REMEMBER: A MANHATTANVILLE GAS STATION C. 2012

Harlem Bespoke:  We have been going on over a decade of photos taken for the blog of local gas stations that have been closed down and found these images in our archives of the one by the car wash in Manhattanville.   The above photos are from 2012 and shows the corner of 12th Avenue and 125th Street before everything was demolished.  Construction on site finally finished up in recent months and the after photos are pretty dramatic.

SEE: TIME AND FACE EXHIBIT AT THE WALLACH

Opening December 4th, Time and Face: Daguerreo Types to Digital Prints exhibit at the Wallach galleries, 615 West 125th Street, west of Broadway. Time and Face: Daguerreotypes to Digital Prints exhibition is drawn exclusively from the Collection of Art Properties at Columbia University and includes photographs produced using most photomechanical processes in American and European history. Arranged in four thematic sections—time and technology, face, innocence, and fame—the exhibition presents formal portraits alongside figurative subjects in photojournalism and documentary formats, with over 100 examples of works dating from the origins of photography in the 1840s to today.  Free RSVP admission and open to the vaccinated public from Wednesday through Saturday:  LINK

HarlemBespoke.com 2021

☞ REMEMBER: GIBB'S DINER OF MANHATTANVILLE

Harlem Bespoke:  Another history post we did over 10 years ago at the start of blog was about West Market Diner (shuttered 2004) in the planned Manhattanville campus footprint.  A blog reader mentioned that their family used to own the diner and shared amazing photos with some insight on the forgotten past of the neighborhood.  The diner building has since been demolished to make way for the new Columbia University campus.

ARCHITECTURE: 600 WEST 125TH REVEALED

Harlem Bespoke:  Plywood went up today at the former McDonald's lot on Broadway at 600 West 125th Street and a rendering of the new Columbia University tower was placed out front.  This is the first time the general public have seen a rendering of the building and the finish date on the poster mentions Summer 2023.  With that said, all of the surrounding prewar residential buildings directly south to this lot will have to start getting used to less sunlight a couple of years from now.  For more on this development, check out our past post: LINK

HarlemBespoke.com 2021

CONSTRUCTION: COLUMBIA HOUSING ON 125TH

Harlem Bespoke: The demolition of the free-standing McDonald's at the corner of 125th and Broadway caused a bit of stir in the neighborhood back in 2019 and now construction for a 34-story student housing building for Columbia University has begun on the site.  Some in the neighborhood point out a bait-and-switch with this development since the initial plan presented to the community was a low rise public school but that eventually went a different direction.  This lot also now extends to the former garages next door so this tower will certainly be quite substantial in size.  More on the story in our past post: LINK

HarlemBespoke.com 2021

POP-UP COMMUNITY VACCINATION AT COLUMBIA

Harlem Bespoke: Columbia University provided 500 vaccinations for the community at a pop-up site within The Forum building at 125th Street and Broadway last weekend.  The goal is to get more vaccinations out to the underserved black and latino communities within West Harlem and Washington Heights in the next few weeks.  Those interested can schedule a weekend appointment up until the end of May by sending and email to the Wellness Center at the university: LINK

HarlemBespoke.com 2021

PREVIEW: UPTOWN TRIENNIAL 2020 AT THE WALLACH

Uptown Triennial 2020, on view through December 4th, 2020 at the Wallach gallery, 615 West 125th Street, west of Broadway.  The Uptown Triennial 2020 exhibition, the second iteration in the series, presents the work of contemporary artists in dialogue with the Harlem Renaissance, a defining moment in American modernism and African-American cultural history, during its centennial year.

ARCHITECTURE: NEW VIEWS IN MANHATTANVILLE

Harlem Bespoke: Two new buildings have risen over at the Columbia University Manhattanville campus by 12th Avenue just north of 125th Street but might be finishing up later than planned.  All construction work has pretty much been halted in the city and the glassy structures were at the last leg  of the development cycle.  The angular stacked trays of the sister buildings still have the boxy aesthetic that permeates the new university center but a closer look reveals curved glass in between the layers.  More on the Manhattanville campus can be found in our past post: LINK

HarlemBespoke.com 2020

ARCHITECTURE: MAINTENANCE AT 125TH STATION

Harlem Bespoke: Those living on the west side might notice that there has been a lot of weekend maintenance on the elevated 1 train station at 125th Street as of late.  This is all kind of interesting since the landmark arch straddling Broadway had chipped, rusting paint on the exterior for many years until restoration started up in 2010.  The major difference now is that Columbia University has a new campus finally partially constructed in the area and there is probably more tax money and other motivational factors to keep the public transportation system in top form.  Check out what the train station used to look like in our past post: LINK

HarlemBespoke.com 2019