DESIGNATION REPORT Audre Lorde Residence Landmarks Preservation Designation Report Designation List 513 Commission Audre Lorde LP-2642 Residence

DESIGNATION REPORT Audre Lorde Residence LOCATION Borough of Staten Island 207 St. Paul’s Avenue LANDMARK TYPE Individual SIGNIFICANCE 207 St. Paul’s Avenue was the primary residence of Audre Lorde, the celebrated African-American writer, educator, Poet Laureate of New York, and outspoken advocate for feminism and LGBT rights, from 1972 to 1987. While living there she wrote some of her most ground-breaking work. Landmarks Preservation Designation Report Designation List 513 Commission Audre Lorde LP-2642 Residence

Audre Lorde, January 1983 (© Robert Alexander/Getty Images) LANDMARKS PRESERVATION COMMISSION COMMISSIONERS Lisa Kersavage, Executive Director Sarah Carroll, Chair Mark Silberman, General Counsel Frederick Bland, Vice Chair Kate Lemos McHale, Director of Research Diana Chapin Cory Scott Herrala, Director of Preservation Wellington Chen Michael Devonshire Michael Goldblum REPORT BY John Gustafsson Theresa C. Noonan, Research Department Anne Holford-Smith Jeanne Lutfy EDITED BY Adi Shamir-Baron Kate Lemos McHale and Margaret Herman PHOTOGRAPHS BY LPC Staff Landmarks Preservation Designation Report Designation List 513 Commission Audre Lorde LP2642 Residence 3 of 24

Audre Lorde Residence Metropolitan Chapter of the Victorian Society, National Parks Conservation Association, and 17 207 St. Paul’s Avenue, Staten Island individual individuals. No one spoke in opposition to the proposed designation. In addition, the Commission received 124 written submissions in favor of the proposed designation, including from Bronx Borough President Reuben Diaz, New York City Council Member Adrienne Adams, the Designation List 513 Preservation League of New York State, and 121 LP-2642 individuals. Built: 1898 Architect: Otto Loeffler Landmark Site: Borough of Staten Island, Tax Map Block 516, Lot 32 Calendared: May 14, 2019 Public Hearing: June 4, 2019 On June 4, 2019, the Landmarks Preservation Commission held a public hearing on the proposed designation of the Audre Lorde Residence as a New York City Landmark and the proposed designation of the related Landmark Site (Item No.6). The hearing was duly advertised in accordance with the provisions of the law. A total of 37 people spoke in support of designation, including the property owner who noted he has no opposition to the proposed designation, but requested consideration for and existing deck; a representative of the New York City Council Speaker Cory Johnson who read a letter co- signed by the Speaker and State Senator Brad Hoylman, Assembly Members Deborah J. Glick and Daniel J. O’Donnell, New York City Council Members Daniel Dromm, Carlos Menchaca, Debi Rose, Ritchie Torres, Margaret Chin and Jimmy Van Bramer; a representative of New York State Assembly Member, Richard N. Gottfried; and representatives of the New York City LGBT Historic Sites Project, Alice Austin House, Historic Districts Council, New York Landmarks Conservancy, Save Chelsea, The Real Estate Board of New York, Bowery Alliance of Neighbors, The New York Landmarks Preservation Designation Report Designation List 513 Commission Audre Lorde LP-2642 Residence 4 of 24

Summary 1972 and wrote many of her most famous books and poems during the time she occupied this house. In Audre Lorde Residence 1973, her third volume of poetry, From a Land Where Other People Live, was nominated for a National Book Award, and over the next several years she published important poetry collections, essays, and novels, including Coal (1976), The Black Unicorn (1978), The Cancer Journals (1980), and The critically-acclaimed African-American novelist, Zami: A New Spelling of My Name (1982). poet, essayist, and feminist Audre Lorde (1934-1992) Throughout the 1970s and 1980s, Lorde also lived at 207 St. Paul’s Avenue with her children and became a prominent political activist in a number of partner

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