Oral history interview with Wendell Dorris, 2016

Biographical Note

Wendell Dorris is a Graphic Designer and Professor of Computer Graphics at Fashion Institute of Technology. He and his wife Patty moved to New York city from rural Tennessee in 1979, so he could attend graduate school at the Pratt Institute. Dorris first came to the Blennerhasset apartments by taking over a lease from his cousins. He had an immediate affinity for the space, and decided to make it his home in New York City and become part of the Morningside Heights community. Dorris has lived at Blennerhasset from 1976 into the 2010s. He served as Treasurer on the board of directors for the Blennerhasset tenant co-op in the 1980s

Scope and Contents

Wendell Dorris, long-time resident at Blennerhasset apartments, opens the interview by reflecting on how Morningside Heights has changed in the thirty-six years since he moved to the neighborhood. Dorris recalls that the neighborhood had clear community and many families, but many areas were considered dangerous. Many of the residents at Blennerhasset were impacted by muggings, robbery, and burglary. Dorris shares the process of having their landlord, Morningside House, abandon the building and he relates how he joined the tenant Co-Op Conversion Committee (later the Blennerhasset Corporation). He explains the process of getting a lawyer involved with legitimizing the tenant co-op and recounts efforts to keep Columbia University from buying all the buildings in the area. He describes repairs to the building and the role of the co-op board. Dorris reflects on how the focus was not on the co-op for him, but on making a home

Subjects

• Columbia University--History.
• Crime--New York (State)--New York.
• Dorris, Wendell--Interviews.
• Gentrification--United States--20th century.
• Home ownership--Social aspects.
• Interviews.
• Morningside Heights (New York, N.Y.)--Buildings, structures, etc.
• Morningside Heights (New York, N.Y.)--History.
• New York (N.Y.)--History.
• Oral histories (literary works)
• Phillips, Tom, interviewer.

Access Conditions

Copyright by the Trustees of Columbia University in the City of New York, 2018