Harlem Sites Nominated For National Landmark Status

HARLEM, NY — Two Harlem sites have been nominated by the state for placement on the National Register of Historic Places, state officials announced.

The original 32nd NYPD Precinct building and a historic district that spans a number of blocks on Edgecomb Avenue are up for the honor, Governor Andrew Cuomo said. Placement on the register can aid building owners in restoration work by allowing them to qualify for preservation grants and tax credits.

"These historic locations highlight so much of what it is exceptional and exciting about New York's history and honor the legacy of some of the state's most distinguished leaders," Governor Cuomo said. "By placing these landmarks on the State and National Registers of Historic Places, we are helping to ensure these places and their caretakers have the funding needed to preserve, improve and promote the best of the Empire State."

The former 32nd Police Precinct building is located on the corner of West 152nd Street and Amsterdam Avenue in the Sugar Hill section of Harlem. The four-story brick building was constructed in 1872 in the French Second Empire style to reflect "the increasing investment that the city made in erecting handsome, well-planned and well-equipped police stations," in the late 19th century, according to state officials.

In addition to the main precinct house, the complex features an attached jail and police garage, according to state officials. The complex is no longer used by the police and currently serves as the headquarters for environmental activist group WE ACT for Environmental Justice.

The proposed Dorrance Brooks Square Historic District runs up Edgecombe Avenue from West 136th Street to West 140th Street. Buildings in the district include: 114 late 19th-Century row

houses, six early 20th-Century apartment buildings and four churches built between the years 1886 and 1930, according to state researchers.

"The district is significant in social and ethnic history for its associations with many significant people and institutions of the Harlem Renaissance (late 1910s to early 1930s), when extraordinary artistic and intellectual output by black writers, artists, performers, sociologists, civil rights activists and others brought Harlem global recognition," state officials wrote of the district.