Graham Court Apartments, 1933.

More than those of any other Harlem apartment house, Graham Court's expansive suites suggest the ideal of an entire row house set at a single level. It is still considered Harlem's finest luxury apartment house.

Graham Court's underground stable, situated directly below the court, was considered a major amenity for tenants, as was the roof's warren of extra servants' rooms. The typical apartment featured a parlor and dining room suite with a pantry, kitchen, and maid's room, four or more bedrooms, and up to three baths. The illusion of being in a house is reinforced by the separation of family bedrooms along a private hall beyond the public spaces and the similar isolation of the kitchen and servants' quarters.

The building was erected by William Waldorf Astor, one of the world's richest men and one of the largest owners of Harlem real estate. Even today, his WWA monogram embellishes the structure. The Astor family owned Graham Court until 1928; the first African Americans moved in five years later. The building's new owners rented to black tenants but scaled back services and staff, divided some apartments, and raised Depression-era rents. New residents included Dr. Cyril Harold Dolly, assistant visiting physician at Harlem Hospital, who helped to found the Consolidated Tenants League in response to these changes. The writer and anthropologist Zora Neale Hurston was a guest here for an extended period of time.