Book excerpt: As it was being built in 1927, the "new headquarters of the Madam C.J. Walker Manufacturing Company, with its terra-cotta trimmed facade, was to be more than corporate offices and a factory for what then was one of America's most successful black businesses. In fact, it was designed as 'a city within a city, ' with an African Art Deco theater, ballroom, restaurant, drugstore, beauty salon, beauty school, and medical offices ... Today, this National Historic Landmark is an arts center anchoring the Indiana Avenue Cultural District"--Back cover.