Landscape Information
This nine-acre residential complex set was opened in 1937 to provide African American residents and the public with access to high quality affordable housing and outdoor amenities. Located between 151st and 153rd Streets, the trapezoidal site slopes east from Macombs Place to Harlem River Drive. Bisected by Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard the complex is composed of clusters of four and five story brick buildings. Each cluster consists of connected L, T, and Z shaped sections that frame generous courtyards, open space accounts for two thirds of the site鈥檚 total acreage.
Funded and constructed by the Public Works Administration on behalf of the New York City Housing Authority, the complex was designed by landscape architects Gilmore Clarke and Michael Rapuano, and a team of seven architects. Led by Archibald Manning Brown, the latter included John Louis Wilson, one of the first African American graduates of Columbia University鈥檚 School of Architecture (now the Graduate School of Architecture, Planning and Preservation). Gilmore Clarke and Michael Rapuano鈥檚 axial plan is characterized by a linear, east-west promenade, which connects the complex. Paved with Belgian block units, it is bordered by London plane tree all茅es underplanted with ground cover and flanked by parallel sidewalks. A central concrete, recessed fountain, trimmed by Belgian block, animates the space and invites play. From the fountain, symmetrical sunken courtyards extend north and south, each supporting a playground. Breezeways, distinguished by cast concrete sculptures by artist Heinz Warneke, provide access to perimeter streets.
The promenade continues east where it terminates at a courtyard anchored by an additional sculpture by Warneke. To the south a courtyard incorporates a lawn amphitheater, which overlooks the Harlem River Parkway and riverfront beyond. It is contiguous with the Percy E. Sutton Playground to the east, concurrently designed by Clarke and Rapuano.
In 1979 Harlem River Houses was listed in the National Register of Historic Places and in 2024 was rehabilitated by a multidisciplinary team of architects, preservationists, and landscape consultants.
