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West 130th Street, Harlem, Manhattan, New York City, New York, United States

The group of buildings known as Astor Row is comprised of 28 houses, effectively grouped in pairs, extending along most of the south side of 130th Street between Fifth ,Avenue and Lenox Avenue. They were bull t as a speculative development in the 1800s at a time when William Astor owned this land. Their architectural details are unusual for their place and time and their coherent style sets them apart from other remaining 19th-century rowhouses In the Harlem area. As a group, they create a pleasant streetfront, recalling a period when Harlem was changing from a country town to an urbanized area.

Practically all the houses that stand in Harlem today were built in the period beginning in the 1870s through the first decade of the 20th century. Exclusive homes such as those on Striver's Row in the St. Nicholas Historic District, helped establish Harlem as a center of fashion and elegance. The area also boasted rows of more modest brownstones, the popular Polo Grounds, and the distinguished Harlem Opera House. Some speculators made tremendous profits by Buying and re-selling land.

Prices increased so dramatically that one old-timer complained In 1839, ''When I see the prices real estate Is now bringing In Harlem, It makes me feel that I was a fool for not making investments years ago when property was so cheap." One canny Investor was John Jacob Astor. Adhering to his own principles of buying land In outlying areas of New York on the certain conviction that the city would eventually grow to meet them, he hea purchased a number of lots In Harlem at an auction in 1844.

Astor's creed was to pay less than premium price because the land was uninhabited or farmland. lie was content to hold onto his lots for long periods, allowing them to remain empty until someone came along who was Interested In Improving them.

The block of West 130th Street between Fifth and Lenox Avenues was purchased by Astor In 1844 for $10,000. When Astor died in 1848, the block passed with the rest of his estate to his son William Backhouse Astor. William B. Astor's holdings were In turn bequeathed in 1375 to his sons John Jacob Astor III and William Astor.

These two created a partition agreement in 1878, dividing the Inherl.ted real estate between themselves. On this block In Harlem, John Jacob Astor III received the southern half of the block which faces 129th Street (Jots 1-36), while William Astor held title to the northern half, facing 130th Street (lots 37-12). Astor Row was constructed on part of this latter section in the early 1880s, during the tremendous Harlem building boom. In 189), as part of William Astor's will, the houses were divided among his grandchildren, Mary, James and Sarah Van Alen. They maintained ownership until the second and third decade of the 20th century. During their ownership these were single family dwellings, housing middle-and upper-middle-class whites. "people of taste and wealth") from downtown Manhattan.

In 1920, the houses were described by a New York Times reporter "as one of the most attractive and exclusive home centres" in Harlem, presenting "a picture of domestic tranquility and comfort which few other blocks in the city possess." Sarah Van Alen was the first of the Astor Row land holders to sell, divesting herself of nos. 42-62 (lots 59-103) in 1912. The rest of Astor Row was held by Mary and James Van Alen until 1920 and 1921, respectively. An all-white enclave until that time, Astor Row was described in Claude Clay's novel, Home to Harlem (New York, 1928) as "the block beautiful." By the time these lots were sold, Harlem was predominately populated by African-Americans. During the next ten years, Harlem changed from a promising black community to a deplorable slum. A tremendous need for housing due to the influx of blacks from the South and from the West Indies, as well as exorbitant rents for the living spaces that existed led to the subdIvision of houses like those on Astor Row.

Although built for single families, within a short time they were carved up into boarding houses and single-room- ,. occupancy dwellings. Their ownership changed often during these years, as did the tenants and the modifications to the interiors. These buildings on Astor Row provide an excellent study in the development and change of the community of Harlem. Today, most of these buildings remain divided into single room or small apartments. The only exception is no. 62 which is owned by and serves the Pentecostal Faith Church.

The 28 buildings of Astor Row were constructed in three groups.

Nos. 8-22 were built first, in 1880-1881, the architect was Charles Buek.

