Thursday, October 7, 2021

ARCHITECTURE: A WITCH'S HAT ROOF CIRCA 1940

Harlem Bespoke:  These conical roofs are sometimes referred to as a Witch's Hat which is quite appropriate for the Halloween season.  We found this lovely corner building image in the the city archives from the 1940s but nowadays the address no longer has this architectural element intact.  Can anyone guess which block this on?  The hills are always a good clue since Central Harlem is pretty much cancelled out.  An updated photo will be posted later on today.
The correct answer is the corner of West 140th Street and Hamilton Place looking west.  One of the other clues that is unique to this building is that brownstones surround the corner location and this is the larger structure at the intersection.  Interestingly enough, the older photo has no cars at all on the block but today every available spot is covered with parked automobiles. People in the neighborhood could get around fine  80 years ago just using public transportation but somehow that has since changed. 

3 comments:

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    1. Lenox is in Central Harlem where there are no hills;)

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  2. wrong guess - took some digging but i figured it out...

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