Langston Hughes, one of the most influential figures of the Harlem Renaissance, spent the last two decades of his life in a redstone townhouse located at 20 East 127th Street. This Italianate-style building, designed by architect Alexander Wilson and built in 1869 by James Meagher and Thomas Hanson, was typical of the terraced houses constructed in Harlem during the post-Civil War period. However, it is best known as the home of Langston Hughes, a renowned poet and author who was a major figure in the Harlem Renaissance. The Harlem Renaissance was a literary movement that began in the 1920s and focused on African-American identity.
During this time, Langston Hughes wrote some of his most famous works, such as Montage of a Dream Deferred and I Wonder as I Wander. His ashes are now buried beneath the Houston Conwill Rivers, an art installation at the Schomburg Center at the New York Public Library.