

At the corner of 122nd Street and Third Avenue in East Harlem is a set of residential towers whose appearance stands out among its neighbors. The name, flags and murals at the Taino Towers represent Puerto Ricans, who have a decades-long presence in this Manhattan neighborhood.
Construction on the towers began in 1972, as a federally-subsidized low-income project that resulted from many years of complaints from local residents about terrible housing conditions. The firm Silverman and Cika designed the four 35-story towers as a self-contained community encompassing a city block. It intended to have 656 apartment units, a school, auditorium, clinic, small businesses, underground parking, greenhouse, and a swimming pool. The last two items were never completed. Cost overruns and lawsuits plagued the building, with the builder walking off the job in 1976. A block to the east, construction on the Second Avenue Subway also came to a standstill around this time as the city faced a fiscal crisis.
Blaming its design and amenities, presidential hopeful Ronald Reagan decried Taino Towers as “luxury housing for the poor.” Construction restarted in the following year, with the first residents arriving in 1979.

At its main entrance on Third Avenue, a map names the towers: Guanina, Quarionex, Yuisa, and Aguebana. The names hearken to the indigenous people of Borinken, as the island was known before Columbus set foot on it. Lacking immunity to European illnesses, many Taino died within a generation after contact; others were killed during the Spanish conquest, and the remainder, mostly women, married the colonists and their African slaves, creating the unique Puerto Rican culture.

Guanina was a Taino princess whose story is reminiscent of Romeo and Juliet, or perhaps Pocahontas. She was in love with Don Cristobal de Sotomayor, who was killed in a battle against her brother. Guanina was branded a traitor to her people and sentenced to die. When the arresting party went to find her, she was already dead, her head resting on her lover’s chest.
Guarionex was a Taino cacique, or chieftain, initially in Quisqueya (Hispaniola) and later Puerto Rico. He was captured in battle by Bartholomew Columbus and deported to Spain, with the ship sinking en route.

Yuisa was a woman chieftain who also fell in love with a Spaniard and converted to Catholicism. She was killed for this apparent betrayal of her community. Finally, Agueybana was the leading cacique in the Taino revolt of 1511, in which he was killed. By 1530, the Taino population on the island was counted at 1,148, what could be described in our time as a genocide. Many historians then presumed that the Taino had become extinct, but genetic testing and folklore among Purto Ricans demonstrate the endurance of these natives. These tower namesakes appear in a Taino-style mural at the planned theater which instead serves as trash storage.

On the side of the towers facing Second Avenue is a mural honoring poet Tato Laviera, whose family migrated to Manhattan when he was ten. Laviera was a leading name in the Nuyorican poetry scene. In 2017, artist Don Rimx painted this tribute to this writer. Additionally, the corner of E. 123rd Street and Second Avenue was co-named for Jesus “Tato” Laviera, who lived in Taino Towers.

Inside the gates of Taino Towers are concrete courtyards with steps in a design that hints of Brutalism but on a human scale.

Along with murals, there’s a monument here commemorating the victims of Hurricane Maria, which struck Puerto Rico on September 20, 2017, killing more than 3,000 people and causing billions of dollars in damage. Many residents of Taino Towers had family members and friends impacted by this storm.

Across E. 122nd Street, the art tour continues with What We Want, What We Believe, painted in 2009 by the nonprofit Groundswell in partnership with the New Museum and Studio Museum in Harlem. The work is inspired by the illustrator and Black Panther activist Emory Douglas. At Third Avenue, this corner of Taino Towers is co-named for Alfredo “Chocolate” Armenteros, an Afro-Cuban trumpeter who fled his homeland after the communist revolution. In New York, his band Sonora Matancera played on and toured the world with their music. In the last 30 years of his life, Armenteros lived in Taino Towers.

