Addisleigh Park has been designated!
~Designation
Report~ ~Historic
District Map~
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relases about Addisleigh Park click
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The Addisleigh Park historic district
is a suburban-type enclave in southeast Queens with a rich and
distinctive history. The neighborhood of approximately 650 homes
lies in a rough triangle between Linden Boulevard on the south,
the tracks of the Long Island Rail Road on the east, Sayres
Avenue on the north and Marne Place on the west. (See map HERE)
Typical of the era, the area possesses fine examples of English
Tudor-style and neo-Colonial Revival houses, many of which are
quite sizable.
Addisleigh Park was largely developed
in the 1930’s as part of the pre-World War II building
boom that shaped large swaths of eastern Queens. Architecturally,
the buildings are remarkably intact with few examples of inappropriate
alterations or teardowns. Original materials such as stucco,
wood siding and stone are predominant.
Built when race-restricted covenants
dictated the segregation of the city’s neighborhoods,
Addisleigh Park eventually transformed from an exclusively white
neighborhood into one of New York City’s premier African-American
enclaves by the early 1950’s. Lured by the promise of
seclusion, quietude, space and beauty, many of the newcomers
were world-famous. The area would eventually become home to
notables such as Count Basie, Lena Horne, Ella Fitzgerald, Illinois
Jacquet, Jackie Robinson, James Brown, Joe Louis, Milt Hinton,
Roy Campanella, Percy Sutton, Cootie Williams and many others.
In 2007, the Historic Districts
Council, in partnership with the Addisleigh Park Civic Organization,
launched a project to document the architectural and social
significance of Addisleigh Park. The project includes a survey
of the core area of architectural significance, brief summaries
on each property, documentation of some of Addisleigh Park’s
most prominent residents, interviews with longtime members of
the community, and an informational brochure detailing HDC’s
findings.
-Adapted from Addisleigh Park Statement of Significance
by Jane Cowan
Addisleigh Park Neighrborhood
Survey - 1,
2, 3,
4, 5.
6
This project is supported in part by Preserve
New York, a grant program of the Preservation
League of New York State and the New
York State Council on the Arts (NYSCA), and from the
National
Trust for Historic Preservation’s Northeast Office.
