© Iman R. Abdulfattah
Hotel Harmony – Where Living Is A Pleasure [Single?] & Double Rooms Permanent Transient
The Manhattan telephone directory indicates that the building became the Hotel Harmony in 1935. The new owners apparently named the hotel after the wealthy real estate developer, William E. Harmon. The “late William E. Harmon” was mentioned in 1929 as one of the donors who contributed to the original funding for the Explorers’ Club. – Walter Grutchfield
One of the many white Americans who expressed his interest in the artistic achievements of black Americans during the Harlem Renaissance of the 1920’s, was Caucasion real estate developer, William E. Harmon (1862-1928). In 1922 he established the Harmon Foundation in New York City to recognize African American achievements, not only in the fine arts but also in business, education, farming, literature, music, race relations, religious service and science.
In 1944 the Harmon Foundation, then under the direction of Mary Beattie Brady, organized an exhibition “Portraits of Outstanding Americans of Negro Origin,” with the express goal of reversing racial intolerance, ignorance and bigotry by illustrating the accomplishments of contemporary African Americans. Including twenty-three portraits created by both a black and a white artist–Laura Wheeler Waring (1887-1948) and Betsy Graves Reyneau (1888-1964)–the exhibition premiered at the Smithsonian Institution on May 2 and then travelled around the United States for the next ten years. Other portraits were added to the tour during that time. – National Portrait Gallery – Smithsonian Institute
CLICK FOR LINK OF ARCHIVAL DOCUMENTARY ABOUT THE HARMON FOUNDATION
Also on Walter Grutchfield‘s phenomenal website!
