HDC will help the Sunnyside Shines BID elevate Sunnyside and Woodside as a destination for historical, architectural, and cultural enrichment. HDC will conduct a community survey of important historic resources, work on landmarking efforts for significant sites, and develop programming on the area’s history, especially focused on the neighborhood’s role in early affordable housing in NYC.
98-81 & 98-95 Queens Blvd.
1939, Joseph Unger
Until 2022, this trapezoidal block was the location of the former Trylon Theater. It was named after the famous spire that, along with the perisphere, became the architectural icon of the New York’s 1939 World’s Fair. It opened that same year, under the administration of United L.I. Theatres.
The structure had a seating capacity of 600 people, with an Art Moderne façade that featured an elliptical marquee and a central tower with glass blocks. The entrance had a Trylon-adorned mosaic ticket booth and was decorated with terrazzo floors and mosaic tiles in a chevron pattern. The interior included a fountain and “World of Tomorrow” themed murals, as well as striated pilasters flanking the screen stage.
Although it was a popular venue, audiences dwindled over the years, and the theater was eventually closed in 1999. It was rented by an orthodox Jewish organization and became the Ohr Natan Community Center.
Along with the theatre, a one- story building was erected for commercial use at the south-east corner of the block. The façade design maintained the simple lines of the Trylon, and featured a rounded corner with glass brick details. It would later be replaced by a taller brick structure with Neo-Classical features, which hosted the offices of the Emigrant Savings Bank until the 1990s. It then became the Tower Diner, a family-owned business that served the community until 2021, when the property was sold to a developer for the construction of a 15-story apartment building.
Despite multiple efforts made by residents and organizations, the block was razed in 2022.
99-01 Queens Blvd
1952, Philip Birnbaum
Located at the boundary of the neighborhood, this irregularly-shaped building is a unique example of early International Style in Queens. Designed by Philip Birnbaum, the mixed-use building received a “1st prize” award by the Queens Chamber of Commerce and it’s regarded as his most notable work.
A New York native, Birnbaum studied at Columbia University. During his career, he designed over 300 apartment buildings across the city, and was praised for the efficiency of his layouts. He received several 1st prize awards in partnership with builder Alfred Kaskel.
The building included the legendary Hollywood Lanes bowling alley, which operated from 1952 to 2002, and featured 30 lanes as well as a lounge, and was the site of major tournaments.
The bank façade features stainless-steel and granite finns, which also divide the storefronts. A curved corner with a short flight of stairs marks the main entrance, leading to a double-height lobby illuminated by floor to ceiling windows. The interior maintains its blue terrazzo floors with contrasting silver motifs in the Art Deco style, and a teakwood balcony with stainless steel accents. It served as a bank until 2015, and is currently a Mount Sinai medical facility.
98-50 63 Drive, 98-40, 98-33
& 98-19 64th Avenue, 98-09 &
98-25 64th Road
1948-49, Leo Stillman
This group of twelve 8-story apartment buildings that occupy almost two blocks north of Queens Blvd, were designed by Russian-born architect Leo Stillman and built by the Nipark Realty Corporation. They are an early example of the post World War II International style in Queens.
Stillman immigrated with his family to the US in 1906, and attended City College and the Beaux-Arts Institute of Design in the early-1920s. He was renowned for his Art Deco designs in the 1930s, and later for his innovations in the use of poured concrete in the construction of apartment buildings. Examples of his work can also be found in the Grand Concourse Historic District.
With exposed concrete walls and midblock courtyards, the Walden Terrace Complex stands out among the red brick surrounding structures, while maintaining a certain continuity of the built landscape. Noted residents include actor and saxophone player Sid Caesar, and actor Hank Azaria.
9730 Queens Blvd
1948, Frank Grad & Sons
After World War II, the Jewish population of Rego Park, Kew Gardens and Forrest Hills grew exponentially, thus increasing the need for synagogues to serve these communities. This was also a period when a new type of American synagogue, known as the Jewish Center, was developed. In addition to being a place of worship, these were places for community life, with social halls, classrooms, and athletic facilities.
Established around 1939, the Rego Park Jewish congregation purchased this lot on Queens Boulevard in 1942 to build a “temple and recreation hall”. The ground- breaking ceremony in 1946 included remarks by Mayor O’Dwyer, who was also present at the dedication in 1948, noting the significance of the temple.
The design by noted architect Frank Grad was one of the first modern synagogues in NYC. With block massing, narrow slit windows and short projecting towers framing the main entrance, the building can be interpreted as late-Moderne or early-Modern. Over the next decade, modernism became the predominant style in American synagogue design.
The Center’s façade is accented by a large mosaic designed by Jewish artist A. Raymond Katz, in collaboration with Vincent Foscato. Katz was famed for his ornamental treatment of the letters of the Hebrew alphabet interlocking with Jewish symbols, and also designed the sanctuary’s stained-glass windows.
It remains as one of NYC most significant architectural, cultural and religious landmarks, for which it was listed on the National Register in 2009.
63rd Dr and Saunders St
(ca. 1940)
What’s now 63rd Drive was previously known as Remsen Lane, after Col. Jeromus Remsen, who had gained notoriety during the Revolution at the Battle of Long Island. The street was renamed in 1913, when the borough largely changed over to a numbered system.
When Rego Park was originally developed in 1923, 63rd Drive was planned to be a residential street, with a shopping district on Eliot
Avenue and Queens Boulevard. In 1942, however, it was announced that the Queens Midtown Highway, later named the Long Island Expressway, would pass through the commercial district and the stores would be demolished.
Bronx native, Robert E. Hill, saw this as an opportunity to develop a new strip, and in 1947 purchased the houses on 63rd Drive to build commercial storefronts. These Art Deco limestone structures, which once housed F.W. Woolworth and McCrory’s as well as family businesses, are some of the last remaining examples of the shops that lined 63rd Drive during the second half of the 20th-century. Despite the economic struggles and changes over time, the strip remains as one of the neighborhood’s main commercial corridors, and an important part community life.
93-06 63rd Dr
1929, Walter C. Martin
The population growth experienced in Rego Park in the early 1920s prompted the community to lobby for a public school. In 1928, the Board of Education erected this three-story brick structure under their building program, featuring elements of Renaissance and Colonial Revival that were typical of educational facilities, such as pilasters, arched pediments with crests, quoins, and decorative limestone details.
Designed by the new
Superintendent of School Building Walter C. Martin, the school had an initial capacity for 895 students, and followed the “M-Type” style developed by Martin’s predecessor William Gompert. The style was noted for its systematic expandability, an innovation first explored with C.B.J. Snyder’s Type-E buildings. This layout considered future growth in the school population, allocating space for two more wings in a cohesive manner. In the case of P.S. 139, these expansions were done in 1960 by architect Samuel Juster, with a modular addition done in 1998 by Karlsberger Architecture.
92-14 63rd Dr
1931, Benjamin Braunstein
In 1926, the Pastor from the Bethany Lutheran Church of Elmhurst reached out to the president of the recently organized Rego Park’s Community Club to use their headquarters for worship and Sunday School. The congregation adopted the name of “The Neighborhood Lutheran Church of Rego Park”, and by 1927 their continuous growth required them to relocate to a vacant store on Queens Blvd, near 63rd Drive. The Rego Construction Company then offered the congregation a property at Wetherole St. to build a chapel, which was gifted by Bethany Lutheran Church.
In 1930, the newly independent congregation began a campaign to build a colonial style structure with a Sunday School room in its basement. Benjamin Braunstein was commissioned to design the building, with modifications by Fred Kirchhoff. Construction began in the fall of 1931 and was completed the following year. Throughout this time, they continued receiving donations from prominent community members and other churches.
Today, the church continues to be a neighborhood staple, maintaining most of its original features such as a stained-glass window along 63rd Drive, a cupola, arched windows with a pitched roof, and a large garden.
6510 Dieterle Crescent
1949, Eric Kebbon
After World War II, the rapid increase of school-age population in Queens prompted the city to begin a building campaign. Superintendent of School Buildings Eric Kebbon designed this Georgian Revival two-story brick building, which features a U-plan and central tower. The front-gabled central pavilion is crowned by broken segmental pediment, a stone frieze and cornice.
Kebbon graduated from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, working as their resident architect until 1914, when he enlisted and served in the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers during WWI. During the 1930s, he was hired by the U.S. Treasury to design several Court Houses and Post Offices, many of them currently listed on the National Register. In 1938, Kebbon was appointed by Mayor La Guardia to the NYC Department of Education, where he designed and built over 100 schools, among them the neighboring Forest Hill High School. He ended his tenure in 1952, and retired in 1958.
Asquith Cres., Boelsen Cres., Cromwell Cres., Dieterle Cres. & Ellwell Crescent
1923-26
In the early-1920s, the Real Good Construction Company, later known as the Rego Construction Company, purchased farmland in the western section of Forest Hills for residential development. Company president Henry L. Schloh and secretary and treasurer Charles I. Hausmann were originally from Germany, named their project “Rego Park”, after their advertising slogan, “Real Good Homes.”
In the area known as “The Crescents”, which stretches from Alderton Street, between Woodhaven Boulevard and the Long Island Rail Road, they developed single-family brick and frame houses, which featured elements of Colonial Revival and Tudor style. The homes were organized around six crescent-shaped streets with “aristocratic sounding names”, in alphabetical order, meant to attract wealthier people. Each sold for about $7,500 ($130K today).
The success of the Rego Company soon attracted similar developments to the area. In the 1930s, the Mezick-Garbade Company built 265 attached brick houses on the adjacent crescent-shaped lots south of 66th Ave.
63rd Ave, 62nd Dr, 62nd Rd, 62nd Ave & Alderton St.
1930-31
Having previously been in the plumbing and heating business, Alexander Rodman and Gerald C. English established the Rodman & English Company in 1924. During their 12 years in operation, the firm and its subsidiaries became one of the most prominent real estate companies at the time, building more than 1,700 homes in Queens.
Starting from the late-1920s, they were heavily involved in the development of Addisleigh Park (a designated NYC Historic District since 2011) which offers six types of one-family homes in the English Cottage and Colonial Revival styles. The designs were attributed to architects Frank J. Shea, David J. Cohan, and Gerald English.
During this time, the company also built this group of two-story brick rowhouses and freestanding single-family homes. The houses are almost identical to those of Addisleigh Park, and featured high-end interior finishes, state of the art appliances, and underground connections. Their selling price was considerably higher than that of similar surrounding developments, and was aimed at upper-middle class families who would benefit from the upcoming opening of the Rego Park Subway Station. It remains today as a cohesive group, and maintains many of its original features.
85-26 61st Rd
1938-39
In 1926, Bishop Thomas Molloy appointed Fr. Francis Scullin to establish a church that would serve the people in the fast-growing community of Rego Park. A temporary building was erected on 55th Avenue, which hosted the Church of the Ascension for over 10 years.
The congregation purchased 75 lots at Woodhaven Boulevard and 61st Road in 1931, but did not begin construction of a church until 1938. The complex included a school, rectory and convent, and by 1945 it had 1,500 students from grades 1 through 5, with a teaching staff of 32 Sisters of Charity.
Six years later, the name of the church and school was changed to Resurrection Ascension, and in 1954, the Marist Brothers joined to teach boys in grades 6 through 8. The internal structure of
the Catholic Church underwent a series of changes during the 1960s. This allowed for lay teachers to join the school.
A series of auxiliary buildings were added during the 1990s and 2000s, but the complex maintains its cohesiveness and overall integrity.
