Where Did James Baldwin Live

Where Did James Baldwin Live

137 West 71st Street, Manhattan, New York

National Register of Historic Places

Photo copyright Chris Brazee, New York City LGBT Sites Project

The Baldwin Residence is significant for its association with American author and activist James Baldwin. He owned this house and used it as his primary American home in the final period of his life, 1965-1987.

James Baldwin made important and lasting contributions to American literature and social history. As a gay Black author, civil rights activist, and social commentator, he shaped discussions about race and sexuality. He was active in literary, political, and social circles, influencing all of them. His biographer called him “the most prominent writer to chronicle and critique the U.S. Civil Rights movement .”

James Baldwin was born in Harlem in 1924. From childhood through the late 1940s, he lived in several apartments in Harlem and Greenwich Village . From these apartments, he published his first novels. Due to racial tensions in the United States, and especially to his personal experiences, Baldwin moved to France. He described himself as a “transatlantic commuter,” traveling often between the United States and France. His work continued to focus on America’s ongoing struggles with race. In 1965, he bought this building in New York City. From here, he wrote and spoke extensively about the Civil Rights movement and the reality of Black lives in America.

The building was built in 1890 as a single family home. In 1961, it was redesigned and divided into ten, one-bedroom apartments. When in New York City, Baldwin lived in Apartment B. His mother lived right above him in Apartment 1B, and his sister Gloria lived in Apartment 4A. For a time, Toni Morrison lived in the building, and Baldwin and his relatives considered her extended family. The apartments were relatively small; Baldwin’s was 600 square feet and had two rooms. It was more than a place to eat, sleep, and write: Baldwin’s apartment was a hub of literary and social activity. His niece recalled that people “from all walks of life ... flocked to 71st Street, knowing they would find him there. Some followed him home from speaking engagements to extend their time in his presence a little longer.” Conversations included “feminism, race, Africa, poverty, the Vietnam War, black male and female relationships, black men and white women, the FBI and whether they were listening.”

While Baldwin lived in this building, eight of his works were performed or televised and he published fourteen written works. These included novels, essays, plays, screenplays, dialogues, and a book of poetry. He also wrote a children’s book that featured his niece and nephew. It used this building, where they lived, as inspiration. Baldwin did not shy away from representing the Black lesbian, gay, and bisexual community in his works. Several of the novels he wrote here feature gay or bi-sexual characters.

More than thirty years after his death, James Baldwin’s work and commentary continue to be relevant. They are often referenced in discussions about marginalized communities.

A project through the Underrepresented Community Grant Program , which works to diversify nominations submitted to the National Register of Historic Places, funded the effort to recognize the significance of this property related to LGBTQ history. The James Baldwin Residence was added to the National Register of Historic Places on September 3, 2019.

Source:
National Register Nomination, James Baldwin Residence
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Credit: Christopher D. Brazee/NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, 2016.

Building Information

Architect or Builder:
H. Russell Kenyon

Year Built:
1961 (remodeled)

