Will Marion Cook House

221 West 138th Street | Harlem | built 1910

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.

1891
Developer David H. King builds this Strivers' Row rowhouse
David H. King builds this three-story Renaissance Revival rowhouse in 1891 as the end unit of a sixteen-house row on West 138th Street, in the part of Harlem now known as Strivers' Row. The second floor has a three-part window with Ionic columns between the sashes, topped by a half-round terra-cotta panel that gives it a Palladian look. Splayed terra-cotta lintels cap the first- and third-floor windows.
Source: Wikipedia
1918
Composer Will Marion Cook moves into the house
Composer and violinist Will Marion Cook, who studied violin under Antonín Dvořák and others, lives in this Strivers' Row rowhouse from 1918 until his death in 1944. Shut out of classical-music work by racism, he becomes a theater composer and arranger, draws on African-American musical styles, and is an early user of improvisation that helps lead to jazz and the Big Band era. He mentors Eubie Blake and Duke Ellington and helps advance the career of his wife, the soprano Abbie Mitchell.
Source: Wikipedia

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