Hamilton Heights

Harlem-area neighborhood sees economic renaissance

By Patrick Verel | Special to amNew York

Back when northern Manhattan was still farmland, Federalist Papers co-author and U.S. Constitution architect Alexander Hamilton settled in an area high above the rest of the island.

The neighborhood became known as Hamilton Heights, and along with neighboring Sugar Hill and other Harlem neighborhoods, it has been traditionally home to a large black professional class. But the beautiful brownstones and stately row houses that line the leafy streets have slowly drawn other ethnicities, too.

Klara Madlin, president of Harlem Homes, said the single-family homes in the historic district, which stretches from 140th Street to 155th Street between Amsterdam and St. Nicholas avenues, have been a big draw for people looking for more room than downtown abodes can provide.

"You have these low-rise, beautiful homes," Madlin said. "A lot of them need work, but they're in the process of being renovated. You can get to midtown in 15 minutes, all the subways are there. You don't have to go through any tunnels or over any bridges, and it's not dominated by high-rises."

Norman Horowitz, senior vice president of Halstead Realty, noted that the area also has geography going for it.

"It's higher than all of downtown, so the views from the upper levels are nothing short of amazing," he said. "In the last 20 to 30 years, it hasn't changed that much either. You still have the elegant brownstones with the Dutch gables; some of them are 125 feet wide; on tree-lined streets; you still have the old Romanesque architecture from City College's north campus."

Both Horowitz and Madlin say the one thing the area lacks is services. But that, too, is changing.

"On 145th Street, which is the main thoroughfare, you can see major capital improvements going on," Horowitz said. "There's a new Pathmark nearby, there are new co-ops on both sides of the block and there's a new restaurant, Baton Rouge. So that's a testimony to an urban revival."

The Buzz

Like the rest of Harlem, Hamilton Heights is experiencing a bit of an economic renaissance. Although Starbucks, that ultimate symbol of gentrification, hasn't made it this far yet (the closest one is still 125th Street and Lenox Avenue), the neighborhood has seen more services move in.

The first big grocer to move in was Fairway, which opened a 20,000-square-foot behemoth on 12th Avenue and 135th Street in 1995. In January, Pathmark followed suit with a new store on 145th Street between Bradhurst Avenue and Frederick Douglass Boulevard. With new restaurants and cafés opening all the time, it seems likely that retail will soon catch up with the residential changes.

Find it

Hamilton Heights is bounded by 135th Street to the south, the Hudson River to the west, 155th Street to the north, and St. Nicholas Avenue to the east.

To see

City College
The oldest of all the CUNY schools is located along Convent Avenue between 131st and 141st streets. Its neo-Gothic campus is chock full of historic structures, most of them designed by George Browne Post, who also designed the New York Stock Exchange. The first six buildings built there are adorned with 600 custom-made grotesques (or gargoyles).

Striver's Row
The three rows of town houses on 138th and 139th streets between Seventh Avenue and Frederick Douglass Boulevard known as Striver's Row hold not only the history dating back to the 1890s, but also the pedigree of architecture giants James Brown Lord, Bruce Pice and McKim, Mead and White. The result is a mix of buildings built to a similar scale, but each has a distinct style, be it Georgian or neo-Italian. If you look closely, you'll see some houses still have signs at their private alleys that say "Walk Your Horse."

Sugar Hill
This neighborhood bleeds into Hamilton Heights, from 145th Street to 155th Street between Edgecombe Avenue and Amsterdam Avenue. Its position up above the rest of Harlem made it a desirable place to live, and in the 1920s it became the neighborhood of choice for wealthy blacks; it was said to be "sweet and expensive," thus the name. Duke Ellington even wrote about it in the song "Take The A Train (To go to Sugar Hill way up in Harlem.)"