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Literary icon and civil rights activist James Baldwin used this Upper West Side remodeled rowhouse as his New York City residence from 1965 until his death in 1987.
Although he generally eschewed labels and did not self-identify as gay, Baldwin wrote several novels that featured gay and bisexual characters and spoke openly about same-sex relationships and LGBT issues.
At a September 18, 1963, New York City press conference, civil rights activists Bayard Rustin and James Baldwin call on President John F. Kennedy to intervene in Alabama Governor George Wallace's handling of protests that were held after the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham killed four young Black girls. They hold an arm band to be worn at an NYC rally on September 22. Photo by the Associated Press.
James Baldwin with (to his left) civil rights leaders Bayard Rustin and A. Philip Randolph (with hat) on the speakers platform at the Selma to Montgomery voting rights march, Montgomery, Alabama, March 25, 1965. Photo by and courtesy of Stephen Somerstein ©.
"An International Cultural Evening" program for the centennial of the birth of W.E.B. Du Bois, held at Carnegie Hall on February 23, 1968. James Baldwin was a featured speaker at the event (highlights added by the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project). Source: Carnegie Hall via Google Arts and Culture's "The Civil Rights Movement at Carnegie Hall" online narrative.
Tax photo of 137 West 71st Street, c. 1939. Courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives.
Tax photo of 137 West 71st Street, 1964 (a year before James Baldwin bought the building). Courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives.
Contact sheet of James Baldwin in the rear yard of his West 71st Street apartment, June 1, 1972. Photos by Jack Manning/The New York Times.
James Baldwin, September 13, 1955. Photo by Carl Van Vechten © Van Vechten Trust. Source: Library of Congress.
James Baldwin in an undated photo. Photographer and source unknown.
James Baldwin on the cover of TIME, May 17, 1963.
James Baldwin with actors Charlton Heston (left) and Marlon Brando (right) and singer Harry Belafonte (far right) at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963. Photographer and source unknown.
At a September 18, 1963, New York City press conference, civil rights activists Bayard Rustin and James Baldwin call on President John F. Kennedy to intervene in Alabama Governor George Wallace's handling of protests that were held after the 16th Street Baptist Church bombing in Birmingham killed four young Black girls. They hold an arm band to be worn at an NYC rally on September 22. Photo by the Associated Press.
James Baldwin with (to his left) civil rights leaders Bayard Rustin and A. Philip Randolph (with hat) on the speakers platform at the Selma to Montgomery voting rights march, Montgomery, Alabama, March 25, 1965. Photo by and courtesy of Stephen Somerstein ©.
"An International Cultural Evening" program for the centennial of the birth of W.E.B. Du Bois, held at Carnegie Hall on February 23, 1968. James Baldwin was a featured speaker at the event (highlights added by the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project). Source: Carnegie Hall via Google Arts and Culture's "The Civil Rights Movement at Carnegie Hall" online narrative.
Tax photo of 137 West 71st Street, c. 1939. Courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives.
Tax photo of 137 West 71st Street, 1964 (a year before James Baldwin bought the building). Courtesy of the NYC Municipal Archives.
Contact sheet of James Baldwin in the rear yard of his West 71st Street apartment, June 1, 1972. Photos by Jack Manning/The New York Times.
James Baldwin, September 13, 1955. Photo by Carl Van Vechten © Van Vechten Trust. Source: Library of Congress.
James Baldwin in an undated photo. Photographer and source unknown.
James Baldwin on the cover of TIME, May 17, 1963.
James Baldwin with actors Charlton Heston (left) and Marlon Brando (right) and singer Harry Belafonte (far right) at the March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom, August 28, 1963. Photographer and source unknown.
Through his writing, televised appearances, and public speaking here and abroad, author and civil rights activist James Baldwin (1924-1987) became a critical voice for the Black civil rights movement and brought attention to racial issues in the United States. He took part in the 1963 March on Washington for Jobs and Freedom and the 1965 Selma-to-Montgomery voting rights march, for example, and wrote about the work of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., the sit-ins, and other civil rights events taking place in the South.
Baldwin’s experiences with racism in this country led him to live most of his adult life as a self-described “transatlantic commuter.” While he lived primarily in France, he often featured New York, including his native Harlem, in his work and resided in a number of apartments here. From 1958 to 1961, for example, he lived at 81 Horatio Street in Greenwich Village. In 1965, at the height of his fame, he moved into a remodeled rowhouse at 137 West 71st Street on the Upper West Side, which he used as his New York City residence until his death. He lived in the rear, ground-floor apartment, and his family, including his mother, sister, and her children, had apartments on the upper floors. The house was known as an important social hub for civil rights activists and Black literary figures, including the author Toni Morrison, who briefly lived here. Baldwin’s pioneering children’s book, Little Man, Little Man: A Story of Childhood (1976) featured his niece and nephew and used the 71st Street house as inspiration, though the story was set in Harlem.
Considered the first major Black writer since the Harlem Renaissance to speak and write about same-sex relationships, Baldwin “pioneered fictional accounts of homosexuality and bisexuality in his fiction,” according to biographer Douglas Field. This began with his groundbreaking second novel, Giovanni’s Room, published in 1956. (He dedicated it to the Swiss painter Lucien Happersberger , whom Baldwin considered “the one true love story of my life.”) Baldwin’s influence reached many in the LGBT community, regardless of race, but also inspired a new generation of LGBT African-American writers, in particular. Gay or bisexual characters also featured in his novels Another Country (1962), which he worked on while living on Horatio Street, Tell Me How Long the Train’s Been Gone (1968), and Just Above My Head (1979). The latter two novels were published during his association with West 71st Street.
In a 1987 interview, drawing on his experience as both a Black man and a gay man, he addressed ongoing homophobia and noted that “People’s attitudes don’t change because the law changes.” He continued:
A man can fall in love with a man; a woman can fall in love with a woman. There’s nothing anybody can do about it. It’s not in the province of the law. It has nothing to do with the church. And if you lie about that, you lie about everything. And no one has a right to try to tell another human being whom he or she can or should love.
On June 5, 1982, Baldwin spoke on the topic, “Race, Racism, and the Gay Community” at a meeting of the New York chapter of Black and White Men Together (known since 1985 as Men of All Colors Together ), held at Congregation Beit Simchat Torah , an LGBT synagogue at Westbeth . While he generally eschewed labels and did not self-identify as gay, he was open about the fact that he had relationships with men and spoke openly about various LGBT issues. He first wrote about his own sexuality in his 1985 essay, “Here Be Dragons,” which was also published as “Freaks and the American Ideal of Manhood.”
In 1987, Baldwin died in France, but his funeral was held at the Cathedral Church of St. John the Divine in Morningside Heights, Manhattan.
Landmark Designations for LGBT Significance
In June 2019, based on recommendations by the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the James Baldwin Residence a New York City Landmark. In September 2019, the NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project’s nomination of the James Baldwin Residence to the National Register of Historic Places was approved by the National Park Service, following the site’s listing on the New York State Register of Historic Places in June 2019. The nomination is available in the “Read More” section below.
Aisha Karefa-Smart, “Foreword: The Prodigal Son,” African American Review 46.4 (Winter 2013), 559.
Christopher D. Brazee, Gale Harris, and Jay Shockley, “150 Years of LGBT History,” New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, 2014.
Daniel Hurewitz, Stepping Out: Nine Walks Through New York City’s Gay and Lesbian Past (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1997).
David Leeming, James Baldwin: A Biography (New York: Knopf, 1994).
Douglas Field, James Baldwin (Devon, UK: Northcote House Publishers, 2011). [source of Field quote, p. 48]
“James Baldwin (1987),” Mavis on 4 , Channel Four, March 23, 1987. [source of pull quote]
Paula Martinac, The Queerest Places: A National Guide to Gay and Lesbian Historic Sites (New York: Henry Holt & Co., 1997).
Richard Goldstein, “Go the Way Your Blood Beats: An Interview with James Baldwin,” The Village Voice , June 26, 1984, 13-14.
W.J. Weatherby, James Baldwin: Artist on Fire (New York: Dutton Adult, 1989).