Across Third Avenue, two old walkups with their signature Italianate cornices, stand next to a postmillennial luxury high-rise that testifies to East Harlem’s ongoing gentrification. Behind it, not seen here is Elmendorf Reformed Church, whose roots in Harlem extend back to its Dutch period. One of the walkups has the year 1873 on it, when it stood on the outskirts of the city. In 1878, Third Avenue Elevated was extended to Harlem, resulting in urbanization. The tracks were removed in 1955, restoring sunlight to this street.

On 123rd Street, Manhattan Spanish Seventh Day Adventist Church shares the block with the local NYPD precinct. Previously, this building hosted the Evangelical Lutheran Church. The Chambers Memorial Baptist Church on this block also has a long history, its building completed in 1890. The precinct standing between these two churches has its own alley that connects to 124th Street in the middle of this block.

On 124th Street, four parcels of abandoned buildings across from the precinct were torn down in favor of a pocket park. Initially called Dream Street Park, it was renamed for Det. Omar Edwards, who was killed in the line of duty in 2009. At the time of my visit, the park was being redesigned, preserving its heart-shaped walking path while adding benches, play equipment and native plants.

Facing this park is a massive mural completed in 1995 by Creative Art Works and showing its age as the paint peels away. The mural features the names of nearly a hundred participants who worked on it. How many of them still live in East Harlem? Did any of them grow up to become artists in their careers? Comments section is open for your answers.

Surprisingly, the tall willow tree in Det. Omar Edwards Park was removed for the reconstruction but it will be replaced with new trees. Behind the park is the 125th Street Library, which has a Carnegie exterior and modern interior. I am surprised that the library didn’t add a rear entrance into this park as part of the reconstruction project.


Also on this block is Carver Community Garden, administered by NYC Parks. It is also the product of urban renewal in which abandoned apartments were torn down and transformed into parkland. It also has its own mural whose age is unclear. A cart next to the wall depicts the long-retired Marlboro Cowboy, a mascot of the cancer-causing brand. Ironic to see him in a park dedicated to cleaner air!

No building detail is too small to be ignored by Forgotten-NY. A walkup numbered 2415 has 250 above the doorway. Being a corner property, it could choose the street for its address. The former number is on Second Avenue, while the latter is on E. 124th Street. Although the entrance is on E. 124th Street, being a few yards from the corner, it is allowed to associate with Second Avenue.

Returning to the subject of Taino Towers, they were part of a larger master plan for East Harlem by Gerald Silverman and Robert Cika that envisioned a superblock covering four streets with housing projects that had the same elements as these towers. Seemingly a village inside a city with its own parks, terraces, and walkways.

Another unrealized design by this firm was proposed for 118th Street at FDR Drive, which was then the Washburn Wire factory. This local industrial employer closed in 1976, leaving the site abandoned for the next 30 years. It was redeveloped in 2009 as East River Plaza, a retail complex.

Silverman and Cika looked at it as a point on the shoreline, and planned a cultural center here with a footbridge to Randalls Island. Perhaps it would have become the East Harlem version of Lincoln Center with salsa players from the neighborhood performing here. Taino Towers stands as a blend of architectural modernism and Puerto Rican culture, and one can hear the music of this island in the apartments, courtyard, and shops of this unique complex.
For another example of an unusual Silverman & Cika building in this city, Kevin documented the Society of St. Paul on Staten Island.
You can learn more about the history of this neighborhood by visiting each of the hyperlinks posted in the essay above.
Sergey Kadinsky is the author of Hidden Waters of New York City: A History and Guide to 101 Forgotten Lakes, Ponds, Creeks, and Streams in the Five Boroughs (2016, Countryman Press), adjunct history professor at Touro University and the webmaster of Hidden Waters Blog.
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6/8/25
4 comments
Seven years to build some apartment buildings. Looks like Typical New York Incompetence has been around for decades.
I’ve always wondered about those buildings, seeing them from a Metro North train. Considering they were built at the height of Brutalism, they look pretty good. Not as good as the tenements with the Italianate cornices they replaced, but still good.
Taino Towers appear in the background during crucial scenes in the film “The Seven-ups”
It is the way of my people