Morningside Gardens

Morningside Gardens refers to a private housing cooperative called Morningside Heights Housing Corporation (MHHC) in the borough of Manhattan, New York City. It is composed of a parking garage and six apartment buildings of 21 stories each, for a total of about 980 apartments. MHHC rents space to the Children's Learning Center preschool and the Morningside Retirement and Health Service. The complex has many amenities for its cooperators including a playground, a fitness center, storage units, indoor play spaces for children and young adults, bike rooms, and a workshop including ceramics and woodworking.

The complex is located just north of the campuses of Columbia University, Barnard College and Jewish Theological Seminary, and just east of the campuses of Manhattan School of Music and Union Theological Seminary in the northern section of Morningside Heights. It is bordered by Broadway on the west, Amsterdam Avenue on the east, 123rd Street on the south, and La Salle Street on the north.

The facility was one of the first owner-occupied co-ops in NYC, with the initial construction subsidized by New York City. The early development of the project, led by a team of civic leaders headed by philanthropist David Rockefeller and Columbia University president Grayson Kirk, later formed the basis of the Mitchell-Lama law, which led to many similar co-operative housing facilities, most in NYC and a small number in the local suburbs. Morningside Gardens, which replaced a slum area, was created primarily for middle-income families.

When the complex opened in 1957, one-third of the first residents were employees of the prominent educational institutions in the neighborhood, and of the National Council of Churches and other religious organizations located in the nearby Interchurch Center. One objective of Morningside Gardens was to create a racially integrated community. When the complex opened in 1957, the population was 75% white, 20% black, 4% Asian, and 1% Puerto Rican.

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