began his long association with it. In the mid-1990s he restored it, and in 2009 after an unidentified graffiti artist “tagged” the bottom of the mural he restored that part again. A few years ago, the needed repointing of the building resulted in the replacement of bricks around the windows, and so the mural needs additional restoration. It’s an expensive proposition, primarily because of the rental cost of the scaffolding and sidewalk shed, so who knows when that will happen?

The Church of the Living Hope began in living rooms in East Harlem in 1961. It was incorporated in 1964 when the congregation purchased and moved into an abandoned building at 161 East 104th Street where it has worshipped and served for more than fifty years. The church building was fully renovated in 1967 and equipped with a new façade—an imaginative way of creating what looks like a church by reinventing the façade of a tenement building. The affordable housing organization, Hope Community, which is headquartered on this block, grew out of the Church of the Living Hope.

This is the first New York City landmark on our tour. The former Fire Engine Company No. 53 was designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2008. It was designed by the firm of Napoleon LeBrun & Sons, architects for the Fire Department between 1879 and 1895, and was constructed in 1884. The predominant style is Romanesque Revival, expressed through rounded windows, while the decorative terra-cotta medallions and the foliate capitals incorporate elements of the Queen Anne style.

The building was in use as a fire station until 1974, when the City leased it to El Museo del Barrio, which used it for storage and educational programming. Manhattan Neighborhood Network bought it around the same time as it was designated a NYC landmark and carefully restored the façade in keeping with LPC regulations. The building reopened in 2012 as a state-of-the-art media center with three HD production studios, including a three-camera studio, as well as editing services and the Youth Media Center.

The 28th Police Precinct Station House (now Hope Hall) is also an individual landmark, designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1999. The building was designed by Nathaniel D. Bush, architect to the New York City Police Department 1862-1895, and built in 1892-93, a decade after the fire station next door. The design combines elements of the German Romanesque Revival, Renaissance Revival, and neo-Grec styles. The building ceased to function as a station house in 1974 when a combined facility for what had become the 23rd Police Precinct (it was renumbered four times after the Consolidation of the five boroughs in 1898) at 164 East 102nd Street, adjacent to Engine Co. 53 at 1836 Third Avenue. The old station house stood idle until Hope Community purchased it in 1981 for use as its headquarters, renaming it Hope Hall. It still bears that name today but has not been occupied since 1993, as it has no second means of egress and thus is not up to code. Hope Community, which has its headquarters in a building across the street, plans eventually to renovate it, bring it up to code, and again use it for a headquarters. Unique to most landmarks, there is a two-story jailhouse/lodging structure at the rear of the main structure, separated from the station house by a yard and, unfortunately, not visible from the street.

On the façade of and adjacent to Hope Community’s headquarters are two murals painted in 2008 by the summer interns of Creative Arts Workshop for Kids, which was founded in East Harlem 35 years ago. On the headquarters façade is “Growing Hope 1968-2008.”

And on the adjacent wall is a double portrait of two of the founders of Hope Community, Morris Wittenberg, and the Reverend George Calvert. Wittenberg owned a toy store in the neighborhood and was a beloved character. Calvert moved to East Harlem in 1954 and became pastor of East Harlem Protestant Parish, and later of the independent Church of the Living Hope, here at 161 East 104th Street, which is now affiliated with the United Church of Christ.

The title of this mosaic by Manny Vega is Al Ritmo de la Paz (To the Rhythm of Peace). Dedicated in May 2019, it was created with the help of neighborhood people at Hope Community’s Galeria del Barrio during a 70-day residency by a group called the East Harlem Culture Collective. Manny always unveils his mosaics at ceremonies that feature drumming and the blessing of the work with burning sage. This ceremony also included a performance by a young mariachi group. In addition to being at risk from natural elements and young graffiti “taggers,” most outside wall art is at the mercy of the owner of the building, who can sell or tear down, or simply paint the building. But the murals and mosaic on this block enjoy protection from Hope Community, an affordable housing organization like Ascendant Neighborhood Development. Hope owns the buildings where the numerous artworks are on display.

La Galeria del Barrio: Technically 162 ½ East 104th Street, not 164 East 104th Street. As we head back to Lexington Avenue, we pass Hope Community’s La Galeria del Barrio, whose windows feature an installation mounted by the Hunter College East Harlem Gallery. Entitled Siempre Hay Más (There’s Always More), the installation was created by artist Christina Barrera. It is much more arresting at night, with lights behind the windows and the words No Mas (No More) are more visible.

