Inwood Shelter & Memorial is a new, 4-story, 32,000 SF purpose-built shelter in Inwood, Manhattan, providing 116 beds for single, unhoused women. Operated by the Bowery Residents' Committee (BRC), the shelter offers onsite mental health services and group therapy. To enhance programming capacity, it will connect to BRC’s Landing Road Shelter across the Harlem River.

The shelter’s recessed entrance on 10th Avenue features a covered porch area with seating. The lobby includes a reception desk with clear sightlines to the porch, the social services suite, and the corridor to the dining room, which features a warming & service kitchen and a movable partition for multipurpose use. Dormitory floors (2–4) are organized with double-loaded corridors, each monitored by a central security desk with visibility to the dorms, recreation room, and through to the attached laundry room. Each floor contains an administrative/social services wing, a recreation room with laundry access, two bathrooms with showers, and dorm rooms housing no more than 11 residents each.

An outdoor terrace with a trellis adjoins the second-floor recreation room, providing a secure outdoor space for residents to socialize. High-traffic circulation and gathering areas are generously scaled and daylit, fostering a sense of openness and reducing potential conflicts that can arise in more confined environments.

Throughout the shelter, simple and durable interior finishes were selected for ease of maintenance. While the building is predominantly clad in cream-colored EIFS, the base features vertical running-brick bonds and distinctive brick openings for the ground floor windows. The project adheres to the 2015 Enterprise Green Communities standards.

  • The Inwood Shelter & Memorial site was historically a burial ground for enslaved Africans and a Lenape ceremonial site. In response, BRC convened an advisory group of descendants, historians, advocates, and community members to guide the project’s development. Although the archaeological investigation did not uncover physical remains, BRC committed to honoring the site’s history by dedicating a portion of the building to a permanent, public memorial space. Accessible through a separate entrance on 212th Street, the memorial is being designed by an external team led by Peggy King Jorde, Elizabeth Kennedy Landscape Architect, and Jaklitsch/Gardner Architects.

Client: Bowery Residents’ Committee (BRC).
Agency: NYC Department of Homeless Services (NYC DHS) Program: residential (shelter) + memorial.
Size: 32,000 SF, 116 beds, 4 stories.
Team: Structural: Rosenwasser Grossman Consulting Engineers (RGCE). Mechanical: OLA Consulting Engineers. Civil Engineering: Key Civil Engineering. Geotechnical: MRCE. Environmental: AKRF. Lighting: Goldstick Studio. Energy: Bright Power. SSDS: Roux. General Contractor: Procida Construction Corp.

Inwood Shelter & Memorial. New York, NY