Park & Tilford was the luxury grocery store of its day and one of the many branches also existed in a building that will have another notable business opening soon. Reading past articles from the New York Times, it would seem that the Park & Tilford stores were more comparable to today's Dean & Deluca and the one at 314 Lenox Avenue (in the above photo circa 1908) would have been one of the most acclaimed businesses in the neighborhood. The top photo shows the compact building at Lenox and the corner of 126th Street with a large electric sign on the roof touting the store's arrival in Harlem. Today the facade with the ionic columns is known as 310 Lenox Avenue and will soon have the opening of Marcus Samuelsson's Red Rooster restaurant sometimes in the next month:
LINK. Based on old articles featuring Park & Tilford (which had at least 7 branches), it would seem that they had a good run from the 1880's until somewhere in the 1920's. Check out what the Times had to say about the grocers in 1886:
LINK
Byron Company, New NY, Park & Tillford 314-316 Lenox Avenue, 1908 via the digital collection at the Museum of the City of New York
Amazing that this structure remained in tact! Welcome to Marcus and The Red Rooster!
ReplyDeleteSuch a beautiful introduction and yet another reason why I am a devoted follower to this blog. Bravo Ulyssees.
ReplyDeleteWell Said Corey !! I am constantly checking up on this blog ! Thanks Ulyssees! The man that never sleeps !
ReplyDeletePark and Tilford is also noteworthy as the place where the young Henry Roth worked as a delivery boy--he grew up to become the greatest chronicler of the Jewish immigrant experience, and his semi-autobiographical work Mercy of a Rude Stream has plenty of detail about the store, which I believe shut down before World War I, when so many fancy uptown establishments closed their doors rather than adjust to the, shall we say, new racial reality.
ReplyDeleteA few more things: It was only Park and Tilford's uptown branch that closed during this period (actually it was in 1919)--the main branch, located at Broadway and West 22nd Street, remained open. Also, The tenor saxophonist recorded "Park and Tilford Blues" with a small group in 1946.
ReplyDeleteFour years later I notice I left out the tenor saxophonist's name. It was of course the immortal Ben Webster!
DeleteI was always very impressed with this building’s recent facelift. I can now see why the newly restored façade is so impressive, looking at the old photo I can see it is a historically correct restoration and I assume a non landmarked building. A wise move by the developer as the building has now attracted Harlem’s most high profile storefront tenant, the “Red Rooster”.
ReplyDeleteThank you ulyssees for this wonderful blog!
ReplyDeleteI can only say that you learn something new every day and it is great when the thing you have learned is pleasurable!! Thanks Bespoke for coming through yet again with excellent information.
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