The Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church

Called “one of the oddest church buildings in New York” by historian Andrew Dolkart, the astonishing Mount Morris Ascension Presbyterian Church is a massive pile of Romanesque, Classical and High Eclectic effects that maintains a fortress-like presence on its corner.  The interior is almost equally unusual; architect Thomas H. Poole designed the building in 1905-1906…. Continue reading

11-14 Mount Morris Park West

11-14 Mount Morris Park West is one of Harlem’s best rows, designed in 1889 by James E. Ware in a massive Richardsonian-inspired style that includes a turret-like bay on the corner dwelling and stonework and steep gables throughout. Ware is best known for inventing the “dumbbell plan” for New York tenements, which allows light into… Continue reading

10 Mount Morris Park West

10 Mount Morris Park West is an anomalous if attractive intrusion into a district that displays a marked late 19th century architectural character; built in 1923, it rises seven stories.  Ironically, its prior use was as a penitentiary – the Parkside Correctional Facility for women.  It was converted to residential use in 2006 and now… Continue reading

4-9 Mount Morris Park West

Larger overall than the buildings lining the south side of West 120th Street, 4-9 Mount Morris Park West is a handsome row that displays a Beaux Arts sensibility translated into the traditional brownstone associated with New York rowhouses of an earlier era.  4-6 were designed by Gilbert A. Schellenger in 1893 and 7-9 were designed… Continue reading

26-40 West 120th Street

The elegant row that stands at 26-40 West 120th Street shows a greater level of overall finish than its neighbors to the east, but is slightly more old-fashioned in terms of architectural style, which here harks back to the Italianate of the immediate post-Civil War period.  Like 12-24, it was probably erected as a speculative… Continue reading