61-40 Woodhaven Blvd
1955, A. F. Meissner
Thomas Kearns Sr. started his funeral business in 1900 in Brooklyn, and expanded to Queens in 1926. He worked with his sons, and built a parlor in South Ozone Park and later in Rego Park.
In 1950, the design of the new Long Island Expressway slated their location at Woodhaven Boulevard and 60th Ave. for demolition. Thomas Kearns Jr. purchased a new lot a few blocks south, and hired architect A.F. Meissner, who had designed Kearn’s Richmond Hill branch, an innovative award-wining design that maintained the efficiency required for a funeral home.
The slightly curved structure has stone veneer, limestone trim, concrete, brick, among other new materials. The interior features wood panelling, glass and metal details. Meissner also designed the landscaping surrounding the parking lot, as well as a wood frame addition. It was awarded first prize and a bronze plaque from the Queens Chamber of Commerce for the best commercial structure of 1955.
After the success of Remo Hall, Jupiter & Marion Court, apartment buildings became the preferred typology for the development of the northern section of Rego Park. By the late-1930s, the south side of Queens Boulevard and Saunders Street were lined with six-story brick structures, which featured a variety of classical and more contemporary features.
The Savoy, also known as Savoy Gardens (1936, 62-82 Saunders St), is an interesting example of Tudor Revival, with a recessed façade that features towers inspired by castles and pitched roofs. The main entrance has a three-point-arch and decorative stone, highlighted by a carved coat-of-arms-inspired ornament.
The Sterling (1939, 61-41 Saunders St) and The Oxford/Cambridge (1939, 63-07 Saunders St & 95-08 Queens Blvd) were also designed by Benjamin Braunstein, and although they feature less ornamentation than their neighboring predecessors, they maintain the characteristic recessed facade with a courtyard. The main entrance of both buildings is highlighted by Corinthian columns/pilasters and an arched pediment. They also included corner windows, bay windows on the second floor, arched brick accents and stone bands.
Parker House (63-84 Saunders St) and The California (64-20 Saunders St) were built in the 1950s, maintaining the overall characteristics of earlier structures, but include mid-century modern elements to the design of the main entrance. This would become a distinctive feature of the apartment buildings of this area, which appear to be uniform as a group, but have very unique entryways.
93-29 Queens Boulevard
1938-1939
After 36 years of owning the property, the Works Progress Administration was able to fund the construction of this two-story Art Moderne building. It was equipped with a firing range and drill hall for the Queens Veterans of Foreign Wars (VFW) and the American Legion, and was dedicated to the 77th Division of the U.S. Army for its heroism in the Battle of Argonne in France during WWI.
Two murals of “The Lost Battalion” were painted by Oscar Julius in 1938 in the current gymnasium, which honored the hundreds of American soldiers who had given their lives. A tributary limestone inscription was also included in the façade, as well as bronze tablets of the Statue of Liberty.
Over the years, the building hosted a series of events, such as a welcome reception for enrollees of WWII, a birthday for President Franklin D. Roosevelt, dance festivals, boxing matches, and testimonials for Presidents Truman and Eisenhower. In 1960, it was placed under the jurisdiction of the Parks Department, the Queens VFW moved to an upstairs office and the American Legion relocated. Today, it serves the community as a recreation center for people of all ages.
61-40, 62-64, & 62-98 Saunders Street
1927-29 Benjamin Braunstein
After the completion of their first group of single- family homes, and in response to an increase in property value, the Rego Construction Company hired architect Benjamin Braunstein to design three walk-up apartment buildings.
Braunstein, a Constantinople native, had started his practice in 1921, and became known for his multi-family residential designs in the Tudor and Colonial Revival styles in Forest Hills, Rego Park, Kew Gardens, and Bayside. He received several design awards from the Queens Chamber of Commerce, and one of his works, the Hawthorne Court Apartments, was designated as a NYC Landmark in 2014.
The Tudor-style Remo Hall and the Spanish Mission-style Jupiter Court were built in 1927. Each feature an array of terra cotta details and ornamentation, as well as recessed facades and courtyards which maximize fresh air and light.
Marion Court was built two years later, also in the Spanish Mission-style. It features animal-themed
carvings, leaded-glass depictions of castles, and a roof garden, and it is the only building of the three to feature a lobby.
With 70 units each, they were considered one of the Company’smajor achievements. Photos: (top) Remo Hall, (middle) Jupiter Court, (bottom)
Marion Court.
93-40 & 93-54 Queens Blvd
1941, Jacob M. Felson
In 1895, Sam Minskoff emigrated to the US from Ukraine, starting a construction business in 1908. In 1940, Minskoff set his sights on Rego Park, hiring prominent architect Jacob Felson to develop two apartment buildings on Queens Boulevard.
The six-story brick structures have Classical style features, including carved ornaments, balusters on the cornice, and triangular pediments. The three-center arched doorways at the main entrances are flanked by two columns. Unfortunately, recent renovations to the façades have removed many of the original ornamentation.
Born in Russia, Felson immigrated to the US with his parents in 1888. He studied at Cooper Union and began to practice architecture in 1910, becoming president of Fleetwood Enterprises Inc. in 1938. Felson specialized in designing apartment buildings, but also created movie theaters and private homes. Examples of is work can be found in the Upper West Side/Central Park West, Upper East Side, Riverside-West End, and Grand Concourse Historic Districts.
94-05 Queens Boulevard
1976, Kahn and Jacobs
During most of the 20th century, this was the location of “Boulevard Tavern” or “The Boulevard.” Opened by owners Harry and Mabel Le Vay in 1929, for many years it was the only eatery in the area.
The Spanish style building could seat up to 500 people, and became a popular venue for locals and community leaders. It notably hosted politicians like John F. Kennedy and Bobby Kennedy during the 1960s as they addressed their constituents. It was sold and demolished in 1973.
In its place, a large brick structure with a base of slab granite was built to house the AT&T Communications Center, and the Pinkerton Security Corp. The design was one of the last works of the famed architectural firm Kahn & Jacobs, founded by Ely Jacques Kahn, one of the most influential architects of the 20th century. Although Kahn died in 1972, and Jacobs retired the following year, their office continued working steadily for the next few years, merging and eventually dissolving in 1978.
Since 1984, the Bayside Historical Society (BHS) has been located at The Castle in Fort Totten Park. Built in 1887, the building was originally used by the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers as their Officers’ Mess Hall and Club. The Gothic Revival-style Castle is a NYC designated landmark and is also listed on the National Register of Historic Places.
HDC is partnering with the Bayside Historical Society to build on their work since the 2016 designation of the Ahles House and continue surveying, researching, and compiling a list of significant sites for consideration for preservation and designation.
HDC will help the Greater Astoria Historical Society create new ideas, new messages, and new strategies for community preservation. In addition, HDC will provide strategic resources to revive a previously proposed historic district for Steinway Village.
HDC will work with the Kew Gardens Improvement Association and the Kew Gardens Preservation Alliance to help support their campaign to preserve the historic core of the neighborhood, which includes the historic bridge at Lefferts Boulevard, the surrounding historic pre-war buildings, and several blocks of historic houses.
HDC will work with the Addisleigh Park Civic Organization to provide resources to adjust their zoning in order to protect the historic character of their neighborhood, as well as promoting the neighborhood as a cultural and historic destination.
AFRICAN AMERICAN
Queens
This suburban neighborhood of approximately 650 homes in southeastern Queens, developed in the 1910’s-30’s, was a formerly race-restricted area that became one of the city’s premier enclaves for
African Americans. In the 1930s and 40s, restrictive covenants were in place to keep African Americans from buying property in specific neighborhoods. In 1947, this covenant was tested in two court cases in which neighbors sued homeowners who sold to African Americans. Although in both cases the covenants were upheld, in the case of Kemp v. Rubin, the judge acknowledged that there were already 48 African-American families living here, and a number of amicus briefs were filed in support of selling to African Americans. The following year, the U.S. Supreme Court ruled against racially restrictive housing covenants in the Missouri case of Shelley v. Kraemer. Despite the covenants, starting in the 1930s, Addisleigh Park’s prominence as an African-American neighborhood grew, attracting African-American luminaries seeking a suburban home, such as Ella Fitzgerald, Jackie Robinson, W. E. B. Dubois, James Brown, Lena Horne, Roy Campanella and Count Basie, among others. Addisleigh Park’s fascinating social history and association with the abolition of race- restrictive covenants continue to shape its sense of place.
WOMEN
Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, Queens
In 2006, the USTA National Tennis Center was rededicated as the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, in honor of King’s remarkable tennis career and her activism for women’s and LGBTQ rights. Between 1961 and 1979, King won 39 Grand Slam titles, including a record 20 Wimbledon titles. Both during the height of her career and after, King fought for equal prize money for women, who were paid considerably less than their male counterparts. In 1973, she formed the Women’s Tennis Association and was its first president. As a result of her advocacy, the U.S. Open became the first major tournament to offer equal prize money. In 1981, King was publicly outed as a lesbian in a palimony suit and lost all of her endorsement deals, yet she continued to fight against discrimination, and was elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 1987 and awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom in 2009 for her advocacy work. The USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center is a major attraction in the last weeks of summer, when international crowds flock to Queens for the U.S. Open, one of the most prestigious tennis tournaments in the world.
Photo by Ajay Suresh.
LGBTQ
78th Street & 37th Avenue, Queens
On July 2, 1990, Julio Rivera, a 29-year-old Jackson Heights resident, was attacked by three gang members in the playground of P.S. 69 because of his sexual orientation. He died from his wounds at Elmhurst Hospital, and his death sparked a surge in LGBTQ activism in Queens. While there had been many more hate crimes toward gay people in Queens over the previous few decades, the vigil for Rivera on August 18, 1990, was considered to be Queens’ first successful LGBTQ public demonstration. The vigil, organized by Rivera’s family and friends and a coalition of LGBTQ activists and organizations, led to other advocacy efforts, including the formation of Queens Gays and Lesbians United, the Lesbian and Gay Democratic Club of Queens, Queens Pride House and the organization of two more demonstrations to pressure then-Mayor David Dinkins to publicly acknowledge Rivera’s death. As a result of that advocacy, Rivera’s death became the first gay hate crime to be tried in New York State. Since 1993, this corner has been included on the route of the Queens Pride Parade, and in 2000, a street sign was installed in honor of Julio Rivera. Photo by Christopher D. Brazee/NYC LGBTQ Historic Sites Project.
92-02 56th Avenue
1935, renovated in 1997
As early as 1730, the land now comprising Newtown Playground was used as a cemetery. The peak of its use was from about 1825 to 1840, after which it gradually lapsed into neglect. From around 1850 onward, it began to be used as a potter’s field. In 1890, it was closed and cleaned-up but by 1897, the old ground was again in poor condition. In 1898, the newly consolidated City of New York acquired the land and placed it under control of the Department of Parks in 1917, which started development of the playground in 1934 and opened it the following year. The playground underwent renovation work in 1997, redesigning it and updating facilities for contemporary users. Open lawn areas were created over archeologically sensitive areas, and the original cemetery wall was reconstructed with traditional materials. A ring of weeping cherry and beech trees were planted to memorialize the mostly anonymous townspeople still buried in Newtown Cemetery.
89-01 Queens Boulevard
1968, William F. Cann Co.