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NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project, a project of the Partner Program of the Fund for the City of New York, a 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization. Copyright © 2022 NYC LGBT Historic Sites Project.

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James Baldwin's French home from the garden OT Saint Paul de Vence/CC BY SA 3.0 (Creative Commons)

James Baldwin's French home from the street Daniel Salomons/Public Domain (Public Domain)

James Baldwin's French home from the garden OT Saint Paul de Vence/CC BY SA 3.0 (Creative Commons)

James Baldwin in Saint-Paul de Vence OT Saint Paul de Vence/CC BY SA 3.0 (Creative Commons)

James Baldwin's French home from the street Daniel Salomons/Public Domain (Public Domain)

James Baldwin's French home from the garden OT Saint Paul de Vence/CC BY SA 3.0 (Creative Commons)

James Baldwin in Saint-Paul de Vence OT Saint Paul de Vence/CC BY SA 3.0 (Creative Commons)

James Baldwin's French home from the street Daniel Salomons/Public Domain (Public Domain)

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A beautiful old villa in the medieval French town of Saint-Paul de Vence faces demolition soon, but there is a strong push to preserve it, namely because its last inhabitant was the influential American writer James Baldwin.
Baldwin moved to the house in 1970 to find a peaceful refuge from the hostility he faced in the U.S. because of his race and homosexuality. From this refuge, amidst palm trees and orange trees, he could see the Alps to the north and the Mediterranean Sea to the south. Most importantly, he could do his writing.
During his time living in the South of France , Baldwin received visitors like Miles Davis and Ella Fitzgerald. Bill Cosby sent him roses on his birthday, adding a rose every year. Baldwin’s Swiss lover, Lucien Happersberger, lived in the gatehouse, and the modernist painter Beauford Delaney made the property a second home, often painting in the garden.
Though parts of the villa are already gone or crumbling, the writing room remains. In the yard there is a patch of lawn where a table once stood around which Baldwin would talk with friends late at night. That table inspired the title of Baldwin’s unfinished play about an African American living in the South of France, The Welcome Table .
Baldwin never owned the house, but was in the process of buying it at the time of his death. He became close friends with his landlady, Jeanne Faure, and Baldwin’s family believes that she wanted him to have the house after her death. He died first, though, in December of 1987. The house now belongs to a developer who plans to tear it down and build condos on the land.
Many have made pilgrimages to the house, especially American writers living in France. Memoirist Thomas Chatterton Williams wrote in The New Yorker about his adventure past the chain-link fence that now protects the property, and novelist Shannon Cain squatted in the house to keep it from being torn down. Some groups are continuing the fight—which will likely be an uphill battle—to preserve the property and turn it into a writers’ retreat.
Update February, 2018: Construction at the site has begun, and two wings of the villa have been demolished. The site is closed to the public. Activists are making a final effort to save the house . The
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Where Did James Baldwin Live

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