On the side of P.S. 72 is the Sundial sculpture by artist Marina Guttierez and architect James Comejo. Installed in 2004, this solar clock or helio-chronometer spans 100 feet of the wall of P.S. 72.It contains elements from Mexican cut paper arts, a sampled Hip Hop local street graphic, a Chinese “lace paper” rooster with palm frond, a pre-Columbian textile snake, an African arc of Ndinkra symbols with Egyptian eye and a Coquil or frog, whose shadow hovers over an arc of sugar cane.

On the fence is a peace sign created in the latter part of 2020 by local artist Naomi Lawrence—a public art form known as “yarn bombing.” Her plan was for it to coincide with John Lennon’s 80th birthday—she was also born in Liverpool. Since the peace sign is a universal symbol of hope, she also keyed its installation to the upcoming election and the hope of a new presidency. She has a significant following on Instagram and advertised there, asking her followers to contribute. She received over 600 flowers. Also on the fence are dozens of plastic butterflies made from recycled bleach bottles by local artist Genevieve Andre. She says “they are all flying towards peace”

The newest mural in this area is also on PS 72. It was created in 2020 under the auspices of Creative Art Workshops (CAW). The artist worked with the students on the design, then transferred the designs to panels of parachute cloth, which were then applied to the wall much the same way as one might put up wallpaper, only the industrial adhesive is permanent. The topic is fitness. I love the quote from Eleanor Roosevelt at the bottom: No one can make you feel inferior without your consent.”

Manny Vega created this mosaic called ESPIRITU in 2012. It contains images and references that are very personal to him. On the left are the Sepulveda brothers, both drummers who performed the folk music form bomba. Roberto Sepulveda is the one dancing on the drum, which he actually did in performance. John Lennon needs no explanation. The female archer is a representation of Wilma, a significant personage in the Gantois Temple in Bahia, Brazil, where Manny spent time as an acolyte. The tiger and dragon are a reference to his favorite film at the time, “Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon.” The trickster, Elegba—here depicted on a skateboard and with a butterfly—represents the beginning of life/call to action (Alpha). In the blue Buddha figure he used a set of sample tiles that he had hoarded for about three years, thinking that he would use them in some sort of Buddha representation. Buddha represents the end of life (Omega).

The third designated landmark on this tour is the first P.S. 72, now the Julia de Burgos Latino Cultural Center. The structure was designed by David I. Stagg (who was Superintendent of Public School Buildings for the New York City Board of Education from 1872 to 1886). The style is Neo-Grec and it was constructed 1879-82. It was designated in 1996, and the designation report describes it as “A rare and almost completely intact example of a late nineteenth-century public school building in Manhattan.” The Board of Education closed the school in 1975 and moved the students across the street to a new building. Plans to turn the former school into a homeless shelter inspired such community pushback that eventually the New York City Economic Development Corporation oversaw its renovation as a Latino Cultural Center named for the beloved Puerto Rican poet Julia de Burgos (1914-1953). The building was restored in 1994-95 by local architects Lee Barrero and Raymond Plumey, with Miguel Angel Baltierra. Unfortunately, only two Puerto Rican groups could afford the rents in the repurposed space: Taller Boricua (Puerto Rican Workshop), an artists collective founded in 1969, and Los Pleneros de la 21, a bomba and plena musical group that came together in 1983. The top floor houses the Heritage School, an initiative of Teachers College, Columbia University.

Rowhouses, NE corner 106th and Lexington Ave and 106th, Lex-Park: The brick and stone row houses on Lexington between 106th and 107th and on 106th Street, from mid-block to Lexington, are a remarkably untouched group, all built in 1890 and most with their cornices intact. The 4th floor of 1692 (above the deli) houses the studio of Diogenes Ballester, a Puerto Rico-born artist whose work enjoys considerable renown. According to local legend, the Puerto Rican nationalist Lolita LeBron was arrested in an apartment in this house, where she was hiding from the law following March 1, 1954, shooting of members of Congress from the gallery at the Capitol building in Washington, D.C. (Five were injured, none died). Her sentence was commuted in 1979 by President Jimmy Carter.