Formerly a branch of the Jamaica Savings Bank, this modernist building is a bold expression of mid-20th century engineering and a standout architectural expression on Queens Boulevard. It was built between 1966 and 1968 as part of the bank’s centennial by the William F. Cann Company, who were commissioned to design a small branch that would not be overshadowed by neighboring commercial structures. The Bank Building Corporation, which designed and built hundreds of branch offices in the United States, helped introduce Modern aesthetics into the banking mainstream, supplanting the classical sources that long dominated bank building typology. To create this eye-catching form, called a hyperbolic paraboloid, the architects used reinforced concrete as the primary construction material. The copper-clad roof extends 116 feet, reaching a height of 43 feet above the entrance. This roof had both practical and symbolic advantages, it enhanced the structure’s visibility and created a column- free interior. Today a branch of Bank of America, this distinctive example of mid-20th century Modern architecture remains intact and continues to serve its original bank function. It was designated as an Individual Landmark by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2005, but the designation was overturned by the New York City Council, responding to owner opposition, political concerns and an antipathy for Modern architecture.
88-01 Queens Boulevard
1965, Skidmore, Ownings & Merrill
In 1965, Macy’s engaged the prominent architectural firm of Skidmore, Owings & Merrill to design their newest store in Queens, for which they had purchased almost all of the irregular block bounded by Queens Boulevard, 55th Avenue, 56th Avenue and Justice Avenue. The original design included an elaborate entranceway to the circular building, surrounded by a parking garage, but because they failed to acquire the lot at the corner of Queens Boulevard and 55th Avenue, Macy’s was forced to create street-level entrance doors along the perimeter of the exterior. The property and house in question belonged to Mary Sendek, who bought it with her husband in 1922 and had lived there ever since. She refused to sell it, even after Macy’s offered five times the value of the land. When Mary died in 1980, her estate sold the property and a commercial building now stands on the site.
Macy’s design was innovative for its time and succeeded at introducing the automobile- centered shopping mall of the suburbs to the urban density of Queens. Less than a decade after Macy’s on Queens Boulevard opened, Queens Center — a larger, more modern and centrally located mall — would open just blocks away. In 1996, Macy’s relocated to Queens Center and the building now houses various stores and a Macy’s furniture gallery.
Photo courtesy of the Queens Library.
54-02 Queens Blvd.
1894/1907 Frank A. Collins – 1931 Meyer & Mathiew
In 1891, the congregation of the First Presbyterian Church of Newtown received a large donation from one of its parishioners with instructions to build a stone church that replicated the First Presbyterian Church of Cherry Valley, New York. The Gothic Revival structure was designed by Queens architect Frank A. Collins, and was completed in 1894. Their old colonial church, built in 1791, was retained as a Sunday School and continued in use until its destruction in 1929.
When the city widened Queens Boulevard in 1924, the church was moved 125 feet southwest. During the move, it lost its steeple as well as a small attached lecture hall. Its present location has a two-and-a-half story manse, or parsonage, built in 1907, also likely designed by Collins. The building was originally located on a site across Seabury Street to the west, and was moved to its current position and orientation around the same time as the church.
A two-story Collegiate Gothic parish hall was built in 1931 and connects to the church on its south. It features brick walls and slate pitched roof, and was designed by the Brooklyn firm Meyer & Mathieu. The First Presbyterian Church of Newtown is listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places.
86-01 Broadway
1906 Lord & Hewlett
Between 1886 and 1919, steel manufacturing mogul Andrew Carnegie donated more than $40 million to build over 1,500 new library buildings in communities throughout America. In New York City, Carnegie libraries were built citywide. In the less dense nieghborhoods in The Bronx, Brooklyn, Staten Island and Queens, the buildings were typically freestanding structures constructed on a large lot. They frequently featured brick walls with limestone ornamentation, and typically had a symmetrical layout, large windows to allow an abundance of light into the reading rooms, and a prominent, decorative entrance.
In Queens, the Queensborough Public Library applied in 1901 for five sites, one of which was for Elmhurst. Cord Meyer Jr. offered a free site in his new development, but the library trustees lobbied for the purchase of a more central location. Construction began in 1904, with architectural firm Lord & Hewlett in charge of the design. It opened to the public in 1906, and served as the Elmhurst Branch of the Queens Borough Public Library until its demolition in 2012.
Photo courtesy of Oldelmhurst
84-07 Broadway
1848-1975, current building 1976
Built in 1735 at what became the southwest corner of 51st Avenue and Broadway, St. James Church is the oldest surviving building in Elmhurst, and the City’s second oldest extant religious building. Chartered by King George III, it is a remarkable Colonial-era mission church that still retains its early 18th-century rectangular box-like form, wood shingle siding, round-arched windows, and heavy timber framing. In 1772, the building was lengthened and the main entry moved from the south side to the Broadway façade.
Prominent citizens associated with the parish included the Reverend Benjamin Moore, a president of Kings College (later Columbia College), and the Reverend Samuel Seabury, Jr., the first American Episcopal Bishop. It was also a place of worship for British officers and men during the Revolution.
In 1848, after a period of growth, the parish built a larger church a block away and Old Saint James Church became a chapel and later a parish hall. It was renovated and altered over the years, until 2004 when it was restored to how it appeared in the 19th century.
The new St. James Episcopal Church located in 84-07 Broadway was originally a three- story wood-frame structure with windows made in Germany. It served the community from 1848 until 1975, when it was destroyed by arson. Parishioners were only able to salvage some vestments, altar linens, and brass ornaments from the rubble, but despite the considerable losses, they were able to rebuild the following year. This site also harbors a cemetery, where some of the original settlers of Elmhurst are buried.
Photo of the first new St. James Church courtesy of the Queens Library
82-10 Queens Boulevard
1923
Ballinger Co.
The Benevolent and Protective Order of Elks was established in 1868 in New York City, following the increase in popularity of fraternal orders at the time, especially after the Civil War. They founded the Queensboro Lodge No. 878 in 1903, and held meetings at Lodge 828 in Long Island City until 1923, when they erected this Club House.
This Italian Renaissance Revival structure was designed by the Ballinger Company, a firm primarily known for its industrial and commercial buildings and notable for its expertise in steel-reinforced concrete design. Inside the five-story building and its annex were a swimming pool, a gym, an Aztec-themed 700-seat theater, 28 guest rooms, a banquet hall, three bars, smoking rooms and a six-lane bowling alley. The design received critical praise for its exotic interiors and for its ability to provide members with a private environment while simultaneously hosting non-members on a regular basis within the same building.
Known for its devotion to charity and to community service, membership at the Queensborough Lodge peaked during the 1960’s with 6,600 members, which included businessmen, professionals, and politicians, among others. By 2000, national and local membership had decreased dramatically, and in order to offset costs incurred by taxes and maintenance, the Elks began to rent out the dining hall for special events and leased out individual rooms for regular use by social and religious groups. In 2001, Elks officials decided to sell the building to the New Life Christian Fellowship, a Korean church organization. At the same time, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission acted to designate the building as an Individual Landmark, a move which the building owners supported.
This Italian Renaissance Revival structure was designed by the Ballinger Company, a firm primarily known for its industrial and commercial buildings and notable for its expertise in steel-reinforced concrete design. Inside the five-story building and its annex were a swimming pool, a gym, an Aztec-themed 700-seat theater, 28 guest rooms, a banquet hall, three bars, smoking rooms, and a six-lane bowling alley. The design received critical praise for its exotic interiors, and ability to provide members with a private environment, while hosting non-members on a regular basis.
Known for its devotion to charity and to community service, membership at the Queensborough Lodge peaked during the 1960’s with 6,600 members, which included businessmen, professionals, and politicians, among others. By 2000, national and local membership had decreased dramatically, and in order to offset costs incurred by taxes and maintenance, the Elks began to rent out the dining hall for special events and leasing out individual rooms for regular use by social and religious groups. In 2001, Elks officials decided to sell the building to the New Life Christian Fellowship, a Korean church organization. At the same time, the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission acted to designate the building as an individual landmark, a move which the building owners supported. The Elks Lodge and Hall is listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places.
79-00 Queens Boulevard
1962
Brodsky, Hopf & Adler
In 1962, Adelson Industries announced the purchase of a plot of land in Elmhurst to build an
ambitious $2 million project: the Pan American Motor Inn. Upon opening, the seven- story luxury hotel had 216 rooms, an outdoor swimming pool, a health club and, a dining facility for 250 people. Its location was strategic, as it was the nearest major hotel facility to the planned 1964 New York World’s Fair and Shea Stadium, which alos openned in 1964. Designed by New York City architectural firm Brodsky, Hopf and Adler, it received critical praise, including an award from the Queens Chamber of Commerce in 1963.
Adelson Industries’s initial plan for the Pan American Motor Inn was for it to be the first of a chain along the Eastern Seaboard, but the motel never achieved superstar status in Queens as they had hoped. After a succession of buyers, it never made a profit. In 2014, the city turned it into a homeless shelter, just like its former competitor down the block, once called the Mets Motel and later the Metro Motel.
86-02 Broadway
1735, addition built in 1772
Built in 1735 at what became the southwest corner of 51st Avenue and Broadway, St. James Church is the oldest surviving building in Elmhurst, and the City’s second oldest religious building that is still standing. Chartered by King George III, it is a remarkable Colonial-era mission church that still retains its early 18th-century rectangular box-like form, wood shingle siding, round-arched windows, and heavy timber framing. In 1772, the building was lengthened and the main entry moved from the south side to the Broadway façade.
Prominent citizens associated with the parish included the Reverend Benjamin Moore, a president of Kings College (later Columbia College), and the Reverend Samuel Seabury, Jr., the first American Episcopal Bishop. It was also a place of worship for British officers and men during the Revolution.
In 1848, after a period of growth, the parish built a larger church a block away and Old Saint James Church became a chapel and later a parish hall. It was renovated and altered over the years, until 2004 when it was restored to its late 19th-century appearance. Old St. James Church is a NYC Individual Landmark and listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places.
85-15 Broadway
1832, main building – 1858 Fellowship Hall
Founded by Dutch settlers, the original building for this church was a small, octagonal wooden structure with a high-pitched roof, constructed in 1731. It was in use for almost one hundred years, and served as an armory for the British during the Revolutionary War. Demolished in 1831, it was replaced by the present Georgian-style sanctuary in 1832, incorporating the cornerstone of the preceding church into the new one’s foundation. The bell tower contains the bell from the original 1731 church building. The Greek Revival-style Fellowship Hall was built in 1858. Originally located closer to the street, it was moved in 1906 to line up with the church building and connected to it by a covered passageway. In 1954, a small wing was added to the rear of the Fellowship Hall to house offices and classrooms. The flat roofed porch on the church and the columned portico on the Fellowship Hall were both added after the original construction, although the exact dates are not known. Adjoining the Church building to the north is a small cemetery filled with simple tombstones dating from the early years of the church’s history. The Reformed Church of Elmhurst is a NYC Individual Landmark and listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places.
87-04 to 87-20 Elmhurst Avenue, 1912
Judge Street, 1904
Corner of Hampton St. and 43rd Avenue, 1897
Cord Meyer Development Company
Throughout the 20th century, the Cord Meyer Development Company played a significant role in Queens development. Led by Cord Meyer Jr., the Meyer brothers originally focused development in Elmhurst in 1893, when they purchased a farm in Newtown from Samuel Lord, co- founder of Lord & Taylor. They renamed the area Elmhurst, laid out subdivisions and streets, installed sewers and established trolley connections.
