PRESERVATIONISTS: HELP SAVE HISTORIC ESTATE
OF MADAM C.J. WALKER
soon be on the market.
NEW YORK,
NY - The
legacy of a
trailblazing
AfricanAmerican
entrepreneur,
Madam C.
J. Walker regarded as
the country’s
first selfmade female
millionaire,
could lie in
Harlem’s
hands. Villa
Lewaro, the
sprawling
estate in
Irvington,
N.Y., may
In the era of Prohibition, the grandiose
beauty and hair care products for black
women, commissioned New York State’s
first black licensed architect, Vertner
Tandy, to design the country home, which
cost $250,000 to build, in 1917.
Her daughter, A’Lelia Walker, became
a noted patron of the arts. She lived in
Harlem, but hosted lavish parties for
artists, musicians and other luminaries
of the ragtime era at Villa Lewaro. The
historic haven played host to such political
and creative luminaries as Langston
Hughes, W.E.B. Dubois and blues legend
Alberta Hunter before A’Lelia Walker’s
death, in 1931.
But its current owner, Ambassador Harold
Doley, hopes to sell the 20,000-square-foot
mansion after caring for it for more than
20 years. He has said he hopes the estate
will be used for some cultural, historic or
educational purpose, but there is little