Fascinating stories just keep coming today. (Something in the midwinter air?) To wit: the Sun's excellent essay about Graham Court, a classic turn-of-the-(last)-century Harlem residential building on Adam Clayton Powell Boulevard between 116th-117th Streets whose own renaissance has lagged behind much of the surrounding neighborhood. Among reputed drug dealers and an old man "slashing the air with a knife he held in his right hand," a new generation of tenants are adjusting to the place—sort of:
"I'd studied the Graham Court in school at Columbia," says [architect Kyle] Taylor [who] had moved in with the promise that the building would go coop. Now he finds himself as the "youngest and newest tenant," paying a market rent of $2,200, with no sign of a co-op in sight and lamentable services. The building is overseen by a superintendent and two porters... Mr. Taylor complains about mice, as does his downstairs neighbor, Leslie Powell, who says, "The super told me I should be happy I have mice because that means I won't have rats. They don't coexist together. Well, that's a bit of useful information I didn't have!"What's ahead for the building is anyone's guess. Notes the Sun, "The landlord is embroiled in disputes with the new market-rate tenants as well as ongoing suits from older tenants. 'Their lawyers just camp out down at housing court,'" one resident says.
· Once-Heralded Address Lags Behind Rest of Harlem [NYSun]
· Graham Court [HometoHarlem.com]