Some of Cord Meyer’s developments still survive in Elmhurst, like a row of Colonial houses with distinctive green terra-cotta tile roofs built in 1912 on the south side of Elmhurst Avenue, between Hampton and Ithaca Streets, and a group of brick English-style townhouses built in 1904 on Judge Street, between Whitney and Elmhurst Avenues.
Besides resdiential construction, Meyer also developed commercial properties for residents. The first storefront opened in 1897, and one original Meyer-built shop remains extant at the corner of Hampton Street and 43rd Avenue.
By the late 1920s, there was a shift in constrcution from the single-family row house to five and six story apartment buildings in Elmhurst. The Cord Meyer Company responded to this trend by building, in 1928, the Hasting Court Apartments (40-40 Elbertson St) and Alida Court (87-15 Britton Ave).
82-02 Broadway
1954
The Moores were one of the most prominent families of Elmhurst, then Newtown, settling in the mid-1600s after Captain Samuel Moore was granted eighty acres of land as acknowledgement for the efforts of his father, Reverend John Moore, during the colonization of the area by the Dutch. Captain Moore built a house there in 1661, and the property remained in the family for centuries. During the Revolutionary War, the British General William Howe made the house his Long Island headquarters.
One of Captain Moore’s great-great grandsons was Clement Clarke Moore, who is best known as the author of the classic children’s poem, “A Visit from St. Nicholas” (better known as “The Night Before Christmas”). He was also a major developer of the Chelsea neighborhood in Manhattan. Clement Clarke Moore was believed to have used the family homestead as a periodic country retreat. The property is also known as the birthplace of the famous “Newtown Pippin” apple, the oldest commercially grown variety to be bred in the US and a famed apple during Colonial times, favored by Queen Charlotte of England, George Washington and Thomas Jefferson.
By the early 1800s, most of the Moore estate was divided into lots and sold at auction. The site of the homestead remained in the family until the Board of Transportation acquired it during the construction of the Independent Subway in 1930, razing the buildings in 1933. This photo depicts the buildings before their demolition. In 1954, Parks acquired the property to build the Elmhurst Playground, which was renamed the Clement Clarke Moore Homestead Park in 1987.
Photo courtesy of the New York City Municipal Archive.
Photo courtesy of the New York City Municipal Archive.
Named after the construction company that initially developed the neighborhood, Rego Park is an enclave of art deco architecture that dates back to 1925. As the neighborhood houses a great number of historic buildings, Michael Perlman of the Rego-Forest Preservation Council is working to preserve the area’s rich history through conducting research and interviews, as well as mapping out potential historic districts. As the area is considerably underserved by preservation protections, this group is campaigning to gain landmark designations for a number of sites.
78-03 19th Road
c. 1729
The oldest building in New York City still used as a private residence, this Dutch Colonial Farmhouse was built circa 1729 by Abraham Lent, grandson of Abraham Riker, using local stone and roughhewn timber. The locally prominent Riker family was the namesake of nearby Rikers Island. The property contains a small cemetery containing the graves of family members, as well as that of Williams James MacNeven, an Irish patriot and pioneering physician who had stayed with the Riker family before his death. Portions of the farmhouse were damaged by fire in 1955, but the property was fully restored by the current owner Marion Duckworth Smith and her late husband, Michael Smith.The Lent-Riker-Smith Homestead is an Individual Landmark and listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places.
104-04 Ditmars Boulevard
This approximately 1,000-ton boulder, a neighborhood icon, currently sits in the LaGuardia Plaza Hotel’s parking lot, but was once surrounded by empty land. It was a popular playing ground for children and inspired such affection that neighbors have rallied against its removal on multiple occasions. The Giant Rock was brought to its present location (probably from southern Westchester) by an ice sheet approximately 10,000 to 12,000 years ago.
75-20 Astoria Boulevard
Alexander D. Crossett & Associates, Aymar Embury II consulting architect
1953
This 400,000-square-foot complex was built to house offices, state-of-the-art laboratories (occupied by 140 research scientists), extensive manufacturing facilities (staffed by 2,000 workers), a 500-car parking garage and a public recreation field. Founded in 1875 as the J. Bulova Company, the firm achieved fame both for its innovative timepiece designs and marketing campaigns. In the 1920s it produced some of the earliest radio advertisements, and in 1941 aired what is considered the first television commercial. Bulova also affiliated itself with the burgeoning aerospace industry, offering Charles Lindbergh a prize for his pioneering trans-Atlantic flight and sending watches to the Moon with NASA astronauts. Inspired by the Federal Reserve Bank in Washington, DC, this limestone-clad building’s style is a bit old fashioned for its time of construction. Its Stripped Classical design more closely resembles buildings from the 1930s, such as the New York City Building from the 1939 World’s Fair, also designed by Embury. Nevertheless, it won the Queens Chamber of Commerce’s Outstanding Building Award in 1953.
23-11 97th Street, Malcolm X Place
1925
Malcolm X, civil rights leader and former figurehead of the Nation of Islam, lived in this bungalow with his family from 1959 to 1965. Born Malcolm Little in Omaha, Nebraska, in 1925, by the 1940s he was living in Boston, where he was arrested for robbery and sent to prison. During his incarceration, Little was introduced to the religious and political movement known as the Nation of Islam (NOI), and corresponded regularly with its leader Elijah Muhammad. Before his release in 1952, Malcolm joined the NOI and changed his name to “Malcolm X”. In 1960, Malcolm established Nation of Islam Temple 7B at 105-01 Northern Boulevard, just blocks from the original Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center. It is now the Masjid Nuriddin & Clara Muhammad School. In March of 1964, Malcolm X publicly announced his break from the NOI, and in April, flew to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia, at the start of his Hajj (pilgrimage to Mecca). He thereafter became known as el-Hajj Malik el-Shabazz. Upon his return he expressed that seeing Muslims of all races and backgrounds interacting as equals led him to see Islam as a means by which racial problems could be overcome. After his break with the organization, the NOI began eviction proceedings to remove Malcolm X and his family from the house on 97th Street, although Malcolm Little was the signature on the deed. On February 14, 1965, the home was set ablaze by Molotov cocktails. The family escaped the fire and was given refuge by neighborhood residents. One week later, on February 21, 1965, Malcolm was assassinated while making a speech at the Audubon Ballroom in Harlem. Malcolm X’s presence is still felt in the community and he is a revered local figure. In 2005, the street in front of the house was renamed Malcolm X Place.
109-04 31st Avenue
c. 1925
This American Craftsman style residence was home to William Francis Kenny, Jr., known professionally as Bill Kenny, a pioneering tenor vocalist with the Ink Spots, a popular vocal group that prefigured doo-wop and rock and roll. Kenny, whose vocal range spanned four octaves, joined the Ink Spots in 1939 at the age of 17, and sang on the group’s first hit, “If I Didn’t Care,” with fellow East Elmhurst resident Orville “Hoppy” Jones. Kenny shared the home with his wife, Audrey, and their daughter. Kenny, as one of the Ink Spots, was inducted into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame in 1989.
105-19 Ditmars Boulevard
c. 1922
Ella Fitzgerald, America’s “First Lady of Song” (born in 1917 in Newport News, Virginia), got her start as a teenager by winning an amateur singing contest at the Apollo Theater in Harlem. She made her first recording in 1936, and in 1938 found fame with a hit rendition of “A-Tisket, A-Tasket,” recorded with the Chick Webb Orchestra. Fitzgerald was a tireless performer, beloved and admired by audiences for her remarkable vocal range and indelible personal style. Nevertheless, she kept her personal life quite private. After a brief first marriage that ended in annulment, Fitzgerald married renowned jazz double bassist Ray Brown in 1948. Their marriage lasted only four years, during which time they lived in this impressive Tudor Revival style house. Fitzgerald later resided in a home in the Addisleigh Park Historic District in eastern Queens until 1967, and died at her Beverly Hills home in 1996.
112-24 Northern Boulevard
1950-53
Built at a time when segregation was widely enforced, the Dorie Miller Co-op was a rare integrated housing development. Originally conceived exclusively for African-American residents, it became “open occupancy” in large part at the urging of Congressman and pastor Adam Clayton Powell, Jr. (who presided over the opening ceremonies in 1953). The co-op’s early residents were a mix of African- American, Jewish, Caucasian and interracial families—many coming from Powell’s home neighborhood of Harlem. The complex was named for Doris “Dorie” Miller, a World War II hero and the first African-American to receive the Navy Cross, for his actions at Pearl Harbor (Miller died in action in 1943). Comprising six towers, the development originally housed 301 families. Like the greater Corona-East Elmhurst neighborhood, the co-op attracted a number of famous jazz musicians including saxophonists Julian “Cannonball” Adderley and Jimmy Heath, trumpeters Nat Adderley and Clark Terry, and singers Olga James and Nancy Wilson.
34-34 98th Street, 1925
100-17 32nd Avenue, 1951-53
These sister congregations merged in 2016 to become the Episcopal Church of Grace and Resurrection, occupying the latter’s building on 32nd Avenue. Grace Episcopal Church was the slightly older congregation, founded in 1906 and organized in 1907 in a small chapel that later became its parish hall, located at 34-22 98th Street, “an attractive one story frame building, somewhat in the bungalow” style, according to the local press. Construction of a proper church was long planned but took a number of years to realize. The nearby Church of the Resurrection held its first service on Easter Sunday, 1923. Its congregation is comprised primarily of Afro- Caribbean and African-American families.
100-01 Northern Boulevard
Davis Brody Bond
1999
Now part of Queens Library, the Langston Hughes Community Library and Cultural Center was established in 1969 in response to local efforts to create a library and community center focused on the history and needs of the area’s African-American community. Local residents, including former Queens Borough President Helen M. Marshall, who served as the library’s first executive director before entering the political sphere, formed the Library Action Committee of Corona- East Elmhurst, Inc., which staffed the library from its opening until 1987 and is still responsible for operating the library’s Homework Assistance and Cultural Arts Programs. This purpose-built structure is the institution’s second home; its first was located in a former Woolworth’s department store on Northern Boulevard—the site of a civil rights struggle to break the color barrier for hiring in Queens. The library opened two years after Hughes’ death and includes a large collection of materials by and about the poet. The new building includes gallery, auditorium, research, archival and children’s spaces to hold its many performances, lectures and events celebrating black history and culture. The library is home to the Black Heritage Reference Center of Queens County, housing New York State’s largest public circulating collection of materials on the black experience, estimated at roughly 45,000 titles and including approximately 1,000 theses and dissertations on black literature. The institution is a touchstone in the community and an important reminder of the importance of advocacy and activism.
100-05 34th Avenue
Paul Roth
1923-24
Like Congregation Tifereth Israel, this synagogue’s architectural form is more reminiscent of the Lower East Side than suburban Queens. It occupies nearly the entirety of its long, narrow lot—almost as if anticipating tenements to be built on either side. The Northside Hebrew Congregation was organized in the early 20th century, by some accounts c. 1900 and by others c. 1913, but the present building was dedicated in 1924. At the opening ceremony a golden key was given to the architect by the congregation, which noted, “Roth, who is vice-president of the congregation, and his son, Harold Roth, donated their services in the planning and erection of the temple.” Its most prominent architectural feature is a Classical portico featuring four Ionic columns, triangular pediment and modillion cornice. Since 1957, the building has been home to the Shaw A.M.E. Zion Church.
