Sunnyside Gardens Designated as NYC's Newest Historic District
This morning the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) voted to designate Sunnyside Gardens as the seventh and newest Historic District in the borough of Queens, bringing the total number of districts citywide to 88. Sunnyside Gardens, one of the most significant planned residential communities in New York City, is internationally recognized among planners and urbanists for its low-rise, low-density quality housing. The Historic Districts Council has been working with residents in the neighborhood since 2003 to gain this designation. “It’s wonderful to be able to add Sunnyside Gardens to the list of protected landmarks in Queens as the borough’s seventh historic district,” stated Paul Graziano, president of HDC. “Congratulations to the neighbors who worked so hard to get this designation passed and we look forward to its support from the City Planning Commission and City Council.”
Constructed between 1924 and 1928 on barren land in western Queens, the new historic district consists of a series of nine “courts” or rows of townhouses and nine small apartment buildings (four to six stories tall), built on all or part of 16 blocks, a total of 624 buildings. The district also includes the Phipps Garden Apartment buildings (two courtyard apartment buildings constructed in 1932 and 1935) and Sunnyside Park, one of only two private parks in New York City.
This huge complex is one of the most significant planned residential communities in New York City and has achieved international recognition for its low-rise, low density housing arranged around landscaped open courtyards. Built by the City Housing Corporation following the tenets of the Regional Plan Association of America, the development’s architects Clarence Stein, Henry Wright and Frederick Ackerman set to work creating a neighborhood that would uphold the ideal of “health, open space, greenery, and idyllic living for all.” This enlightened ethic has had lasting effects, as Sunnyside Gardens continues – like many of the city’s historic districts – to be home to a diverse and dedicated community of residents and homeowners.
The designers, working within the preordained street grid, built rows of simplified Colonial Revival or Art Deco style homes near the perimeter of each block allowing for central, open courtyards. The buildings only covered 28% of the land leaving an unprecedented amount of open space in a working-class, city neighborhood. Beyond promoting physical health, these shared garden spaces were to foster human interaction, creating a sense of neighborhood cohesiveness seemingly lost in other parts of modern life. In addition to the buildings, many elements of the original landscape, including large street trees and some courtyard plantings are still extant.
The concepts developed at Sunnyside Gardens were improved and expanded at subsequent developments at Radburn, NJ and Chatham Village in Pittsburgh, as well as the greenbelt towns developed by the WPA. In addition to their physical design, the development was deliberately priced to make the buildings more available to low-income families while still providing high quality homes . Other efforts of the RPAA included the creation of new concepts to guide urban growth that included open space preservation. The ideas of this group led to new state and national planning and housing policies and laws that encouraged greater equity in housing production, location and design.
For more information, see http://www.hdc.org/neighborhoodatrisksunnyside.htm