Lamartine Place, Abolitionist "Slave HIdeaways"
Underground Railroad Stop tells of Civil War Black-White History
Oct 14, 2009
A row of eleven buildings, in pinkish, reddish and orange-hued brick colors, became new NYC must-sees in October 2009 when they received the protective designation of NY City Landmarks. These historic buildings are now called the Lamartine Place Historic District. The district is located between 333-353 West 29th Street between 8th and 9th Avenues.
They were built in a Greek Revival style between 1846 and 1847 and although certain details have been changed, they stand out for their distinctive brick-brownstone combination facades, antique wooden doors and unusually large back yards.
Beyond their architectural features, these homes have tremendous historic significance. If they could speak, they’d have amazing stories to tell. However, the homes are privately owned and not open for public viewing. So, tourists and New Yorkers who come to visit are advised to bring a guidebook – and their historical imaginations.
1863 Civil War Draft Riots: An Episode in History of Black New York
The homes were associated with several well-know abolitionist families before the Civil War.
They also survived one of New York’s most violent episodes, the 1863 Civil War Draft Riots, when rioters attacked and sometimes razed private and government-owned properties. The Hopper Gibbons home was targeted because it was a known haven for freeing slaves.
They are one of the very well-known extant buildings that were associated with the Civil War Draft Riots of 1863.
Icons of Black American History: Activist Abby Hopper Gibbon, Gibbons House
The dramatic history that unfolded in and around these homes can be understood through the story of the Gibbons House, 339 West 29th Street, whose owners were known abolitionists before the Civil War. One of the residents—who today might be considered a leading female human rights activist—was a woman named Abby Hopper Gibbons who used the basement of her own home as a station in the Underground Railroad. (Many other stops on the Underground Railroad in New York City at the time were in churches, such as Brooklyn’s Plymouth Church or the Macedonia A.M.E. Church in Flushing, Queens, where, in 1811, the African Methodist Society was founded.)
Abby Hopper Gibbons was also a prison reformer. Her father, credited with having invented the concept of the Undergound Railroad, was abolitionist Isaac Hopper
Another home of the Hopper Gibbons family, 337 West 29th Street, has remained virtually unchanged since it was built in 1847.
Seeing Lamartine Homes, African-American NYC Historical Landmarks
Although today people associate New York’s African-American community with Harlem in Manhattan and Bedford-Stuyvesant in Brooklyn, in the 1800s there was a significant African- American population in what is now known as midtown, on the west side, concentrating in the area known today as Hell’s Kitchen and southward. The newly landmarked homes are not far from that area.
Lamartine Place Historic District consists of an area bounded by the southeast corner of the lot of No. 333 West 29th Street, extending northerly along the eastern side of the lot to the northern property line of No. 333 West 29th Street, then extending westerly along the northern property lines of Nos. 333-359 West 29th Street, then extending southerly along the western property line of No. 359 West 29th Street, to the southern curb line of West 29th Street, then easterly along the southern curb line in front of Nos. 359- 333 West 29th Street, then to the point of beginning.
To get there: Take any train to West 34th Street or Penn Station, and walk south.
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