102-18 34th Avenue
1952-55
One of the oldest and most storied African- American churches in this section of Queens, this congregation was founded in 1915 by 11 prominent families. Under the guidance of Rev. George W. Hinton (in whose honor the city park adjacent to the Dorie Miller Cooperative Houses is named), pastor from 1916 to 1958, the congregation established itself as a voice for equal rights. In 1929 W. E. B. Du Bois spoke at the church, and in 1939 its members organized lodging for families visiting the World’s Fair who were denied accommodation in segregated hotels. In the 1950s and ‘60s the church developed ties to the NAACP and played a local leadership role during the Civil Rights movement under the leadership of its second pastor, Rev. Robert D. Sherard. During the 1960s, ‘70s and ‘80s, a period of rapid change and destabilization in the neighborhood, members of the congregation battled poverty, racism and social disinvestment, and worked closely with the Corona Branch of the Black Panther Party’s Free Breakfast Program. Today the Church continues its long tradition of social and political activism. Louis Armstrong’s funeral was held here in 1971.
105-19 37th Avenue, 1921-22
34-55 107th Street, Robert W. Johnson, 1910
Located only a block apart are the residences of two jazz legends: great friends and nominal musical rivals John Birks “Dizzy” Gillespie and Louis Armstrong. In the 1940s Gillespie (born in 1917 in South Carolina), made a name for himself as a trumpeter and bandleader in the New York City jazz scene, and is regarded today as one of the fathers of bebop. Gillespie owned and lived in this three-family Colonial Revival style building from 1952-66. Cornetist Louis Armstrong (born in 1901 in New Orleans) lived in this Renaissance Revival style rowhouse with his wife Lucille from 1943 until his death in 1971. Over four decades the Armstrongs left their mark on the house, which remains virtually the same as they left it—from the flamboyant 1970s decor, to the musical memorabilia, to the outdoor bar they installed in the garden for entertaining. After Lucille passed away in 1983, the house was donated by the Louis Armstrong Educational Foundation to the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs. In 2003 the house opened to the public as a museum, still owned by the city but managed by Queens College. The house next door at 34- 52 107th Street serves as the museum’s administrative building. It was bequeathed to the museum by Selma Heraldo, a good friend to the Armstrongs, after her death in 2011. Honoring Heraldo’s gift, the NYC Department of Design and Construction is restoring the house and renovating the interior to better serve the museum. The Louis Armstrong House is an Individual Landmark and listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places.
104-11 37th Avenue, 1899-1900
37-57 104th Street, 1902-03
Both congregations were established in the 19th century during the neighborhood’s early
development, and both buildings were constructed around the turn of the 20th century. The Catholic congregation is older, dating to 1870, when it was established as an offshoot of St. Mary’s of Winfield (a German congregation dating to 1854 in the village of Winfield, now part of Maspeth and Woodside). Damaged by fire in 2016, it has been carefully restored. The complex also includes a rectory (1896), school (1911-12) and convent (1916), the latter two both designed by William J. Ryan. The Lutheran congregation was established a bit later, in 1887, also by German immigrants (note the language on the cornerstone to the left). Compared to the Catholic church with its dominant steeple and grand entrance steps, the Lutheran church is more modest, perhaps reminiscent of mid-19th century German architecture.
104-11 39th Avenue
1906
Better known by his pen name, Crockett Johnson, Leisk (1906- 1975) was a beloved cartoonist and illustrator. (The name derives from his childhood love of the outdoors and Davy Crockett.) His most famous creations were Barnaby (1942-52), a daily comic strip that reached national syndication, and Harold and the Purple Crayon (1955), a series of beloved children’s books. Leisk first published his drawings in the Newtown High School student newspaper. After studying at Cooper Union, he held Art Editor positions including at the Communist-leaning New Masses, where he first began signing his drawings as Crockett Johnson. The Leisk family occupied the second story apartment of this house, then known as 2 Ferguson Street, from the early 1910s until around 1925.
103-14 Roosevelt Avenue
R. Thomas Short
1927
One of two historic theater buildings remaining in the neighborhood (the other being the Corona Theater at 37-80 Junction Boulevard), the Plaza originally opened in 1927 as the Loew’s Plaza Theater and was prominently located on Corona Plaza (now renovated as a pedestrian mall), then the terminus of the Flushing IRT Line. With 2,151 seats, it was indisputably a movie palace. Under the strict Hollywood Studio System, however, it was relegated to third-run status following the opening of the Valencia in Jamaica (1928-29) and the Triboro in Astoria (1931). After a federal antitrust case broke up the system, Loew’s sold the theater in 1952 to Century Theaters. It was later divided into two theaters and operated as the independent Teatro Plaza until 2005. Just south of the theater is Linden Park, also known as Park of the Americas, which once contained Linden Lake, a glacial kettle pond. Before it was drained in 1947, residents enjoyed swimming and lake side concerts in the summer and ice-skating in the winter.
43-18 97th Place
Skidmore, Owings & Merrill
2013-15
This school sits on the grounds of the former Tiffany Studios’ Stourbridge Glass Company. Louis Comfort Tiffany established the company in 1893, importing a foreman and workers from the English town of Stourbridge, a center of glassmaking since the 16th century. Among the glass manufactured at the site was the famed Favrile Glass, an iridescent glass with ingrained coloring developed and patented by Tiffany. The school’s lobby displays a mosaic made from Tiffany glass shards found at the site during construction.
97-28 43rd Avenue
Satterlee & Boyd
1912-14
After Queens County was absorbed into Greater New York in 1898, there was a wave of public building projects as the municipal government consolidated and modernized its services. At the time, Corona had two volunteer fire companies: Louona Engine Company 8 and Pioneer Fire Hook & Ladder 6. The old firehouse of the latter, a wood-framed building from the 1890s, still stands at 41-19 National Street. The city established permanent, professional fire service with the construction of a “modern” firehouse in 1912-14. Like many civic buildings of the period, it was designed in the formal Neoclassical style typical of the City Beautiful movement. Built in the early age of the automobile, it features two apparatus bays purpose-built for fire trucks. It originally contained a dormitory and a second-story terrace for recreation.The firehouse is an Individual Landmark.
102-45 47th Avenue, c. 1871
41-22 to 41-36 National Street, 1869-70
These buildings are amongst the oldest in the neighborhood, survivors of its transit-fueled development in the mid-19th century. The Sanford House’s vernacular Italianate design was typical of the period and is likely similar to many of the area’s vanished old houses. The Union Evangelical Church is Corona’s oldest surviving building, and according to one history of Queens, “originated in a Sunday-school, established in 1869 by Mrs. (Mary) Page. Collecting a few truant children on her porch, she succeeded in interesting them in Bible stories.” Others soon became interested in forming a church, including Charles P. Leverich, who offered his house for services and eventually donated the land and money to construct this building. Leverich’s son Charles was also a supporter and donated a Sunday school building in 1889. As the neighborhood developed and the congregation grew, it established a satellite church in North Corona at 102-19 32nd Avenue. Originally known as the North Branch of the Union Evangelical Church, it was dedicated in 1915 and was later renamed the Leverich Memorial Church in honor of the younger Leverich. Sanford House is an Individual Landmark.
108th Street and Corona Avenue
1922-29
This small triangle of land was acquired by the city in 1924, and was originally known as Corona Heights Triangle. It was renamed in 1929 for Moore, a Marine who died in World War I at the Battle of Belleau Wood—reportedly the war’s first casualty from the neighborhood. The rededication also included the installation of a “Victory Memorial Fountain” by sculptor James S. J. Novelli memorializing 49 local residents who also lost their lives (the fountain has since been removed but the bronze tablet remains). Additional memorials have been added, including a tablet and tree at the park’s southern tip honoring politician and community leader Joseph Lisa, Sr. (1898-1977). The park, at the heart of the neighborhood’s Italian-American community, is affectionately known as “Spaghetti Park” after author Dyann DeSalvo penned the 2002 children’s book by the same name. Its two bocce courts are regularly packed with players and spectators, many enjoying treats from the nearby Lemon Ice King of Corona (established 1944).
109-18 54th Avenue
Crescent L. Varrone
1911
This modest, wood-framed building is considered the oldest surviving synagogue in Queens. Its congregation was formed in 1906 or ‘07 and formally incorporated in 1911 as the Home Street Synagogue (its original name). Many early members were recent immigrant Ashkenazi from Eastern Europe moving from the overpopulated Lower East Side. One of these was the young Josephine Esther Mentzer, a Corona resident who became the cosmetics entrepreneur Estée Lauder. Architecturally the building is reminiscent of small synagogues of the Lower East Side, which had to conform to narrow lot sizes meant for tenements. Its façade, with Gothic and Moorish elements, was restored in 2011-12. The complex eventually included a mikveh (ritual bath), yeshiva (Talmudic school) and cemetery. The yeshiva, located a block away at 108-44 53rd Avenue, later became famous as the brief home of pop star Madonna. From 1979-80 she lived in this loft/music studio, playing drums and keyboards in the band The Breakfast Club.Congregation Tifereth Israel is an Individual Landmark and listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places.
New York City Pavilion / Queens Museum, Aymar Embury II, 1939
New York State Pavilion, Philip Johnson and Richard Foster, 1962-64
Unisphere, Gilmore D. Clarke, 1963- 64
World’s Fair Carousel, William Mangels, 1964
The city’s second largest park was originally a meadow and wetland, but in 1907 industrialist Michael Degnon acquired much of the property hoping to woo the federal government to fund a port on Flushing Bay. He began filling it in with residential coal ash through contracts with the NYC Department of Sanitation and the Brooklyn Ash Removal Company. The port plan never materialized and the area remained for several decades the wasteland immortalized as the “valley of ashes” in F. Scott Fitzgerald’s The Great Gatsby (1925). In 1935 the area was officially selected as the location for the 1939 World’s Fair. Landscaping began in 1936 to the designs of Gilmore D. Clarke and Michael Rapuano and the fair opened on April 30, 1939. The only relic surviving in situ from the 1939 fair is the New York City Building, which later hosted the United Nations General Assembly from 1946-50 (while its permanent home was being built in Manhattan), was renovated as the New York City Pavilion for the 1964 World’s Fair and is now the Queens Museum. For the 1964 World’s Fair, Clarke and Rapuano updated their original landscape, whose centerpiece was the Unisphere, a 140-foottall globe set above a giant reflecting pool and fountain. Other extant sites include the New York State Pavilion and the World’s Fair Carousel. The State Pavilion was meant to showcase the state’s cutting-edge art, architecture and technology, and consisted of three components: the open-air Tent of Tomorrow; three Astro-View observation towers; and the Theaterama (now the Queens Theatre in the Park). Long neglected, the Tent has been repainted, while its terrazzo floor—an oversized replica of a Texaco roadmap of New York State—has been mothballed, hopefully awaiting restoration. The carousel combined elements from two previous rides, Feltman’s Carousel (1903) and the Stubbman Carousel (1908), both carved by Marcus Illoins on Coney Island. It was moved to its current location in 1968. Ownership of the site was transferred from the World’s Fair Corporation back to the city in 1967, permanently establishing Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.The Unisphere is an Individual Landmark; the NY State Pavilion and the World’s Fair Carousel are listed on the State and National Register of Historic Places.
