Justice
Saving Langston Hughes's House in Harlem
A group of writers is raising $150,000 to save the poet’s home from becoming another condo or coffeeshop.
If you’ve ever strolled right by the brownstone on 20 East 127th Street in Harlem, New York, you’d be forgiven for not knowing that it once belonged to Langston Hughes. Aside from a small plaque, there’s scant indication that one of America’s most prolific poets of the Harlem Renaissance spent his last 20 years there.
The home was given landmark status in 1981, but is now covered with overgrown ivy and peeling paint. Its interior remains vacant and in disrepair. Yet, in a gentrifying neighborhood that’s seen a boom in trendy coffeeshops and that’s about to get its first Whole Foods, the property is estimated to be worth more than $3 million.