1306 Fayetteville Street – College Inn

This one-story, front-gabled commercial building has a three-bay aluminum storefront with a door flanked by large picture windows. The building has a brick veneer with vinyl siding in the front gable and vinyl trim. The shed-roofed front porch is supported by large decorative metal braces and shelters a terra cotta-covered stoop. A picture window remains toward the front of the south elevation; the corresponding window on the north elevation has been bricked-in. There are small windows toward the rear of the side elevations and a full-width, shed-roofed rear ell. A grocer and blacksmith are listed at this address as early as 1925; however, the current building was likely constructed around 1935. The College Inn (confectioners and restaurant) was listed here from 1935 through 1950. It is currently the New Visions of Africa restaurant.

The College Inn was listed in Victo Hugo Green's Green Book between 1948-1963.  The Green Book was an African American traveler’s annual guide for navigating Jim Crow America while on business trips and vacations.  Within its pages, readers could find entries – listed by city – for restaurants, lodging, gas stations, beauty parlors and barber shops, and other service providers, such as tailors, who would gladly take their business in an otherwise potentially unfamiliar and hostile environment.

https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/9c454830-83b9-0132-d56a-58d385a7b928#/?uuid=a158c550-83b9-0132-6661-58d385a7b928