125th Street

(Manhattan)

125th Street, co-named Martin Luther King Jr. Boulevard, is a two-way street that runs east–
west in the New York City borough of Manhattan, from First Avenue on the east to Marginal
Street, a service road for the Henry Hudson Parkway along the Hudson River in the west. It is
often considered to be the "Main Street" of Harlem.

West 125th Street near Broadway, looking west toward the Hudson River. The 125th Street subway station of the IRT
Broadway – Seventh Avenue Line can be seen overhead.
Notable buildings along 125th Street include the Apollo Theater, the Adam Clayton Powell Jr.
State Office Building, the Hotel Theresa, the Studio Museum in Harlem, the Mount Morris Bank
Building, Harlem Commonwealth Council, the Harlem Children's Zone, the Church of St. Joseph
of the Holy Family, and the former West End Theatre, now home to the La Gree Baptist Church.

History

The street was designated by the Commissioners' Plan of 1811 that established the Manhattan
street grid as one of 15 east–west streets that would be 100 feet (30 m) in width (while other
streets were designated as 60 feet (18 m) in width).[1]

Neighborhoods

The world-famous Apollo Theater

The western part of the street runs diagonally between the neighborhoods of Manhattanville and
Morningside Heights from the northwest from the West Harlem Piers and an interchange with
the Henry Hudson Parkway at 130th Street. East of Morningside Avenue it runs east–west
through central Harlem to Second Avenue, where a ramp connects it to the Robert F. Kennedy
(Triborough) Bridge. However, 125th Street continues to First Avenue, where it connects to the
southbound FDR Drive and the Willis Avenue Bridge.
West of Convent Avenue, 125th Street was rerouted onto what was, prior to 1920, called
Manhattan Street. What remains of the original alignment of 125th Street was renamed La Salle
Street at that time. The remaining blocks run between Amsterdam Avenue and Claremont
Avenue. The New York Times lamented the name changes, noting that the new names had
"somewhat doubtful nomenclature", and that the City's "Aldermen like French names" but gave
no rationale for the moves otherwise.[2] A block of the original 125th Street in this area was de-
mapped to make the super-blocks where the Grant Houses projects now exist.

A proposal to convert the street into a Trans-Harlem Expressway died when funds were diverted
from the proposed 125th Street Hudson River bridge at the street's western end.

Beginning in the late 1990s, many sections of 125th Street have been gentrified and developed
with such stores as MAC Cosmetics, Old Navy, H&M, CVS/pharmacy, and Magic Johnson
Theaters. In collaboration with the community, the city has developed a plan for the 125th Street
corridor focusing on reinforcing and building upon its strengths as an arts and cultural
corridor.[3]

Fault line

A rift in the crust runs along underneath this street from the East River to New Jersey and is
known as the 125th Street Fault or the Manhattanville Fault.[4][5][6] It is suspected to have
caused a magnitude-5.2 earthquake in 1737, two smaller ones in 1981,[7] and a 2.4 magnitude
quake in 2001.[6] The fault line skims across the top of Central Park and runs to Roosevelt Island
to the southeast. It creates a fault valley deep enough to require the IRT Broadway–Seventh
Avenue Line (1 train) to use a trestle between 122nd and 135th Streets, even though the line
goes underground at either end and remains at the same elevation above sea level throughout.[8]
Riverside Drive also crosses over the fault valley on a high viaduct.

Public transportation

The following New York City Subway stations are located at 125th Street (west to east):[9]

125th Street at Broadway serving the 1 train

125th Street at St. Nicholas Avenue serving the A, B

​ ,C
​ , and D
​ trains

125th Street at Lenox Avenue serving the 2 and ​3 trains

125th Street at Lexington Avenue serving the 4, 5

​,6
​ , and <6> trains
The following NYC Bus lines serve 125th Street:[10]

Bx15, M100, M101 and M60 SBS all serve 125th as crosstown lines.

M5 at Riverside Drive

M4, and M104 (southbound only), at Broadway

M3 at St. Nicholas Avenue

M10 at Frederick Douglass Boulevard

M2 at Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard (7th Avenue)

M7 and M102 at Lenox Avenue

M1 at Madison Avenue (northbound) and Fifth Avenue (southbound)

M98 at Park Avenue (southbound) and Third Avenue (northbound)

M103 at Lexington Avenue (southbound) and Third Avenue (northbound)

M35 at Lexington Avenue (eastbound)

M15 and M15 SBS at Second Avenue (southbound) and First Avenue (northbound)

Metro-North Railroad's Harlem–125th Street station is located at the street's intersection with
Park Avenue.[11]

The planned second phase of the Second Avenue Subway, continuing north from the 116th
Street station, will turn westward onto 125th Street, terminating at a station at Lexington Avenue.
The new station would connect to the Metro-North and preexisting Lexington Avenue subway
stations there.[12]

Gallery
 The Studio Museum in Harlem

(144 West 125th St.)

Harlem Savings Bank, listed on the

National Register of Historic Places (NRHP)

(123 East 125th St.)

 St. Joseph of the Holy Family Church

the oldest existing church in Harlem and above 44th Street[13]

(401 West 125th St.)

Sydenham Hospital Clinic

formerly the Commonwealth Building[14]

(215 West 125th St.)

 Hotel Theresa, now Theresa Towers,

a NYC landmark and on the NRHP

(West 125th St. and Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Blvd.)

