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<\/a><\/p>\nThis four-story, Romanesque-style stable at 457 West 150th Street was no ordinary boarding place for teams of working drays. <\/p>\n
The name of the stable gives away its focus. It was a carriage house for the elite horsemen who raced their trotters on the Harlem Speedway, a two and a half mile entertainment-focused roadway that spanned West 155th Street to Dyckman Street.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Harlem Speedway Stables have in their stalls a number of fast horses that are often seen on the Speedway,\u201d noted the New-York Tribune<\/a> in May 1903.<\/p>\n Completed in 1898<\/a>, the Harlem Speedway followed the western edge of the Harlem River through stretches of Upper Manhattan not yet fully urbanized. The dirt road was closed to cyclists; crowds gathered on a pedestrian pathway to watch the trotters and the men who rode them.<\/p>\n The Speedway Stables were also a product of the 1890s. Like many carriage houses, the facade featured sculptures of horse heads. These two powerful equines look like they were sculpted mid-trot, with their flared nostrils and wild eyes.<\/p>\n The Stables were sold in 1909, per a New York Times<\/a> article, and not long afterward become a motor garage. <\/p>\n The circa-1940 photo above displays the name the Convent Garage, for nearby Convent Avenue. The Speedway Stables faded sign is still on the side of the building.<\/p>\n These days, the stable is empty of horses and cars; it\u2019s been renovated and renamed the Carriage House Lofts, a 26-unit rental building. <\/p>\n And why not? New York is filled with former factories and carriage houses that were redone as residences. Plus, the Harlem Speedway<\/a> has long been transformed into the Harlem River Drive.<\/p>\n The price to come home to those angry horse heads at the front entrance? A one-bedroom is listed<\/a> for more than $3K per month.<\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n