Pleased to introduce my newest home for sale, together with my esteemed colleague Tamara Marotta: 21 West 121st Street, a gorgeous four-family 21 foot-wide townhouse in the heart of Harlem and the magnificent Mount Morris Park Historic District. Replete with period details including beautifully restored wooden doors, moldings, fireplace and spectacular bay windows, this house can be used as an owner's duplex, triplex or investment property with up to four apartments. Some sample photos below: Convenient to Whole Foods, Central Park and popular restaurants including Barawine, Red Rooster and Settapani. Click on this first photo for the full listing details and check out my article below about the neighborhood.
NYC has well over 100 historic landmark districts and Mount Morris Park is one of my very favorites. It is distinguished by its many rich layers of history and some of the most magnificent late 19th century architecture in the United States. The top architects of that era designed homes for merchants, doctors and people in the entertainment industry, along with magnificent houses of worship.
Anchored by Marcus Garvey Park and its Richard Rodgers outdoor amphitheatre, a popular venue for concerts, theatre and dance, the townhouses and brownstones are richly detailed inside and out, with bay windows, stained glass, exquisite ornamental wood finishes and elegant fireplaces. Mount Morris Park is one of the City’s few neighborhoods that offer an annual house tour of select homes, presented by the Mount Morris Park Community Improvement Association.
A block or two outside the district you will find Minton’s Uptown Playhouse, the birthplace of be-bop jazz in the 1940’s, as well as the Studio Museum, Harlem’s gift to the visual art world (currently undergoing an expansion). World famous restaurants Red Rooster and Sylvia’s are nearby as well as the National Black Theatre.
Named an official historic district back in 1971, Mount Morris Park has been home to a range of who’s who, including Maya Angelou, basketball legend Kareem Abdul Jabbar, Broadway legend Richard Rodgers and the grandfather of his collaborator, Oscar Hammerstein, famous for his countless contributions to building New York’s theater and opera houses — a movement he first started on Harlem’s 125th Street. Acclaimed photographer James Van Der Zee’s last studio was on Lenox Avenue.
A unique legacy of the area is that it was once known as “Jewish Harlem” and the fact that African Americans and Jewish people collaborated to create popular music between 1890 – 1930.
The area is a paradise for food lovers with opportunities to enjoy Soul Food, French, Caribbean, Italian, Indian, African and Asian. From casual eateries to fine dining you’ll find every style of dining here even what is perhaps NYC’s only Somali restaurant, Safari. Many restaurants showcase the works of local artists. Stroll up Malcolm X Boulevard between 118th and 125th and you will find coffee shops, Sottocasa, an excellent pizzeria, the long-standing Settapani, the lively scene at Barawine, and get lost among the enticing array of Harlem gift items in the NiLu Gift Store. There’s also Grandma’s Place, Harlem’s premiere toy and book boutique, where you can pick up a copy of Spike Lee and Tonya Lewis Lee’s book “Please Baby Please” about the joys and challenges of raising an infant.
Don’t forget to look up as you’ll not some of the beautifully restored townhouses which adorn the boulevard along with distinctive churches like the Ephesus Seventh Day Adventist, faced uniquely in yellow sandstone, with one of the tallest spires in the city; the Romanesque St. Martin’s Episcopal; and Thomas Poole’s eclectic design of the Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church.
The neighborhood is certainly a destination for tourists both local and from afar to appreciate gospel music and live jazz along with the bountiful food scene. The National Jazz Museum at 58 West 129th Street features exhibits as well as live performances and educational events. Stop by to say hello to Sam Hargress, who has been running his Paris Blues bar and music venue since 1969 at 121st Street & Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.
