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160th - 170th Streets
 

bullet   AileyCamp
       © Alvin Ailey ADT Alvin Ailey
In describing the AileyCamps, the website of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater states that this "unique program, originated by the Kansas City Friends of Alvin Ailey, brings under-served youngsters to a full-scholarship summer day camp that combines dance with personal development workshops, creative-writing classes and field trips. The six-week program focuses on inner-city kids between the ages of 11 and 14. This tuition-free camp provides campers with a safe environment in which they can have fun while learning discipline and developing important life skills. The AileyCamp faculty is comprised of professional artists and educators. Committed to personalized and individual attention, the faculty nurtures creativity, builds self-esteem and serves as personal role models."
The New York City AileyCamp is co-sponsored by The Children’s Aid Society. Other camps are in Kansas City, MO; Chicago, IL; Bridgeport, CT and Boston, MA. The newest AileyCamps in development are in Kansas City, KS (2001) and Berkeley, CA (2002).
 

bullet   Fort Washington Park
       158th-Dyckman Sts. along the Hudson River
       © Photo by Leslie Day Ft. Washington Park
 
At 158th Street, Riverside Park ends its bucolic march along the Hudson River and passes the baton to Fort Washington Park. Along with glorious views across the river to the New Jersey Palisades, this park offers 145 landscaped acres with park benches, paths, playgrounds, tennis courts, handball courts, and ballfields, practically all of them available year-round. For more information about the 172nd Street Tennis Park (only!), call 516-883-4551 or pay an on-line visit to Parks and Recreation for a permit. The Little Red Lighthouse is in this park at 178th Street under the George Washington Bridge.

bullet   The Rio Gallery

This art gallery, located at 10 Fort Washington Avenue, just off Broadway at 160th Street, is open Mondays through Fridays 9a.m. to 5p.m. and also by appointment. Call 212-568-2030 ext. 208.
In November 2001 the gallery featured artworks by Grimanesa Amoros, Robert Martinez, and Jennifer Ross.

bullet   The Morris-Jumel Mansion
       1765 Jumel Terrace, 160th-162nd Sts.
       © Morris-Jumel Inc. The Morris-Jumel Mansion
This Georgian house was built in 1765 for Colonel Roger Morris, a Royalist, and his Dutch wife Mary Philipse as their summer residence, which they named Mount Morris. The land, the "Haarlemse Hoogte," had been part of Jacob Dyckman's property (see also Dyckman Farmhouse). During the War of Independence this wood-encased brick mansion changed hands a number of times. Because of the house's strategic situation above the Harlem Valley overlooking central Manhattan, General George Washington used it as his headquarters during the autumn 1776 Battle of Harlem Heights, as subsequently did his victor General William Howe. Washington returned as president, with his cabinet, in 1790. The house was saved from neglect in 1810 by the wealthy French-Caribbean wine merchant Stephen Jumel and his wife Eliza "Betsey" Bowen, who returned it to its former glory, be it with a touch of Empire. (It is said that they hobnobbed with the Napoleon Bonapartes and in 1820 played host to his older brother Joseph.) About a decade later, the widowed Madam Jumel married Aaron Burr in the front parlor. 

This was a rural area until 1882 when the Jumel heirs sold the estate, retaining only the grounds around the house. The Sylvan Terrace row houses (below) were begun the same year.
Today the house is part of the Jumel Terrace Historic District and run by the Washington Headquarters Association. The rose- and herb gardens, which date back to colonial times and look out over the Harlem River, are maintained by volunteers. This 1970 Historic District runs from West 160th to 162nd Streets between St. Nicholas and Edgecombe Avenues and includes the Sylvan and Jumel Terraces.
More on-line information can be found at The Historic House Trust of New York City and HarlemLive.

bullet   Sylvan Terrace
       West 161st St. bet. St. Nicolas Ave. and Jumel Terrace
       © Photo Kimberley S. Johnson Sylvan Terrace
This double row of wooden two-story houses facing each other across a cobblestoned street was built in 1882 on what was once the carriage drive for "Mount Morris" (see Morris-Jumel Mansion, above). Restored in 1981, the houses were designed by Gilbert Robinson, Jr. in a then-common New York City building style. Together with the Jumel Terrace mansion and rowhouses, they are now part of the Jumel Terrace Historic District.
See also info from the Upper Manhattan Empowerment Zone.
 

bullet   Jumel Terrace
       Jumel Terrace, 160th-162nd Sts.
       Photo © Forgotten NY/Kevin Walsh Jumel Terrace
These landmarked three-story brown- and limestone row houses were built on Jumel Terrace in 1896.  More TK...
 

bullet   Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center
       622 W. 168th St. at Ft. Washington Ave.
       © 1997 Trustees of Columbia University, City of New York Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center

The façade of the former Audubon Ballroom and Theater was incorporated into the hospital's Biotechnology Center (W. 165th at Broadway).
         © Jaros Baum & Bolles Columbia-Presbyterian Medical Center
 
The 800,000 sq.ft. Milstein Hospital Complex at 168th Street and Ft. Washington Avenue was designed by the architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill. This new addition adds more than 800 hospital beds, multiple operating rooms and intensive care spaces to the Columbia-Presbyterian teaching hospital.
 

bullet   The Armory, Home of the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame
       168th-169th Sts. at Ft. Washington Ave.
       © 2000 The Armory Armory entrance
Between 1840 and 1940 many armories were built in New York City, originally for the purpose of providing a drill hall and offices to local militias, stationed there to counter upper-class fears of social unrest during increasing immigration. The drill hall commonly was a high, one-story structure built using technology developed for train sheds in order to provide a very large open space where a thousand troops could be drilled. The section housing the administrative offices usually consisted of a multi-story wing that often also held the mess hall, company headquarters, a gymnasium, etc. The Guastavino Company worked on this building.
The Armory Track and Field
This castellated Armory for the 22nd Regiment Engineers was decommissioned after the First World War and turned into a track and field center. In 1997 it became the proud home of the U.S. Track and Field Hall of Fame! A six-lane 200-meter track with an Olympic-quality surface and an on-going program of improvements make this facility arguably the finest in the city. To find out more about the Armory's availability for events, track meets and educational functions, call 212-923-2068 or use the link above to visit the Armory on-line.
 
The New York Road Runners Club runs a semi-annual track program at the Armory for children aged 6-13. For more information, log on to their web site or call 212-860-4455.

bullet   Fresh Youth Initiatives

The mission of Fresh Youth Initiatives is "to support and encourage young people in Washington Heights to design and carry out community service projects, develop leadership skills, fulfill their potential and realize their dreams."

 

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