Urban Roots is an award-winning podcast that preserves place through story.
urbanistmedia.substack.com (https://urbanistmedia.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast)
In this bonus episode, Deqah chats with a kindred spirit who is also affiliated with Columbia GSAAP – Cecily King an Associate Professor of Professional Practice in the Real Estate Development program (she even teaches a course titled equitable development). She’s also the founder of Kipling Development—a Detroit-based real estate development and consulting firm committed to inclusive and transformative development projects that create housing equity and access in major U.S. urban centers.
Tune into their discussion about how identity and representation shape design, finance, and the future of cities. Deqah and Cecily break down what true equitable development looks like in praxis, and what it means to develop with the community (rather than around it).
Big thanks to our episode sponsor, Leila Yusuf, a licensed real estate agent in New York State and Pennsylvania with Compass. As a buyer’s and seller’s agent that works in Manhattan, Philadelphia, and Bucks County, PA, she brings deep market knowledge and an unwavering commitment to trust, loyalty, and discretion in the built environment; a testament to her over 13 years in the field, where she’s closed more than $150 million in transactions.
This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit urbanistmedia.substack.com (https://urbanistmedia.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
10 Nov 2025
A’Lelia Walker’s visionary townhome that redefined Harlem
When A’Lelia Walker moved to Harlem in 1913, she completely reimagined what Black opulence could look like.
She hired Vertner Tandy, the first licensed Black architect in New York, to completely redesign her home into a stunning limestone and brick townhouse with a salon, beauty school, and residence all in one.
Beyond its elegant architecture, A’Lelia’s house was a statement of pride, creativity, and legacy.
Later, Tandy would design her mother, Madam C.J. Walker’s mansion, Villa Lewaro, which is now a National Historic Landmark.
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Click HERE to Stream A’Lelia’s episode on Spotify (https://open.spotify.com/episode/3ky9otUoCsuGWtNrcLcj8s?si=XbPZcLcqT5qSn8q5cygOlg)
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This is a public episode. If you would like to discuss this with other subscribers or get access to bonus episodes, visit urbanistmedia.substack.com (https://urbanistmedia.substack.com?utm_medium=podcast&utm_campaign=CTA_1)
1 Sept 2025
Preserving Joy & Place: A’Lelia Walker’s Harlem Renaissance and the Power of Blackness w/ A’Lelia Bundles
In this special crossover episode of the Urban Roots podcast and the Columbia GSAPP’s Historic Preservation Podcast, host Deqah Hussein-Wetzel has a Black history and preservation-focused conversation with award-winning journalist and historian A’Lelia Bundles about her newest book Joy Goddess: A’Lelia Walker and the Harlem Renaissance. A’Lelia Walker—daughter of Madam C.J. Walker and heiress to America’s first Black woman-made fortune—was more than a symbol of inherited wealth. She was a cultural impresario, a connector of artists and activists, and an architectural patron whose Vertner Tandy-designed Villa Lewaro Estate and (rehabbed) Harlem townhouse became vital gathering places for the Black intelligentsia of the 1920s.
Together, Deqah and A’Lelia Bundles, the great-granddaughter of A’Lelia Walker, explore her interest in her family's history and what she’s learned about her ancestor's role in shaping Harlem’s cultural landscape through hospitality, preservation, and community. The episode also delves into the challenges of researching Black women’s histories, the overlooked architectural legacy of Vertner Tandy, and the significance of cultural memory in contemporary preservation work.
🔗 More about her book: https://aleliabundles.com/writing-biography-an-update-on-the-joy-goddess-of-harlem (https://aleliabundles.com/writing-biography-an-update-on-the-joy-goddess-of-harlem)
🎧Listen to the full interview on Columbia GSAPP’s Soundcloud, https://soundcloud.com/columbiagsapp (https://soundcloud.com/columbiagsapp)
Credits:
Your host and producer is Deqah Hussein-Wetzel (https://www.arch.columbia.edu/phd-students/5568-deqah-hussein-wetzel). This episode was edited by Skyler Ficklin and Vanessa Quirk. Mixed by Skyler.
Urban Roots (http://www.urbanrootspodcast.com) is a project by Urbanist Media (https://urbanistmedia.org/), a non-profit dedicated to preserving place through story.
Subscribe on YouTube (https://www.youtube.com/@urbanrootspodcast/featured) (and Patreon (https://www.patreon.com/urbanist_media)/Substack (https://urbanistmedia.substack.com/) for exclusive content)!
Follow Urban Roots on Instagram at urbanrootsculture (https://www.instagram.com/urbanrootsculture/) and at urbanrootspod (https://www.instagram.com/urbanrootspod)
Reach and audience
Public platform figures. Ratings count people who left a rating, not total listeners.
YouTube views
66,820
Score snapshot 15 Sept 2025
Apple Podcasts (US)
5.0 / 5
1 ratings
Podcast Authority Score: 45 / 100
A composite of feed quality, social presence, YouTube performance and engagement. Read the methodology.
Quality
37
Social presence
94
YouTube
85
Engagement
0
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