Astor Row

William Astor financed and architect Charles Buek designed these 28 semi-attached row houses that were built on the south side of 130 Street between 5 and Lenox Avenue in the early 1880’s and named it Aster Row, since the Aster Family owned the land.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Unlike the ornate brownstone and Townhouses on the North side of the street, these homes have front porches.  Not an everyday sight in Manhattan.


The original development consisted of 28 red-brick houses, attached in pairs. The development was landmarked in 1981.  But by then they were in various states of disrepair. In the 1990’s the Astor Foundation provided a grant to repair the porches.

Although beautiful by design, there is still a lot of work to be done.

I’ve been on the inside of a couple of the homes and they are quite large and also have nice sized backyards.  

With home stock like this, and the increase in residents in Central Harlem, I’m surprised more family’s haven’t purchased homes here.  I sure the credit crisis is part of the problem.  Hopefully I’ll see a completely renovated block in the next few years.

 

Like Strivers Row and Mount Morris Park, this is a beautiful section of Harlem often overlooked by those who don't live in the neighborhood or think that today's Harlem is still the Harlem of the 70's and 80's.