New York City is known for many things: Art Deco skyscrapers, picturesque parks, the world’s greatest theater district, venerable museums and educational institutions, not to mention bagels and pizza! But above all of these, New York is most important as home to some of the world’s most fascinating and significant people and as the site of impactful and significant happenings throughout history. The city’s cultural influence is, perhaps, its greatest contribution to the world, and its built environment stands as a grand scavenger hunt of clues waiting to be uncovered. Lucky for us, the city’s Landmarks Law, passed in 1965, provides the legal framework for protecting the physical reminders of the city’s cultural wealth. In fact, one of the stated purposes of the Landmarks Law is to “safeguard the city’s historic, aesthetic and cultural heritage.”
In the first 50 years that landmarks were designated by the City, much emphasis was placed on the historic and aesthetic. In recent years, though, more consideration has been made for the importance of sites associated with people or historical events, rather than just for their architectural or historical value. In 2015, the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) designated the Stonewall Inn as an Individual Landmark solely for its association with the Stonewall Uprising of 1969. In 2018, the Commission designated the Central Harlem—West 130th-132nd Streets Historic District, describing it as “not only representative of Central Harlem’s residential architecture, but the rich social, cultural, and political life of its African American population in the 20th century.” Also, in recent years, Greenwich Village’s Caffe Cino and Julius’ Bar were listed on the National Register of Historic Places as significant and influential sites connected to the Lesbian Gay Bisexual Transgender (LGBTQ) community, The New York Times profiled a historian giving tours of Muslim sites of significance in Harlem, and the City is commemorating some of our most storied and accomplished female citizens with the installation of statues in all five boroughs. Indeed, grassroots preservation activism around the city is also swelling around sites of cultural significance: Tin Pan Alley and Little Syria in Manhattan, Walt Whitman’s house in Brooklyn, Arthur Avenue in The Bronx and a recently-rediscovered African burial ground in Queens, to name a few.
In response to this movement of interest in cultural landmarks, the Historic Districts Council undertook an initiative to highlight such places as one of its Six to Celebrate in 2018. The culmination of that effort was a conference in October 2018 entitled “Beyond Bricks and Mortar: Rethinking Sites of Cultural History.” The conference convened preservationists, historians, artists, planners, place-makers and more to work together to clarify what cultural significance is and how it can work, how to document and create compelling narratives around cultural sites, and how to identify the specific challenges of cultural sites from a preservationist perspective.
This brochure provides just a sample of some of the city’s cultural landmarks, organized thematically and representing all five boroughs. The list includes some sites that are legally protected — in some cases by more than one government body — and some that are unfortunately in danger of being lost. Preserving culturally significant sites that may not possess overtly aesthetic value often requires a particularly active and engaged form of advocacy to achieve protection from the wrecking ball. But, as long as there are interesting people making their mark on New York City and crucial events taking place here, that effort will never be in vain, since those stories are the lifeblood of this vibrant place.
The first European settlement in Elmhurst was founded in 1642 at the head of the Maspeth Creek. The town was destroyed due to increasing conflicts between Native Americans and the Dutch, and was replaced in 1652 by a new village located on safer ground inland, at what is now Queens Boulevard and Broadway. The English called the place Middelburgh, since Dutch authorities required a Dutch name, but referred to it as Newtown among themselves, to distinguish it from the old town at Maspeth.
The 18th century was a period of prosperity for Newtown Village, population slowly increased and the local economy became more diversified. The proximity to New York allowed for crops to be sold in the open market or traded for manufactured goods, and also provided access to luxury goods and services. The road system was largely created during this time, connecting the outlying hamlets with the churches and town offices at Newtown, giving them access to the mills, the meadows and the shore. During the Revolution, the British Army occupied Newtown. Officers were billeted in the houses and buildings were repurposed for field hospitals, armories and headquarters. After the war, the town recovered gradually, mostly thanks to new practices and technologies in agriculture that boosted the economy. Social change was spurred by the abolition of slavery in New York State in 1827 and a group of newly freed African Americans established the first African Mehtodist Episcopla (A.ME.) Church and cemetery in the town.
In the years before the Civil War, and during the first decade after, Newtown remained largely a one-street town. Although there was some commercial growth, and a new building was erected for the Newtown High school (site 6), attempts to expand the limits of the old village were unsuccessful. This began to change in 1869, when large estates were auctioned. In 1893, the Meyer brothers, led by Cord Meyer Jr., bought over 100 acres of the Samuel Lord estate to develop an ambitious plan for a new suburb northwest of the old Newtown Village. This development was planned to offer amenities rarely present in a rural district, and certainly nowhere else in Queens at the time: paved streets, a water system and private sewers. The project proved to be extremely successful, and the neighborhood became known for its fashionable housing developments and infrastructure. Cord Meyer, Jr. also lobbied to have the name of the village changed to Elmhurst, to avoid any association with the polluted Newtown Creek. The name is said to have been inspired by large, mature American elms that existed along Broadway, particularly in front of St. James Church. Despite initial resistance from the townspeople to discard the historic name of the village, in 1896 the Post Office officially changed to Elmhurst.
The opening of the subway in 1936 spurred local development which resulted in the destruction of much of the old village’s building stock, most notably the Moore Homestead. After the Second World War, Elmhurst became a place for architectural innovation. Influenced largely by the New York World’s Fair of 1964, buildings like the Pan American Hotel, the Queens Place Mall and the former Jamaica Savings Bank branch (site 15) changed the neighborhood’s landscape. In the 1980s, immigrants from many different countries changed Elmhurst from an almost exclusively white community to the most ethnically diverse neighborhood in the city.
84-37 113th Street c. 1900
84-11 112th Street c. 1900
The full range of Richmond Hill’s architectural styles is on display in the triangle-shaped wedge of residential blocks between Myrtle Avenue and the former South Side Railroad line (elevated above Bessemer and Babbage Streets since 1924). Most of neighborhood’s houses date to the period of Academic Eclecticism in architecture. Many use highly irregular massing—often including corner turrets, projecting bay windows and complex rooflines—enabled by new technologies and building techniques. The use of applied ornament also reflects the increasing industrialization of the building trades. As factories began mass production of architectural components such as doors, windows, siding and decorative detailing, domestic architectural styles became much more flamboyant. Nominally based on medieval European precedents, these “Victorian” architectural styles were in fact a loose interpretation of both medieval and Classical models, and architects frequently mixed and matched elements in highly individualized components. One of the most individual houses is the unusual Japanese-inspired design at 84-37 113th Street. Some of Richmond Hill’s houses reflect post-Victorian architectural styles, which were more formal and rigorous in their use of historic precedents. Perhaps the most popular of these styles was the Colonial Revival, which favored symmetrical house forms more clearly. An impressive example of this style is found at 84-11 112th Street.
The blocks near this intersection feature some of the oldest houses in Richmond Hill, erected at the very beginning of the neighborhood’s building boom. In 1884, Albon Platt Man himself commissioned five houses to jump-start the neighborhood’s development. Of these, 116-03 85th Avenue is likely the only surviving example. At least two other houses in the area were built by the early 1890s, at 116-12 85th Avenue and 85-14 117th Street (which was listed on an 1891 map as the residence of architect Henry E. Haugaard). The area also contains a noteworthy cluster of Shingle Style residences, including the similar turreted examples at 117-03 85th Avenue and 84-48 118th Street, both constructed around 1900 by local architect-builders Wade & Cullingford.
85-09 118th Street
Nathaniel W. Vickers
1904
National Register of Historic Places
The Church of the Resurrection, founded in the late 1860s as a mission of Grace Episcopal Church of Jamaica, was the first religious organization established in Richmond Hill. It built its first home on this site in 1874 when the surrounding suburban neighborhood was still mostly made up of unoccupied lots. A series of subsequent alterations culminated in 1904 with the construction of an entirely new stone and half-timbered structure around the existing church building, resulting in its present form and appearance. Like many Episcopal churches, the design takes its inspiration from the medieval parish churches of England, with its picturesque rooflines, asymmetrical massing and rustic materials palette of quarry stone, stucco and half-timbering. One of its most noted congregants was Jacob Riis, who donated the stained glass triptych in the north wall of the church in memory of his wife Elizabeth in 1905. The rectory building, constructed in 1888 on the corner lot directly to the north, has been known informally as “Riis House,” although there is no record that the family ever lived there. The Church of the Resurrection is still an active congregation and its building was placed on the State and National Registers of Historic Places in 2003.
86-15 Lefferts Boulevard
Henry E. Haugaard
1908
NYC Individual Landmark
While local architect Haugaard was known primarily for his residential designs, this building shows his equal fluency with civic architecture. Its Classical style ornament and orange brick façade nicely complement the nearby library. Like other social clubs, whether Democratic or Republican, the Richmond Hill Republican Club (RHRC) served as a locus of community activity for the neighborhood, organizing and hosting public lectures, rallies, parades, picnics, dances and dinners. The main floor contained meeting rooms and a billiards parlor, while the basement housed a bowling alley (a large auditorium was planned for the second floor but was never constructed). Beyond its role as a local social institution, the RHRC participated in national politics by inviting prominent political figures to speak; notable appearances were made by the likes of Theodore Roosevelt, Harry Truman, Richard Nixon, Gerald Ford and Ronald Reagan. The RHRC closed in the 1980s, and the building has since been adaptively reused as a catering hall and event space.
118-14 Hillside Avenue
Tuthill & Higgins
1905
The Richmond Hill branch was one of six public libraries in Queens funded by industrialist and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie. It traces its origins to a lending library established c. 1899 by local resident Ella J. Flanders (prominent local resident Jacob Riis served as an early trustee). Unlike earlier libraries, which typically occupied space in other buildings, the Carnegie branches were designed to stand out. Most, including the Richmond Hill branch, employ a classical architectural vocabulary; in the outer boroughs, they were also typically sited on larger lots, and were usually one-story, freestanding buildings with horizontally oriented floor plans. In 1929, a sympathetically designed addition to the Richmond Hill Branch was constructed in the rear to house the Children’s Library. The main reading room features a Works Progress Administration-sponsored mural titled “The Story of Richmond Hill,” painted in 1936-37 by artist Philip Evergood, which contrasts the pastoral pleasures of suburban Queens on the left against a bleak industrial urban landscape on the right.
117-09 Hillside Avenue
R. Thomas Short
1926-29
Richmond Hill once had a number of movie theaters, most located in small storefronts along Jamaica Avenue. By far the largest was the RKO Keith’s Theatre, which in comparison to others was a true motion picture palace. It originally featured both Vaudeville acts and movies on its roster of entertainment. Designed in the neo-Classical Revival style, the building’s prominent street façade is clad in buff brick with white terra cotta trim and features the original marquee. Architect R. Thomas Short was known for his theater designs, among them The Grand in Astoria, and The Rialto, The Shubert and The Midwood in Brooklyn. The L-shaped RKO Keith’s theater maintains its impressive architectural presence on Hillside Avenue; the large auditorium block is visible from Bessemer Street, and on its interior, the theater’s lobby, lounge and auditorium spaces remain largely intact.
116-23 Jamaica Avenue
1910
Jamaica Avenue is considered the oldest continually used road on Long Island, originally opened in 1703 as the King’s Highway and later privatized under the Jamaica & Brooklyn Plank Road Company. In the early 20th century, around the same time as the blocks north were filling with stately houses, the avenue began its transformation into an important local commercial corridor (eventually given a huge boost with the arrival of the elevated train in 1917). One of the largest and most ornate commercial structures in the neighborhood, the Richmond was also the first poured-concrete structure on Jamaica Avenue. Its solid Renaissance-inspired design includes a modillioned cornice broken by two arched parapets, one of which is inscribed with the building’s name and date of construction.
