Before and after
Hamilton Heights around the concert
The neighbourhood around West 145th Street: a landmark historic district, Alexander Hamilton's house and how to link them to a Wednesday gospel hour.
Reserve your Harlem gospel seat ↗Where the concert sits
The concert address, 420 West 145th Street, falls in Hamilton Heights. The neighbourhood is bounded by 135th Street to the south, Riverside Drive to the west, 155th Street to the north and Edgecombe Avenue and Saint Nicholas Avenue to the east. It is named for Alexander Hamilton, who lived the last two years of his life in the house now preserved as Hamilton Grange National Memorial, at a time when upper Manhattan was mostly farmland.
A landmark district
Nearly all of Hamilton Heights lies within a historic district. The Hamilton Heights Historic District, roughly bounded by St. Nicholas and Amsterdam Avenues and by West 140th and West 145th Streets, was designated a New York City landmark on 26 November 1974 and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. It has 192 contributing buildings, mostly three- and four-storey brick rowhouses, apartment buildings and churches built between about 1886 and 1931.
What to look for on the rowhouses
Most buildings in the district are three- and four-storey brick rowhouses with raised stone terraces. The styles include Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival and Beaux-Arts, so you can see different generations of New York taste on a short walk. Look at the stoops, the bay windows and the stonework around doors and cornices.
Hamilton Grange
The Grange is the home Alexander Hamilton commissioned in 1800, and it now stands in St. Nicholas Park at 414 West 141st Street. The National Park Service says all visits, including tours and the visitor center, are free. The site is open Wednesday to Sunday and closed on Monday and Tuesday, so Wednesday is the first day of the week you can go inside. Guided tours of the furnished floor run on a first-come basis, and the NPS page lists current hours.
A walk through the churches
The historic district contains three churches: St. Luke's, Convent Avenue Baptist Church and St. James Presbyterian Church. They stand among rowhouses and apartment buildings built between about 1886 and 1931, so a walk around West 145th Street shows churches as part of an ordinary residential street. You can look at the exteriors from the pavement. Inside, they are working places of worship, and a visit is best made through a concert or service that welcomes visitors.
City College up the hill
City College of New York is in Hamilton Heights, and its North Campus, including Shepard Hall, is landmarked. The college gives the neighbourhood a campus feel alongside the rowhouses, churches and apartment buildings of the historic district. If you have spare time before the concert, the campus is one more landmark to look at from the street, and it needs no ticket or booking.
Getting around
The 145th Street station on the A, B, C and D lines is the closest to the concert, and the National Park Service also points visitors to Hamilton Grange from the 135th Street station on the same lines. A separate 145th Street station on Broadway is served by the 1 train, and the NPS lists the 1 train at 137th Street too. Check the MTA's live trip planner on the day, as weekend and late-night service changes.
Planning a Wednesday
Hamilton Grange is closed on Monday and Tuesday and opens again on Wednesday, so a Wednesday concert falls on its first open day of the week. Its hours are daytime hours, so go before the concert rather than after, and check the National Park Service's page for the latest times on the day. Free tours of the furnished floor run on a first-come basis. Leave time at the end of the visit to walk to the church, and keep the 25-minute early arrival in mind.
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