The district was a
Brooklyn-based seat until 1982, when it was realigned to cover the East Side of
Manhattan. Following the 1992 redistricting, it became the
upper Manhattan seat previously designated the 19th District and the 18th District. After the 2012 redistricting, the 15th became
the Bronx's primary district. From 2003 to 2013 it was composed of
Upper Manhattan,
Rikers Island and a largely non-residential section of northwestern
Queens on the shore of the
East River mostly occupied by a
Consolidated Edison facility and a
New York Power Authority power plant. The district included the neighborhoods of
Harlem,
Inwood,
Marble Hill,
Spanish Harlem,
Washington Heights,
Morningside Heights, and portions of
Manhattan that included
Apollo Theater,
Columbia University, and
Grant's Tomb. Much of that district is now the , while the current 15th is essentially the successor of the former . == Current composition ==