Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building
163 West 125th Street | also 156 West 126th Street, 125 West 125th Street | Harlem | built 1972
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The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1966
Governor Rockefeller proposes a state office tower as the start of Harlem's development
In 1966 Governor Nelson Rockefeller proposed a state office building for Harlem. He pitched it as the beginning of development meant to turn the neighborhood into a truly viable community. The project, later named for Adam Clayton Powell Jr., became the tallest building in Harlem.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1967
Ground is broken for a new Harlem state office tower
Governor Nelson Rockefeller proposed a state office building for Harlem in 1966, presenting it as the first step in turning the neighborhood into a viable community. Construction began in 1967, after a Corn Exchange Bank building on the site was demolished.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1969
Demonstrators halt construction over the building's workforce
In 1969 demonstrators stopped work on the state office tower. They objected to the racial makeup of the construction workforce and to what the facility was meant to be used for. The dispute was settled by mid-1970, and work resumed.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1974
The Harlem State Office Building opens as a Brutalist tower
The 19-story tower was designed by Ifill Johnson Hanchard, an African-American architecture firm, in the Brutalist style and in the shape of an African mask. It was completed in 1973 and opened in 1974 as the Harlem State Office Building.
Source: Wikipedia
- 1978
The state office building hosts Harlem's first giant Christmas tree
In 1978 the state office building hosted Harlem's first giant Christmas tree. The tower, initially known as the Harlem State Office Building, had by then been criticized for lacking basics such as a building manager and fire equipment.
“…in 1978 the location hosted Harlem's first giant Christmas tree…”
Source: Wikipedia
- 1983
The state renames the tower for Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
In 1983 the building was renamed for the Reverend Adam Clayton Powell Jr., a Harlem pastor and congressman who had been the first African American from New York elected to Congress. Powell had died in 1972.
Source: Wikipedia
- 2001
A seasonal farmers' market returns to the building's plaza
In the summer of 2001 a seasonal farmers' market came back to the plaza around the state office building. The Project for Public Spaces called it a glimmer of life on a windswept plaza covering the entire site, which sits above street level because the tower is raised on stilts.
Source: pps.org
- 2002
Project for Public Spaces nominates the tower for its Hall of Shame as a "killer building"
On January 7, 2002 the Project for Public Spaces posted its nomination of the Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building for its Hall of Shame, calling it a killer building from the urban renewal era. Its critique said the raised tower has a hard-to-find entrance and a plaza that is scorching in summer and bitter in winter.
Source: pps.org
Further reading
Nearby
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