{"nrhp_refnum":"76002143","name":"McKay, Claude, Residence","other_names":["McKay,Claude,Apartment","YMCA Building"],"category":"building","location":{"address":"180 W. 135th St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.81471273000005,"lon":-73.94300497362453,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1976-12-08","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1976-12-08","areas_of_significance":["Black","Literature","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A 14-story dark red brick YMCA building (the Harlem Branch) at 180 West 135th Street in Harlem, New York City, built in 1931-32, where poet and novelist Claude McKay lived from the early 1940s until the mid-1940s.","why_significant":"The nomination argues the building is significant for its association with Claude McKay, poet, novelist and lecturer, who is credited with launching the Harlem Renaissance with his 1919 poem \"If We Must Die.\" McKay also wrote Home to Harlem, the first best-seller by an Afro-American author. The building itself served as a hub of the Harlem community.","narrative":"Built in 1931-32 as the Harlem Branch of the YMCA, this 14-story dark red brick building at 180 West 135th Street includes residential space on its upper floors. Its north facade steps back above the fourth, ninth and eleventh floors, and a tower and smoke stack rise on the east side. Inside are offices, conference rooms, a chapel, a dining room and a Little Theatre. During the 1940s and 1950s it also served as a hotel for artists, show people and other visitors to Harlem. The building is remembered chiefly as the residence of Claude McKay, who lived here in the early to mid-1940s. Born in Jamaica in 1890, McKay wrote the sonnet \"If We Must Die\" in 1919, a work many credit with starting the Harlem Renaissance. His novel Home to Harlem became the first best-seller by an Afro-American. He died in Chicago in 1948.","period_of_significance":"Residency (1942-1946)","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"The building is occupied and still serves its basic YMCA function, with the only visible exterior alteration being the glass entrance doors.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:40.024617-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/76002143_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002143/536bdb51d8-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/76002143/536bdb51d8-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harlem_YMCA_180_West_135th_Street_from_below.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:Harlem_YMCA_180_West_135th_Street_from_below.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75315942","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_YMCA","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5128957"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/mckay-claude-residence-76002143/"}