Victoria Theater, now being renovated into a mixed-use building[15]

(237 West 125th St)

Adam Clayton Powell Jr. State Office Building

(163 West 125th Street)

55 West 125th Street

where Bill Clinton has his office
 Notable occupants

As of 2011, former president Bill Clinton maintains an office on 125th Street.[16][17]

In popular culture

The intersection of 125th and Lexington Avenue is the location where Lou Reed buys heroin
on the Velvet Underground's "I'm Waiting for the Man" from their seminal 1967 debut album,
The Velvet Underground & Nico.[18]

References

Notes

1. Morris, Gouverneur, De Witt, Simeon, and Rutherford, John [sic] (March 1811) "Remarks Of The
Commissioners For Laying Out Streets And Roads In The City Of New York, Under The Act Of April 3,
1807" (http://urbanplanning.library.cornell.edu/DOCS/nyc1811.htm) , Cornell University Library.
Accessed June 27, 2016. "These streets are all sixty feet wide except fifteen, which are one hundred feet
wide, viz.: Numbers fourteen, twenty-three, thirty-four, forty-two, fifty-seven, seventy-two, seventy-nine,
eighty-six, ninety-six, one hundred and six, one hundred and sixteen, one hundred and twenty-five, one
hundred and thirty-five, one hundred and forty-five, and one hundred and fifty-five--the block or space
between them being in general about two hundred feet."

2. "Harlem Street Renamed" (https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/timesmachine/1920/06/27/96360956.p

df) The New York Times (June 27, 1920)

3. "New York City Economic Development Corporation (NYCEDC) 125th Street Project" (https://web.archive.
org/web/20070529005145/http://www.nycedc.com/Web/AboutUs/OurProjects/CurrentProjects/125thSt
reet.htm) . Archived from the original (http://www.nycedc.com/Web/AboutUs/OurProjects/CurrentProje
cts/125thStreet.htm) on 2007-05-29. Retrieved 2008-08-18.

4. Kaminer, Ariel (March 19, 2011). "Preparing for the Day the Earth Moves in the City" (https://www.nytime
s.com/2011/03/20/nyregion/20critic.html) . The New York Times. Retrieved 2015-09-29.

5. Lee, Denny (May 12, 2002). "California, Here We Come: Scientists Warn of Earthquakes Here" (https://ww
w.nytimes.com/2002/05/12/nyregion/neighborhood-report-new-york-up-close-california-here-we-come-s
cientists-warn.html) . The New York Times. Retrieved September 29, 2015.

6. "Small Earthquakes Strike New York City" (http://www.dukelabs.com/ForTeachers/NYC_2001_Quake/NY

CQuake.htm) Duke Geological Laboratory website
 7. Shahid, Aliyah (March 17, 2011). "NYC due to be hit by killer quake?" (http://www.nydailynews.com/new-y
ork/earthquake-hit-new-york-city-history-yes-not-9-0-magnitude-japan-earthquake-article-1.124761) .
New York Daily News. Retrieved 2015-09-29.

8. Guide to Civil Engineering Projects In and Around New York City (2nd ed.). Metropolitan Section,
American Society of Civil Engineers. 2009. pp. 90–91.

9. "Subway Map" (https://new.mta.info/map/5256) (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority. July

2021. Retrieved January 18, 2018.

10. "Manhattan Bus Map" (https://new.mta.info/map/5391) (PDF). Metropolitan Transportation Authority.

July 2019. Retrieved December 1, 2020.

11. "MTA Neighborhood Maps: neighborhood" (http://web.mta.info/maps/neighborhood_maps.htm) .

mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. 2018. Retrieved October 1, 2018.

12. "Second Avenue Subway Station Entrances Community Board 11" (http://web.mta.info/capital/sas_docs/
cb11_station_2003.pdf#page=7) (PDF). mta.info. Metropolitan Transportation Authority. June 3, 2003.
Retrieved January 8, 2017.

13. Dunlap, David W. (2004). From Abyssinian to Zion: A Guide to Manhattan's Houses of Worship. New York:
Columbia University Press. ISBN 0-231-12543-7., p.292

14. White, Norval; Willensky, Elliot & Leadon, Fran (2010). AIA Guide to New York City (5th ed.). New York:
Oxford University Press. p. 529. ISBN 978-0-19538-386-7.

15. CurbedNY (http://ny.curbed.com/archives/2013/09/11/mapping_the_changes_coming_to_harlems_125t

h_street.php#more)

16. Frractenberg, Ben. "Bill Clinton Renews Lease on Harlem Office Space" (http://www.dnainfo.com/201011
08/harlem/bill-clinton-renews-lease-on-harlem-office-space) Archived (https://web.archive.org/web/20
101213014720/http://www.dnainfo.com/20101108/harlem/bill-clinton-renews-lease-on-harlem-office-
space) 2010-12-13 at the Wayback Machine DNAinfo (November 8, 2010)

17. Leonard, Tom. "Harlem's identity under threat from developers" (https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/world
news/1581418/Harlems-identity-under-threat-from-developers.html) , The Telegraph, March 16, 2008.
Accessed April 8, 2008. "Harlem has seen rapid gentrification since the late 1990s and 125th Street -
included last year in a list of America's 10 greatest streets - is now home to Bill Clinton's office."

18. The Velvet Underground, "I'm Waiting for the Man", The Velvet Underground & Nico, Verve, 1967.

External links

Media related to 125th Street (Manhattan) at Wikimedia Commons

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