117-19 Jamaica Avenue
c. 1868
1868 was an exciting year for Richmond Hill. Man and Richmond began their suburban development that June and the South Side Railroad commenced commuter service to Brooklyn and Manhattan in July. Hoping to capitalize on this energy, Charles Paulson purchased a lot on “The Triangle” opposite the train depot in September, erecting this small commercial building that he leased to Jacob L. Van Wicklen as a grocery store and post office. In subsequent decades it went through many different owners and uses, including hotel, restaurant and saloon, as well as names, including the Wheelman’s Restaurant (a reference to the increasingly popular bicycle), Doyle’s Triangle Hotel and the Triangle Hofbrau Haus. Composer Ernest Ball wrote “When Irish Eyes Are Smiling” (1912) in one of the hotel rooms, and celebrities such as Babe Ruth and Mae West are rumored to have frequented the restaurant in the 1910s-30s. The Tudor Revival style storefront extension is a 20th century addition, but the bones of Richmond Hill’s most famous commercial building are intact and visible above the ground floor.
86-20 115th Street
c. early 19th century
This modest house is the oldest and arguably one of the most historically significant in Richmond Hill, dating from the period when the surrounding area was still occupied by working farms. It originally stood around the corner on Jamaica Avenue and was moved to its present location in the early 20th century. It was built by the Lefferts family, whose farm was one of five purchased by Albon Platt Man in 1868 for his suburban development. By the early 1870s, Man’s agent, Oliver B. Fowler, was living in the “Farm Cottage” and using it as a real estate office for the Richmond Hill Estate. In the late 19th century, it was owned by Clara Riis Fiske, daughter of Jacob Riis.
Jackson Heights es un vecindario fundado en el comienzo del siglo XX, en el centro de Queens, compuesto de edificios bajos con jardines y casas, junto con edificios institucionales y comerciales. Fue la primera comunidad de apartamentos con jardín, y todavía es la más grande en los Estados Unidos, producto de la corriente de viviendas ejemplares y del movimiento urbanístico Garden City (ciudad jardín) de principios del siglo XX. Hacia finales del siglo XIX, las malas condiciones de vida en los barrios pobres de la ciudad dieron origen a esfuerzos reformatorios para mejorar la vivienda urbana. Como resultado, la luz, la ventilación y el espacio verde abierto se volvieron piezas claves en el diseño de urbanizaciones nuevas. Esto es particularmente evidente en Jackson Heights.
70–35 Broadway;
S. L. Malkind;
1926|
Esta construcción de apartamentos de seis niveles tiene su entrada principal en Broadway, convirtiéndola en la única estructura histórica situada en la autopista. Hillcrest Court está en un inusual punto triangular y posee cinco torres, cada una conectada por un área de recreo que está en la mitad de la construcción. Highlights incluye un trabajo de ladrillo que simula una galleria de columnas encima de las torres de Broadway.
73–12 35th Avenue;
Sylvan Breine;
1940|
Washington Plaza tiene siete constucciones: de seis niveles, y una con un solo nivel. Estas construcciones con estilo Art Deco tienen ladrillo rojizo y poseen bandas con decoraciones geométricas, y escaleras de emergencias con forma redonda. La parte más intrigante de este complejo es la Washington Plaza Park, diseňada por el mismo arquitecto en 1941. El parque, de 54 acres, comienza detrás de la casa del portero, donde un camino se divide y rodea una cascada antes de llegar a una piscina en la parte superior del compejo. Caminos escalonados rodean cada piscina y son acompaňados por un jardín. Algunas de las plantaciones incluyen especies como la Betula Péndula, Malus, Cornus, Rhododendrons, Azalea roja y rozada, rosas, forsythia, laurels e hydrangeas. También hay un jardín de hierbas de basil y romero.
33–11 to 33–46 and 33–12 to 33–48 70th Street;
Arthur E. Allen;
1928
Homestead Hall está compuesto por 19 residencias con jardines de dos y tres niveles, separadas por jardines con cerca de ladrillo. Estas viviendas con estilo neo-tudor tienen techos hechos de pizarra con distintos niveles, muro de entramado de madera, estuco con aňadidos de piedra y ladrillo, y chimeneas con mecetas en la parte superior. Estas casas a lo largo de la Calle 70 evocan la sensación de un jardín íntimo con los árboles más cercanos entre sí del area. Cada casa tiene un patio detrás del jardín frontal. Las casas también tienen un jardín posterior.
34–30 to 34–52 75th Street;
J. Case & Peter Schreiner;
1927|
Las Spanish Tower Homes incluyen 10 casas de ladrillo de tres y cuatro niveles. Los primeros niveles de estos hogares no tienen ventanas, y en lugar incluyen puertas francesas que se abren en unos balconetes de hierro. Algunas ventanas en los niveles superiores tienes póstigos de madera, y las casas de las esquinas tienen loggias en el cuarto nivel. Estas casas comparten las entradas de autos y tienen garajes separados en la parte posterior.
76–09 34th Avenue;
Joshua Tabatchnik;
1936|
Nombrada tras el campo de golf en el que se sitúa, esta construcción de apartamentos de seis niveles tiene una línea de tejado muy distintiva con almens y murallas. Torrer semicirculares rodean la entrada principal en la Calle 34. Las áreas de jardines que fueron diseňadas como parte del Fairway Hall inlcuyen la parte frontal y lateral del patio interior, corredores con árboles y andenes cubiertos de césped.
35–13 to 35–55 76th Street and 35–14 to 35–56 77th Street;
George H. Wells;
1922|
Hawthorne Court es un complejo extensor compuesto por 14 construcciones consecutvas de 5 niveles. Estas construcciones tienen fachadas de ladrillo rojizo con aparejo gótico, piedra blanca moldeada y dinteles con piedra angular. El arquitecto George H. Wells incorporó entradas prominentes en las entradas de estos apartamentos, un sello distintivo de su trabajo. Estas entradas tienen un pequeňo podio, y alternan columnas de orden dórico con columnas planas de puertas hechas de madera, rodeadas con travesaňos de vidrio de plomo que proyectan luz lateral. Cada entreada tiene una balaustrada de hierro en la parte superior.
35–25 77th Street;
Joshua Tabatchnik;
1936|
Los Apartamentos Berkeley son un ejemplo de la tardía urbanización que ocurrió en Jackson Heights. Esta única y larga construcción tiene dos extensiones de pasto que la parten. La estructura neo Georgiana se impone en media cuadra y posee un enladrillado que evoca un sillar de esquina. También tiene hileras de ladrillos, columnas con frontones de piedra y ladrillo, y parapetos de ladrillo con urnas de piedra. Joshua Tabatchnik también diseňólos Berkeley Gardens, los cuales son somilares y están situados en la esquina de la Calle 35.
35–16 to 35–56 79th Street and 35–15 to 35–55 78th Street;
George H. Wells;
1921|
Hampton Court es uno de los primeros complejos de apartamentos con jardines en Jackson Heights. Las 11 construcciones ocupan casi toda la cuadra y rodean un jardín en el centro. Originalmente, había un jardín al final de cada cuadra. Esta construcción, como muchas de las que George H. Well diseňó, tienes estilo neo georgiano, y tienen ladrillo rojizo con aparejo flamenco y molduras blancas. Las fachadas difieren entre las calles 78 y 79.
35–15 to 35–55 80th Street;
George H. Wells;
1918|
Originalmente llamado “The Garden Apartments,” el Greystones fue el primer complejo con jardines de Jackson Heights. Estas 14 construcciones con forma de T tienen cada una cinco niveles. Ademá, cuentan con un estilo neo tudor, ladrillos grises, sótanos de piedra y molduras de piedra en las ventanas. El complejo tiene jardines embellecidos en la parte frontal y trasera.
33–15 to 33–51 80th Street and 33–16 to 33–52 81st Street;
Andrew J. Thomas;
1924|
Las Towers están formadas por ocho construcciones independientes con forma de U, cuatro de las cuales están situadas en la Calle 80, y las otras cuatro en la Calle 81. Los ocho edificios están situados consecutivamente y encierran in jardín interior al cual se accede a través de una entradas que están en medio de las construcciones. El diseňo de ladrillo amarillo del apartamento fue inspirada por arquitectura romana y renacentista. Detalles sobresalientes incluyen teja roja en el techo, logias en el sexto piso, y miradores en las torres.
33–18 to 33–44 83rd Street;
Alfred H. Eccles;
1928|
A lo largo de la Calle 83 hay 13 casa con jardines estilo ingles. Las casas del medio tienen cibierta amansardada de losa, minetras que aquellas en al final tienen cubierta de gablete con claraboyas a los lados. Todas estas estructuras tienen hileras de ladrillos debajo de las ventanas del Segundo piso, y jardineras de ventana con piedra moldeada. Las ventanas del primer piso tienen ménsulas de ladrillo en la parte inferior.
33–23 to 33–45 84th Street;
Charles J. Stidolph;
1928|
Charles J. Stidolph diseňó 8 casas de 3 niveles en esta cuadra. Para separar visualmente estas casas, tres components fueron usados: un frontón puntiagudo en el frente, un buhardilla como cobertizo, y un piňón. Estas residencias están unificadas por su tamaňo, techos de pizarra, y garajes separados. No siendo parte del Distrito Histórico, estas casas han experimentado algunas alteraciones, que incluyen una llamativa pintura cobriza, cercas de hierro, extracción de persianas, y toldos de matal en las entradas.
34–19, 34–33 and 33–47 90th Street;
Henry Atterbury Smith;
1926|
La Mesa Verde incluye seis construcciones, de seis niveles con forma de V, las cuales están conectadas por una angosta terraza que funciona como puente. Tres de estas construcciones están al frente de la Calle 90, y las otras tres al frente de la Calle 91, creando un patron de onda de sierra. En lugar de tener corredores interiors, cada una de estas construcciones neo clásicas tienen escaleras exteriors con entradas a los apartamentos, las cuales tienes, al comienzo y al final, claraboyas hechas de hierro y vidrio. Los patios interiors y las estructuras permanecen casi intactos, excepto por las canchas de tenis que fueron perdidas en de la década de los aňos 50.
85–10 34th Avenue;
Joshua Tabatchnik;
1936|
El Saybrook es una construcción de seis niveles con un amplio jardín en la entrada que delinea el lado este y oeste de la propiedad. Algunos detalles interesantes en el diseňo de esta estructura incluyen enladrillado que simulan un sillar de esquina, y frontones que se alzan por encima de los parapetos en la línea del tejado.
34–15 to 34–51 86th Street;
Robert Tappan;
1927|
Estas bellas casas en la Calle 86 son, de hecho, casas dobles que aparentan ser casas grandes para una sola familia. Cada casa está situada al fondo de la calle y tienen jardines separados por cercas de ladrillo en cada una de las casas. Estos hogares con estilo neo gregoriano poseen ladrillo rojizo con fachadas blancas y moldeadas, techos de pirazarra con prominentes chimeneas, y entradas con inspiración clásica.
89–01 to 89–31 37th Avenue;
Oscar Goldschlog;
1927|
Polk Arms consiste en dos construcciones de apartamentos con estilo neo clásico de dos niveles. Espacios comerciales con sus respectivas entradas dominan en la fachada de la Calle 37, mientras que las entradas residenciales están situadas en la calle de al lado. Estas construcciones de ladrillo rojizo tienen entradas con piedra moldeada, y páneles a lo largo de la línea del tejado. El paisajismo inicial incluye patios y aceras con árboles. Desafortunadamente, algunas áreas originales de planteación de esta construcción no designada como emblema histórico han sido pavimentadas.
