MXB Virtual Tour - New York City Department of City Planning

Department of City Planning - "Shaping the City's Future"

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Projects & Proposals > Manhattan > Virtual Tour of Malcolm X Boulevard

Archived Content

This page describes Malcolm X Boulevard as it appeared in 2001. The tour was developed as part of the Malcolm X Boulevard Streetscape Enhancement Project. These pages are no longer being updated.

52. Harlem Hospital Center
506 Malcolm X Boulevard between W. 135th and W. 136th Streets, east side of the street

Originally housed in a 1907 beaux arts-style building on Fifth Avenue between W. 136th and W. 137th Streets, Harlem Hospital served the community with 150 beds. The first African-American doctors and nurses were added to the staff in 1919. It was here in 1958 that doctors saved the life of Martin Luther King, Jr. after he was stabbed by a deranged woman at Blumstein's Department Store (230 West 125th Street). The completion of the current structure on Malcolm X Blvd., built in 1969, was delayed by demonstrators demanding the hiring of black and Hispanic construction workers. A building that survives from the original group of buildings at the hospital complex is the Women's Pavilion/Dental Clinic on West 137th Street between Malcolm X Blvd. and Fifth Avenue, mid-block on the south side of the street. This building was added to the Harlem Hospital campus in 1935. Just inside the entrance to the Dental Clinic are two very important murals flanking the stairway: one depicts African village and city life, the other shows scientists, agriculture and physicians. The murals were painted during the 1930's by Harlem artists in the federally-funded Works Progress Administration Program (WPA). Among the artists who participated in this effort were the painter Aaron Douglas and Morgan and Marvin Smith, brothers known for their insightful photographs of life in Harlem. Some of their work can be found in the permanent collection of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture.

Harlem Hospital Center
photo of harlem hospital center

Mural of "Scientists, Agriculture and Physicians"
detail of mural scientists, agriculture and physicians

Mural of "Village Life"
detail of mural village life

Return to 133rd - 139th Streets Index Map

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