 | By the time David H. King Jr. built these distinguished row houses and apartments, he had already been widely recognized as the builder responsible for the old Times Building of 1889 on Park Row, Stanford White's Madison Square Garden, and the base of the Statue of Liberty. Displaying rare vision, King commissioned the services of three different architects at on time to develop this group of contiguous blocks for the well-to-do. The results are an urbane grouping reflecting the different tastes of the architects: all with similar scale, varied but harmonious materials, and related styles. Georgian inspired in the two southern blocks and neo-Italian Renaissance in McKim, Mead & White's norther group. In adddition, they share the amenity of rear alleys with entrances from the side streets. No wonder they were so prized by their original occupants.
As Harlem became first a refuge for blacks and then a ghetto, the homes and apartments retained their prestige and attracted (by 1919) many ambitious as well as successful blacks in medicine, dentistry, law and the arts (such as W.C. Handy, Noble Sissle, and Eubie Blake.) As a result, "Strivers' Row" became a popular term for the district in the 1920s and 1930s. |