The second group of houses, nos. 24-30, was built in 1882-1883, while the final section, nos. 40-62, was erected later in 1883. The design of the last twenty houses, created without benefit of an architect, was almost identi

This elegant residence was built in 1899-1900 for Philip Lehman, a prominent New York banker. Designed int the French Beaux- Arts style by architect John H. Duncan, it is a distinguished example of the fashionable town houses that once characterized the West Fifties between Fifth and Sixth Avenues and is one of an ensemble of five town houses on West 54th Street.

Midtown Manhattan remained open farmland until the first half of the 19th century when shanty towns, rubbish dumps, stockyards, and factories began to appear above West 40th Street. The landscaping of Central Park, commenced in 1857, helped spur the development of Midtown, and during the building boom that followed the Civil War, the West Forties and Fifties became lined with brick and stone residences. These new houses ranged from lavish Fifth Avenue mansions commissioned by such individual clients as the Vanderbilts to middle-class dwellings erected on a speculative basis.

The house at 7 West 54th Street occupies part of the original site of St. Luke's Hospital (1858) which fronted on West 55th Street at the southwest corner of Fifth. Avenue. The hospital dominated the east end of the block until new quarters were erected on Amsterdam Avenue at 113th Street in 1896. That same year, construction began on the University Club, designed by the firm of McKim, Mead & White and located on the northwest corner of West 54th Street and Fifth Avenue. During the next few years, several fashionable residences were constructed on the north side of West 54th Street.

Together with the University Club, a designated New York City Landmark, they typify the fine turn-of-the-century residences and private clubs that transformed the Fifties near Fifth Avenue and Fifth Avenue itself into an exclusive neighborhood— part of the continuing northward residential trend in Manhattan. Many of the buildings were designed by New York's leading architects for the city's most affluent and prominent citizens, such as Philip Lehman.

Philip Lehman (1861-1947), the cousin of New York Governor Herbert H. Lehman, was the son of Emanuel Lehman, a founder of Lehman Brothers. This successful firm began in the 1850s as a cotton brokerage and developed after the Civil War into one of the world's leading investment banking houses. Philip Lehman became a partner in the firm in 1887. He served as first chairman of the board of directors from 1929 to 1941 and was also a director of the F.W. Woolworth Company from 1912 to 1947.

Philip Lehman is perhaps best known, however, for his fabulous private art collection, enlarged after his death by his son Robert.

Philip Lehman commission his splendid Beaux-Arts style town-house from the architect John H. Duncan in 1899. Duncan (1855-1929) was well known as the designer of two of New York's most imposing monuments, the General Grant National Memorial (1891-97) in Manhattan and the Soldiers and Sailors' Memorial Arch (1892) on Grand Army Plaza in Brooklyn, both designated New York City Landmarks. In both cases his designs were chosen in competition with many others and his success must have helped Duncan establish a clientele of notable New Yorkers for his residential and commercial work.

The architect designed many fine residences in New York, often using the neo-French Classical style; examples of his work may be seen at 8-10 West 76th Street in the Central Park West-76th Street Historic district and at 11 East 70th Street, a designated New York City Landmark. In designing the Lehman residence, Duncan was able to show his adeptness in the Beaux-Arts style.

The handsome exterior of the Lehman residence is faced with rusticated limestone that provides a background for a profusion of luxuriant relief carving. The four-and-one-half story, two-bay residence is symmetrically massed and distinguished by an elaborately designed two-story mansard roof.

A central front entrance is located at ground floor level, approached by a low stoop. The arched entry frames double glass doors and is flanked by a pair of windows crisply recessed into the facade and ornamented with decorative iron grilles. Ornate console brackets with carved garlands and fruit appear above the windows and entrance, supporting a bowed balcony at second story level. The balcony fronts two pairs of French windows that are crowned by richly carved, extremely ornate cartouches.

Double-hung windows with eared architraves and fronted by decorative iron balcony grilles light the third story. The third story is crowned by an impressive cornice designed with heavy console brackets and foliate ornament that marks the beginning of the steep, slate mansard roof. Two dormer windows with egg-and-dart moldings and heavy crowning cartouches, pierce the roof at fourth-story level, while the attic above is lit by three oval lucames, also surmounted by copper foliate cartouches.

Even the limestone roof coping bears carved foliate detailing, and it terminates in console brackets. The original d