{"nrhp_refnum":"100000798","name":"Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"515 Lenox Ave.,103 W. 135th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.814444444,"lon":-73.941111111,"geom_source":"wikidata"},"listed_date":null,"is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"2016-12-23","areas_of_significance":["Black","Education"],"significance_levels":[],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A three-story, five-bay cut stone library building at 103 West 135th Street in Harlem, New York City, built in 1905 as the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library and designed by McKim, Mead, and White.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is nationally significant as a long-standing center for documenting the Black experience. Since World War I the library has collected materials on Black history, art and literature, serving Harlem and scholars worldwide. The 1926 purchase of Arthur Schomburg's collection and its link to the Harlem Renaissance are central to the case. The building is also described as a pleasing example of McKim, Mead, and White's work.","narrative":"Located in the middle of Harlem, this three-story, five-bay cut stone building opened in 1905 as the 135th Street Branch of the New York Public Library. McKim, Mead, and White designed it as an interpretation of an Italian palazzo in Renaissance Revival style, with a rusticated lower facade, smooth upper floors, a large Palladian window, four pilasters and broad projecting eaves. Inside, a vestibule and a cast and wrought iron staircase stand out. Its importance rests mostly on what the library came to hold. As Black migrants settled in Harlem, the branch began collecting materials on Black history, art and literature, and by 1925 had a Department of Negro Literature and History. In 1926 Carnegie Corporation funds bought Arthur Schomburg's collection, which grew to tens of thousands of volumes plus manuscripts, records and microfilm. Renamed the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in 1972, it drew scholars and writers from across the country.","period_of_significance":"1905","architect_builder":"McKim, Mead, and White","architectural_style":"Renaissance Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"Listed condition is good and the building is occupied, in use as a museum and educational library facility.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:39.807583-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/78001881.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/100000798/db1ed99696-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/100000798/db1ed99696-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NYPL_Schomburg_Center_for_Research_in_Black_Culture.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">Beyond My Ken</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 4.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:NYPL_Schomburg_Center_for_Research_in_Black_Culture.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319886","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Schomburg_Center_for_Research_in_Black_Culture","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1060566"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/schomburg-center-for-research-in-black-culture-100000798/"}