User:Adjoajo/HarlemRen



The Harlem Renaissance Ballroom & Casino was built in 1924. Located at 2341-2349 Adam Clayton Powell Jr. Boulevard in Harlem. It was an entertainment complex in Harlem with a casino, ballroom, and a 900-seat theater. It was built and owned by African Americans. It was known as the "Rennie" and was an upscale reception hall. The "Renny" held prize fights, dance marathons, film screenings, concerts, and stage acts. It was also a meeting place for social clubs and political organizations in Harlem. They gathered to dance the popular dances at the time the Charleston, Lindy Hop, and Black Bottom to live music performed by well known jazz musicians. Jazz artists such as Fletcher Henderson, Duke Ellington, Count Basie, Cootie Williams, and Ella Fitzgerald performed at the "Renny". In the 1920s the Renaissance Ballroom was known as a "Black Mecca". It hosted Joe Louis fights. The ballroom was on the second floor of the entertainment complex.

The "Renny" was a significant entertainment center during the Harlem Renaissance, and the New Negro Movement in Harlem. When African American culture and art flourished. historically important structure helped usher in the decade-long period of African American cultural and artistic flourishing, which at the time was known as the New Negro Movement. William H. Roach from Antigua, Cleophus Charity and Joseph H. Sweeney from Montserrat were the founding builders of the Renaissance Complex. They were members of Marcus Garvey’s Universal Negro Improvement Association (UNIA).

The Renaissance was designed by Harry Creighton Ingalls a theater architect. The Harlem Renaissance Complex was located at the corner of Seventh Avenue between 137th and 138th Streets covering a city block. The design was Moorish in style with glazed tile and palladian windows. The complex had a ballroom, a billiard parlor, stores, and a restaurant called China House. There were five basketball teams known as the Harlem Rens. The theater had 900-seats and featured movies by Oscar Micheaux. Micheaux was the first African American to produce feature length films. It was used by the N.A.A.C.P for an Anti-lynching movement meeting in 1923.

The Renaissance Ballroom, the Cotton Club, Connie's Inn, and the Savoy Ballroom were all popular jazz spots in the 1920s. The "Rennie" was open to African-Americans, while some of the other well clubs in Harlem did not cater to African Americans.

The Renaissance Complex closed in 1979. It was then purchased by the Abyssinian Development Corporation. The Abyssinian Development Corporation was established in 1989 as a nonprofit corporation.Abyssinian Development Corporation had planned to restore the "Renny". Which did not happen.

In 1953 the first African American mayor for the City of New York David Dinkins had his wedding reception at the Renaissance. David Dinkins was the mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993. David Dinkins was the mayor of New York City from 1990 to 1993.

In May of 2014 from Abyssinian Development Corporation sold the Renaissance Complex for $15 million. Abyssinian Development Corporation acquired the "Renny" in 1990.

In 1991 attempts were made for the Renaissance to become a landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission. It was agreed on but it did not happen.

In 2015 BRP a New York based developer secured a construction loan from Santander Bank for $53.2 million for the development of a mixed-income residential rental complex. The new building is slated to have LEED-Silver certification with ecological structure features such as solar panels, a green roof, an energy-efficient boiler and water-saving plumbing

Some Harlem residents thought that the construction of a new Renny will not benefit the African American population. And that the new Renny will remove the neighborhood's history.

In the 1990's the location was used for the film of Spike Lee's film "Jungle Fever", and used as a backdrop for a crack den in the film.