{"nrhp_refnum":"79001605","name":"Harlem River Houses","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"151st to 153rd St., Macombs Pl. and Harlem River Dr.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.826063109000074,"lon":-73.93620023299997,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1979-12-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Community Planning and Development","Black","Architecture","Social History"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A public housing complex of three groups of four- and five-story red brick buildings on a nine-acre site between 151st and 153rd Streets, Macombs Place and the Harlem River in Manhattan, built 1936-37 under chief architect Archibald Manning Brown.","why_significant":"It was the first federally funded, federally built and federally owned housing project in New York City, and an early example of cooperation between the City Housing Authority and the federal government. Harlem citizens took part in planning it, including tenant selection criteria. Its site plan, landscaping and sculpture drew praise from critics such as Talbot Hamlin and Lewis Mumford.","narrative":"Harlem River Houses is a public housing complex in Manhattan, spread across a nine-acre sloping site between 151st and 153rd Streets, Macombs Place and the Harlem River. Built in 1936-37, it consists of three groups of four- and five-story red brick buildings arranged around courtyards and a large plaza, with buildings covering only about 30 percent of the land. The original 574 apartments had outside-facing rooms, cross-ventilation and private layouts, and the grounds included a nursery school, a health clinic, social rooms, laundries and shops along Seventh Avenue. Landscaping by Michael Rapuano and sculpture by Heinz Warnecke enhanced the courtyards. It was the first federally funded, built and owned housing project in New York City, designed by a team of eight architects led by Archibald Manning Brown and developed with input from Harlem residents. Critics Talbot Hamlin and Lewis Mumford praised its design. The complex is still operated by the New York City Housing Authority.","period_of_significance":"1936-37","architect_builder":"Chief architect: Archibald Manning Brown; team of architects including Charles F. Fuller, Horace Ginsbern, Frank J. Forster, Will Rice Amon, Richard W. Buckley and John Louis Wilson; builders Carlton Company (foundations) and Cauldwell-Wingate Company (superstructure)","architectural_style":null,"criteria":[],"status_note":"Marked occupied and used as private residences; the form says it remains one of the finest developments run by the New York City Housing Authority. Condition listed as fair.","vacant_flag":false,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:38.624268-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/79001605.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001605/b0b4ad57dc-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/79001605/b0b4ad57dc-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 4.0","author":"Beyond My Ken","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Harlem_River_Houses_from_Harlem_River_Drive_walkway.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_River_Houses_from_Harlem_River_Drive_walkway.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319580","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Harlem_River_Houses","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3127475"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/harlem-river-houses-79001605/"}