Harlem's first Sephora had been rumored for the former home of Lenox Lounge (286 Lenox Avenue), now the new building is up with a Wells Fargo bank branch in tow. In a nutshell, like many of Harlem's new retail developments, the result isn't a pretty sight.
The design conceived by Staten Island-based Gambino + La Porta Architecture provides a nondescript, four-story building with a glazed ground floor. Incongruous to its charming red-brick neighbors on either side, the dismal flat facade --more appropriate for a Parsippany office park -- encloses a first floor devoted to the bank branch and three floors of office space above.
The design conceived by Staten Island-based Gambino + La Porta Architecture provides a nondescript, four-story building with a glazed ground floor. Incongruous to its charming red-brick neighbors on either side, the dismal flat facade --more appropriate for a Parsippany office park -- encloses a first floor devoted to the bank branch and three floors of office space above.
286-288 Lenox Avenue, former site of the Lenox Lounge (CityRealty)
Following its opening in 1939, Lenox Lounge was known for hosting such jazz legends as Billie Holiday, John Coltrane, Dizzy Gillespie, and Miles Davis; James Baldwin, Langston Hughes, and Malcolm X were among the luminaries who used to gather in the lounge’s Zebra Room. It underwent a renovation in 2000, but this wasn’t enough to restore it to its former glory: Lenox Lounge closed in December 2012 amidst a lease dispute, and demolition began in May 2017. In between, there was talk of a new jazz club on the site and a new Lenox Lounge opening elsewhere, but those plans fell apart.
"Your good-bye left me with eyes that cry" - "All of Me" as performed by Billie Holiday
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