St. Cecilia’s Roman Catholic Church was designated a New York City landmark in 1976. It was designed in the Romanesque Revival style by Napoleon LeBrun & Sons (who also designed the former firehouse on 104th Street) and constructed between 1883 and 1887. In the central gable is an exceptionally high relief terra-cotta panel depicting Saint Cecilia, the patron saint of music, playing the piano, accompanied by a cherub. St. Cecilia’s original congregation was Irish, but it welcomed new populations as the demographics of the surrounding neighborhood changed. Today its population is largely Latino. For as long as I can remember, the priests at St. Cecilia’s have been Redemptorist Fathers, missionary priests who since 1732 have served the poor and the most abandoned.

The former St. Cecilia’s convent was designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1976, at the same time as the church. But it had quite a different history. Originally it was two separate buildings—a four-family tenement and a schoolhouse for St. Cecilia’s Church operated by the Sisters of Mercy. In 1906 the Institution of Mercy hired the architectural firm of Neville & Bagge to join the two buildings behind a unified façade. The architects employed a simplified version of the Romanesque Revival style in order to harmonize it with the church. At that time the building had one central entrance which led internally to two separate sections. The eastern section became a home for working girls that could house 125 young women and was staffed by the Sisters of Mercy. The western section became the convent of the Sisters of Mercy. They supervised the home for working girls and also taught at the new parish school farther east on 106th Street. The building continued to serve two functions until the late 1930s when the home for working girls ceased operation, leaving only the Sisters of Mercy in the building. In 1956 the Sisters of Atonement moved in. Over the years the number of nuns in residence dwindled and by the 1990s the convent had ceased operations. In 2004, after renovations, the building reopened as Cristo Rey New York High School, a college preparatory, Catholic high school. It is a member of the Cristo Rey Network of schools, which are established in low-income neighborhoods and follow a unique Corporate Work Study Model that allows students to spend one day per week interning with local organizations and multinational corporations. This Cristo Rey High School was the fifth of what is now a total of 37 schools in the network.

As seen in the background of this 1940s Tax Photo, The most conspicuous structure in East Harlem is the Park Avenue Viaduct, over which MetroNorth trains now run and which begins north of 99th Street and continues over the Harlem River into the Bronx over the Park Avenue Bridge. It was built for the New York and Harlem Railroad in the 1840s, primarily by Irish stonemasons. Under the archway to the south can still be seen two Irish names carved into the stone. The most legible is Doherty. For many years it was a natural barrier between El Barrio and—in quotes—“Fifth Avenue.” Once El Museo del Barrio moved to Fifth Avenue and 104th Street from Third Avenue in the late 1970s, that barrier became a bit more porous.

The former Manhattan Oddfellows Temple is not yet a designated city landmark, but it should be. It was constructed in 1928-29 and designed by Hugo Taussig in the Romanesque Revival style. The Indiana limestone, brick, and terra cotta structure is 11 stories high, measures 100’ x 100’, and originally contained an auditorium, bowling alleys, dining rooms, club rooms, and 15 lodge rooms. In the fall of 1945, after the Oddfellows moved out RKO-Pathe News and Pathe Industries, Inc., purchased the building for a motion-picture studio and film laboratory. Pathe would be the major tenant but might rent spaces to other tenants. The building came to be known as the Pathe Building, for the newsreel company. NBC -TV became involved as a client of Pathe’s newsreel and film processing labs and by the late 1940s was producing shows in an “uptown” studio space there, including—according to its current owner—the beloved children’s program “The Howdy Doody Show” and a Friday night variety show hosted by Dave Garroway of the “Today” show. By around 1960 the building was vacant again. In ensuing years it saw various uses, including as a recording company and an office building occupied by the city’s Department of Transportation. Around 2000 Phil Mancino purchased the building and opened Metropolis Studios, the only fully-digitized recording studio in Manhattan. It hosted the production of music videos featuring Michael Jackson, Mariah Carey, and Ringo Starr; cable TV cooking shows, game shows, and judge shows. It was the original home of the BET show, “106th and Park” before BET was purchased by Viacom and moved the show to its own studios downtown. Today, the building also hosts the Young Women’s Leadership School, an all-girls high school established in 1996. THANKS FOR JOINING OUR TOUR! Check out the Instagram Live Footage of this Jane's Walk Tour and other tours and interactive maps on our website.