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The Duke Ellington House is a historic residence at 935 St. Nicholas Avenue, in
Manhattan Manhattan (), known regionally as the City, is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the five boroughs of New York City. The borough is also coextensive with New York County, one of the original counties of the U.S. state ...
,
New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...
. Apartment 4A in this apartment house was the home of Duke Ellington (1899-1974), the noted African American composer and jazz pianist, from 1939 through 1961. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...
as a
National Historic Landmark A National Historic Landmark (NHL) is a building, district, object, site, or structure that is officially recognized by the United States government for its outstanding historical significance. Only some 2,500 (~3%) of over 90,000 places listed ...
in 1976.


Description and history

The apartment house containing the Duke Ellington House is located in northern Manhattan's Washington Heights neighborhood, at the southwest corner of St. Nicholas Avenue and 157th Street. It is a six-story masonry structure, built in 1915 in the Late Gothic Revival style. The ground floor appears as a raised basement, with horizontal bands of stonework between its windows. The middle four floors are essentially identical, with some columns of window bays featuring decorative carved panels between the floors. Top-floor windows are set in peaked-arch openings and have more elaborate surrounds. The building is crowned by a parapet with stone turrets and projections. A pair of entrance bays are located at the center of the St. Nicholas facade, the entrances deeply recessed in peaked-arch openings. When Duke Ellington moved into Apartment A4 in this building in 1939, he was already a well-known musician with a national reputation. It was during his period of his residency here that he wrote a number of his most important compositions, including ''
Black, Brown and Beige ''Black, Brown and Beige'' is an extended jazz work written by Duke Ellington for his first concert at Carnegie Hall, on January 23, 1943. It tells the history of African Americans and was the composer's daring attempt to transform attitudes abo ...
'', his first major extended-length jazz composition for chorus and orchestra. During this period, Ellington's music and personal style had a major impact on African-American culture specifically, as well as broader cultural trends in music.


See also

* List of National Historic Landmarks in New York City *
National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan above 110th Street List of the National Register of Historic Places listings in Manhattan above 110th Street This is intended to be a complete list of properties and districts listed on the National Register of Historic Places above 110th Street in the New York Cit ...


References


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Ellington, Duke, House National Historic Landmarks in Manhattan Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Manhattan Houses completed in 1939 Duke Ellington