As the first program in its 2021 series, Save Harlem Now! will present a virtual walking tour of northern Manhattan’s Audubon Park neighborhood with SHN! Board member, Matthew Spady, author of The Neighborhood Manhattan Forgot: Audubon Park and the Families Who Shaped It. This free Zoom program will take place on Wednesday, April 28, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. and will last approximately one hour. At the conclusion of the presentation, Save Harlem Now! will hold a drawing for autographed copies of Spady’s book.

[You will receive the link to the event content in your order confirmation email, and in a reminder email before the event starts.]

Sitting just north of West 155th Street, today’s Audubon Park neighborhood—the interlocking Audubon Terrace and Audubon Park Historic Districts—owes its name to the naturalist and painter, John James Audubon, who bought a wooded, fourteen-acre parcel here in 1841, when the area was still generally known as Harlem Heights. In this virtual walking tour, Spady will focus on the neighborhood’s journey from farmland to cityscape and take a look at why the present-day footprint and streetscape disrupt Manhattan’s grid. He’ll share historic as well as present-day photographs to illustrate the evolving architectural typologies, from the Audubon’s farmhouse to the Italianate villas that populated suburban Audubon Park, to the apartment buildings, museum complex, and church that cover the neighborhood today.

Save Harlem Now! Is a membership not-for-profit advocacy organization dedicated to protecting, preserving and celebrating Harlem’s irreplaceable built heritage.

Matthew Spady has been an evangelist for the Audubon Park neighborhood for more than two decades, researching, writing, and speaking to promote its rich history. He is director of the Audubon Park Alliance, a not-for-profit group devoted to promoting the neighborhood’s rich cultural and architectural history, and board member of Save Harlem Now! and the Upper Riverside Residents Alliance.