Harlan Court has always been that apartment complex that pops up in the news every five years or so for the wrong reasons. It’s inexcusable that there are still so many buildings owned by out-of-state slumlords who hold on to once august addresses. (I checked and there was a Citizens’ Service Bureau complaint for a cockroach infestation just last week; over the winter the heat wasn’t working.)
And august it was when it was first built. Harlan Court was the largest apartment complex in the city when it opened 4543-61 Delmar Boulevard, with 144 units split between the two buildings, each stretching all the way to Von Versen Avenue (Enright Avenue today) in the rear.
Two large wood frame mansions were demolished to build Harlan Court; Beverly Place to the east was already beginning to fill in with its homes lining the short private street. The land was a subdivision of the Ann Biddle estate in 1871.
Leasing began in 1917 and the buildings were developed by the Oreon E. & R. G. Scott Real Estate Company. The contractor was the Wyland Francis Construction Company, which began construction in 1916.
Each “efficiency” apartment had six rooms, including a kitchen with an electric range (note above in the historic photographs the neon signs on the roofs) and a refrigerator. Ten tons of free ice a day kept the refrigerators cold. The living room opened out onto a balcony for each unit. Bathrooms came with both showers and bathtubs. For the expense of $5,000 a year, each unit was provided with three telephone lines. Besides a bellboy, on-site maid service could be hired for twenty cents per hour. In addition to a garage (many tenants probably didn’t need to take the streetcar that went by the front door), there was a lounge and a cafe.
Tenants ranged from the city’s excise commissioner, president of a dry goods store and even the director of the local Carnegie steel mill. Valued at over one million dollars, Harlan Court brough in over one hundred thousands dollars a year in rent back in the day.
And yes, these buildings were long! 422 feet long to be exact. I’m really glad I finally got around to read up on these two interesting apartment buildings.
The Delmar Divine is being developed in the old St. Luke’s Hospital next door, and perhaps gentrification will come to the Harlan Court one day. But that is not the solution; the people who live there right now because it is the only place they can afford need safe and sanitary housing, as well. Where do they go if and when Harlan Court becomes luxury apartments again?
