THE GUIDE

Striver's Row
(St. Nicholas Historic District)

Built between 1891 and 1893 by the builder David H. King Jr, this group of terraced houses occupies two blocks and was originally called King Model Houses. The initial design was designed for the middle and upper class of whites who were constantly moving to upper Manhattan in search of new housing in the run-up to the building. The builder, however, sold very few houses and speculation failed. One of the factors that probably led to the failure was the economic depression of 1893 - 1897 that among other things led many whites to abandon Harlem. The buildings remained uninhabited until 1919 - 1920, when it was decided to sell them at a reasonable price to the Afro-American inhabitants of the area. During this period the colloquial name Striver’s Row was coined.
The district comprises three groups of buildings, those in red brick and brownstone on the south side of West 138th Street and at 2350-2354 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard designed by James Brown Lord in the Georgian Revival style. Then there are the yellow brick and white limestone houses with terracotta ornaments on the north side of West 138th Street, on the south side of 139th Street and at 2360-2378 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard designed in Colonial Revival style by Bruce Price and Clarence S. Luce and finally the dark brick, brownstone and terracotta buildings north of 139th Street and at 2380 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard designed in Renaissance Revival style by Stanford White of McKim, Mead & White architecture studio McKim, on the south side of West 138th Street.
Among the best-known residents were Vertner Tandy, the first African-American architect authorized to practice by the state of New York, boxer Harry Wills, known as “Black Panther”, preacher and congressman Adam Clayton Powell Jr., the activist and surgeon Dr. Louis T. Wright, the actor Stepin Fetchit, the comedian Lincoln Perry, the actor and dancer William Luther Robinson, known as Bill “Bojangles” Robinson and various black musicians, such as William Christopher Handy, widely recognized as “the father of the blues”, the jazz pianist and conductor Fletcher Henderson, the violinist Will Marion Cook, the jazz pianist and composer Eubie Blake and others.

References

Kenneth T. Jackson, Lisa Keller, Nancy Flood. The Encyclopedia of New York City: Second Edition. Yale University Press, 2010. p. 1255
St. Nicholas Historic District (Wikipedia)
History of NYC Streets: Strivers’ Row (Untapped Cities)