{"nrhp_refnum":"85002423","name":"Minton's Playhouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"206--210 W. One Hundred Eighteenth St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"New York","county":"Manhattan","state":"NY","lat":40.80477497900006,"lon":-73.95278182199996,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1985-09-18","is_nhl":false,"nhl_designated_date":null,"areas_of_significance":["Performing Arts"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"Minton's Playhouse is a jazz nightclub on the ground floor of the Cecil Hotel, a five-story brick building at 206-210 West 118th Street at St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem, New York City. The hotel was built in 1895, and the club opened in 1939.","why_significant":"The nomination argues that Minton's was the principal site of the jam sessions and experiments in the 1940s that led to the bebop revolution in jazz. Musicians such as Kenny Clarke, Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Christian developed the style there. Bebop is presented as a turning point in which jazz came to be seen as a serious art form.","narrative":"Minton's Playhouse is a small jazz club in the ground floor of the Cecil Hotel, a five-story gray brick building with limestone trim at West 118th Street and St. Nicholas Avenue in Harlem. The hotel dates from 1895 and follows the Second Renaissance Revival style. In 1939 owner Henry Minton converted a dining room into a club. The L-shaped room kept its small stage, a 38-foot hardwood bar, some booths and a 1948 mural of musicians. Through the 1940s the club hosted regular jam sessions. Drummer Kenny Clarke led the house band, and players including Thelonious Monk, Dizzy Gillespie and Charlie Christian worked out the harmonic, melodic and rhythmic ideas that became bebop. Musicians called it the music they were playing up at Minton's. The site was recognized for this role in changing the course of American jazz. The club interior is deteriorated, and the property was listed as vacant.","period_of_significance":"1939-1949","architect_builder":null,"architectural_style":"Second Renaissance Revival","criteria":[],"status_note":"The form lists the property as unoccupied and vacant. The club interior is deteriorated but restorable, and a beauty shop and laundry were noted on the St. Nicholas Avenue side.","vacant_flag":true,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:50:46.179196-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/lz/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_NY/85002423.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002423/576c35f46a-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/85002423/576c35f46a-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 2.0","author":"MR.119th. STREET from HARLEM, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Minton%27s_Playhouse.jpg\" rel=\"noopener\">MR.119th. STREET from HARLEM, NEW YORK, UNITED STATES</a>, <a href=\"https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 2.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Minton%27s_Playhouse.jpg"},"district":null,"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/75319736","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Minton%27s_Playhouse","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q1814151"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/new-york/manhattan/mintons-playhouse-85002423/"}