Flushing Meadows-Corona Park

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.

Cultural Landmarks, Citywide

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.

Elmhurst, Queens

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.

Houses of the Wedge

84-37 113^th Street c. 1900
84-11 112^th 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 84-37 113^th 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 84-11 112^th Street.

85th Avenue and 117th 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 85^th Avenue is likely the only surviving example. At least two other houses in the area were built by the early 1890s, at 116-12 85^th Avenue and 85-14 117^th 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 85^th Avenue and 84-48 118^th Street, both constructed around 1900 by local architect-builders Wade & Cullingford.

Church of the Resurrection

85-09 118^th 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.

Richmond Hill Republican Club

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.

Queens Public Library, Richmond Hill Branch

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.

RKO Keith’s Theatre

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.

The Richmond

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 20^th 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.