35–16 to 35–56 87th Street;
C. F. & D. E. McAvoy;
1926|
Estas siete casas dobles al lado oeste de la Calle 87 tienen un patrón asimétrico y tienen un estilo neo Tudor. Estas residencias tienen jardines embellecidos, techos de teja, frontones empinados, pilotes de madera y ménsulas con flores. Cada casa comparte una entrada vehicular y tiene un par de garajes al lado de la casa.
37–11 to 37–59 84th Street and 37–12 to 37–60 85th Street;
Andrew J. Thomas;
1919|
Linden Court, la primer cuadra entera de Jackson Heights en ser urbanizada, está conformada por 10 construcciones de 4 niveles. Las construcciones están situadas consecutivamente y tienen un patio interior común, el cual está emebellecido con jardines. Estos apartamentos funcionarion como un modelo para las subsecuentes construcciones con jardines en el barrio. Linden Court fue el primer complejo en tener zona de parqueo, la cual esá situada en el patio de la parte posterior de la construcción. El estilo neo Georgiano de estas estructuras de apartamentos posee estampados de ladrillo, piedras angulares, porches vidriados, y logias.
The area of Queens comprising Corona-East Elmhurst was called “Mespat” by the Native Americans and “Middleburgh” by the English colonists. It became part of the Town of Newtown, when it was incorporated in 1683 as one of the three original municipalities (along with Jamaica and Flushing) comprising what is now Queens. It remained largely rural until transportation improvements led to suburban development. In 1854 the Flushing Railroad began service through what is now 44th and 45th Avenues (now part of the Port Washington Branch of the Long Island Rail Road). Anticipating commuter service, a group of real estate speculators formed the West Flushing Land Company and purchased an extensive tract that they subdivided into house lots, naming the new neighborhood West Flushing. Just north (above what is now 37th Avenue) stood the National Race Course, also established in 1854. A massive complex and tourist attraction, it was soon renamed Fashion Race Course and notably hosted the first-ever ticketed baseball game, a best of three series between New York and Brooklyn.
In spite of this enthusiasm, actual building activity remained slow through the 1850s and was curtailed during the Civil War. By 1868, however, Benjamin W. Hitchcock, who also developed much of Woodside, acquired more than a thousand building lots in West Flushing, and most were sold by the early 1870s. Another local developer, Thomas Waite Howard, felt the name West Flushing was too easily confused with Flushing and petitioned the U.S. Postal Service for a more poetic moniker: Corona, the crown (or crown jewel) of Queens. Transit lines continued to expand, including the 1876 introduction of horse car lines to Brooklyn, providing connections to ferries to Manhattan, and trolleys running along Corona Avenue began in the 1890s. In 1898 Queens County was subsumed into Greater New York, and Corona, previously part of Newtown, became its own neighborhood with 2,500 residents. In 1904 the Bankers’ Land and Mortgage Corporation launched a new residential development in north Corona called East Elmhurst, comprising 2,000 building lots along the western edge of Flushing and Bowery Bays. Growth accelerated with the opening of the Queensborough Bridge in 1908 and the East River tunnels to Pennsylvania Station in 1911. Perhaps most significantly, the subway system arrived in 1917 with the opening of the Alburtis Avenue (now 103rd Street-Corona Plaza) station. In the 1930s the neighborhood’s eastern boundary, the dumping ground that was once Flushing Creek, was transformed into “The World of Tomorrow” as the site of the 1939 World’s Fair; it later reprised that role for the 1964 World’s Fair and eventually became Flushing Meadows-Corona Park.
From the beginning, Corona-East Elmhurst was a diverse neighborhood. Several of its oldest institutions attest to the 19th century German influence, while many 20th century sites are associated with its Italian-American and Jewish communities. The northern section of this tour boasts a remarkable collection of culturally significant African-American sites. The first recorded residents of African descent arrived in the 17th century and settled along what is now Corona Avenue, a section of which (at 90th Street in Elmhurst) is named for the Rev. James Pennington (1807-1870), an enslaved fugitive from Maryland who became an influential Evangelical Abolitionist on the world stage. In the 1920s, Corona saw an influx of African-Americans, many following the Great Migration from the South, and Afro-Caribbean immigrants from the West Indies. After World War II, the area attracted prominentAfrican-American cultural figures and civil rights activists, many of whom are celebrated on this tour.
31-42 Vernon Boulevard
1986 |
Despite the area’s picturesque views of Hell Gate, the site of Socrates Sculpture Park remained an abandoned riverside landfill until artist Mark di Suvero led the effort to convert the space into an outdoor sculpture garden. The coalition named the sculpture garden after the famous Greek philosopher Socrates (469-399 B.C.), paying homage to the large Greek community living in nearby Astoria. The park’s tenuous existence depended on a short-term lease from the city until a proposed luxury apartment and marina complex prompted Mayor Giuliani to declare it a permanent park site in 1998. Founded as a unique space for artists to design and display large-scale sculpture and multimedia installations that engage with the public, the park has hosted the work of over one thousand artists. A large billboard presiding over the entrance features one or two new installations each year that reference the other exhibits inside the park.
9-01 33rd Road
c. 1920s; addition: Isamu Noguchi, 1985 |
The Noguchi Museum is set within a converted photo-engraving plant dating to the 1920s, and connected to an additional building and interior garden designed by Isamu Noguchi himself. Noguchi, a renowned Japanese-American sculptor known for fusing Modernism with Japanese influences, envisioned the museum as not only a permanent home for his work, but as a work of art in itself. Moving to a small brick building across from his future museum in 1961, Noguchi was one of the pioneering artists that helped to establish Long Island City’s cultural community. The two-story industrial building, with its cement floors and exposed ceiling beams, contrasts with the artist’s stone, metal and wood sculptures. Originally housed in two separate buildings, the museum underwent a massive renovation in 2001-04 that connected the historic red brick building to its modern concrete block neighbor to create a more unified space for the 2,383-piece collection.
37-18 Northern Boulevard
1921 |
When this building was completed in 1921, S. Karpen & Brothers, a Chicago-based upholstered furniture manufacturing company claimed that it was “the finest structure devoted exclusively to furniture making in this country” with over 150,000 square feet of floor space distributed over six stories. The factory’s unadorned concrete façade, consisting of 21 bays punctured by raised piers, is complemented by the decorative brickwork found at the cornice line and top story. In addition to its sheer size, the building stands out for the way it angles to conform to the curve of Northern Boulevard. Out of all of the factory’s occupants, Standard Motor Products had the longest history at this site, moving into the building in 1936 and manufacturing automobile engine parts here until 2008. Converted to small-scale commercial use between 2010 and 2014, the structure hosts a number of tenants, including the headquarters of Standard Motor Products, the Jim Henson Company’s New York office and a one-acre organic farm on its rooftop.
Albert Kahn, c. 1914; expansion: John Graham, c. 1914
Now known as the Center Building, 33-00 Northern Boulevard was completed in 1914 as the Ford Assembly and Service Center of Long Island City. This section of Queens was nicknamed Detroit East in the early 20th century due to its concentration of automobile concerns, including Brewster, Ford and Standard Motor Products. The original section of the building, designed by Albert Kahn, primarily fronts Honeywell Avenue and only stretches along Northern Boulevard for three bays. An expansion designed by John Graham increased the factory’s capacity by 400%, but the building was sold in 1921 and saw a variety of tenants including Goodyear Tires, the Durant Motor Company and Roto-Broil, an electric kitchen appliance that debuted in the 1950s. The dark red brick building, enhanced by white terra cotta ornamentation throughout the façade, features a series of iconic balconies that serve as a “fire tower” and means of egress in case of emergency.
38-27 30th Street
c. 1951; conversion: Max Gordon, 1991
Originally a parachute harness factory, the home of the Fisher Landau Center for Art is an unassuming three-story concrete building. The austere white façade features minimalistic ornamentation, including geometric crosses at the top of each pier and a stylized pediment over the entrance. Emily Fisher Landau, a Manhattan native who married into a prominent real estate family, began purchasing art in the 1960s, accumulating a collection of over 1,500 paintings, photographs and sculptures. Needing a large space to house her collection, Landau purchased the 25,000-square-foot factory in 1989 and opened it to the public two years later as the Fisher Landau Center for Art. Although architect Max Gordon transformed the industrial space into museum galleries and a library, the open plan and flared concrete columns remain as a testament to the building’s past.
29-27 Queens Plaza North
Morrell Smith
1925-27
NYC IL
Colloquially known as the “Long Island City Clock Tower,” this neo-Gothic style building was designated as a New York City Individual Landmark in 2015, but it is a landmark in every sense of the word. Standing at 14 stories tall, the structure was Queens’ tallest until the construction of the Citigroup building at One Court Square in 1990. Its location in one of the borough’s busiest transportation hubs has made the building a prominent fixture. Queensboro Bridge Plaza (now Queens Plaza) became an important commercial center after the 1909 completion of the Queensboro Bridge and the construction of numerous elevated transit lines that converged here. The Manhattan Company, founded by Aaron Burr in 1799 and a precursor to J. P. Morgan Chase & Co., merged with the Bank of Long Island in 1920, and established 40 branches in Queens over the next decade. This building, located in the heart of the borough, would be a showpiece for the company. Its grand, 14-foot diameter, four-faced clock has provided subway riders with a time check on their commute to work for roughly 90 years. The clock tower itself occupies the top three stories of the building. When it opened in 1927, the Bank of the Manhattan Company occupied the basement, ground floor and mezzanine, and the rest of the building was rented as office space. The banking hall’s interior, finished in marble with brass hardware throughout, remains largely intact, though covered in gypsum wallboard. The exterior is clad in buff brick with limestone trim, and its verticality is emphasized by bands of contrasting brick that draw the eye to the highly ornate clock tower. In addition to the clock faces, this section features reliefs of the god Oceanus, a symbol of the bank, and monograms of the bank’s initials, as well as a crenellated roofline. The Bank of the Manhattan Company Building was designated a NYC Individual Landmark in 2015.
1929
29-28 41st Avenue is an eleven-story Art Deco commercial building, built in 1929 and converted to open-plan apartments in 2013. Mimicking the contemporary skyscrapers being built across the East River in Midtown Manhattan, this office building possesses a strong sense of symmetry and verticality, culminating in a crowning central “tower.” Enhancing the otherwise austere applied brick façade are stylized floral motifs on the belt course above the second story and at the tops of the piers. Originally known as the Chatham & Phenix Building, named after the now-defunct bank based in New York City, the tower was touted as the largest office building in Queens upon its completion. In addition to the bank, tenants included law firms and real estate companies, as well as the local branch of the World War II Rationing Board. At the time of its completion, 29-28 41st Avenue was one of many financial buildings that opened in Queens Plaza, which capitalized on the area’s excellent transit connections and the borough’s explosive growth.
28-11 Queens Plaza North
1921 |
This nine-story Italianate building flanking Queens Plaza houses the New York City Department of Education and the New York City Department of Transportation, including the Bureau of Traffic Operations and its Traffic Management Center, which controls all of the city’s traffic lights. The building’s façade consists of a four-story limestone base topped by five floors of unadorned brown brick, enlivened by arched windows on the central seven bays at the eighth story and crowned by a dentilled cornice with brick corbelling. The empty steel framework sitting on the rooftop survives as a reminder of the large neon signs that once crowned this building.
