369th Regiment Armory

Located on Fifth Avenue between 142nd and 143rd Streets in Harlem, this brick armory combines a 1920s drill shed with a 1930s Art Deco administration building. The drill shed, designed by Tachau & Vought, has medieval-inspired sandstone entrance hoods and three tiers of balconies seating 6,000 to 7,000. The administration building, by Van Wart & Wein, has a buff terra cotta parapet with chevron designs and stylized eagles, iron window grilles decorated with stars and maces, and a massive sandstone sally port. The armory was built for the 369th Regiment, the only New York National Guard unit made up solely of African-Americans. During World War I the regiment served with the French Army and was the first all-black unit sent into battle on foreign soil; its members were known as the Harlem Hell Fighters. The building also represents the early twentieth century state armory type, with a military and social function, an administration building joined to a drill shed, and a design that moved away from castle-like forms. Its interior survives largely intact.