Douglaston Hill
The community of Douglaston Hill, located in Northeast Queens near the head of Little Neck Bay, is celebrating its 150th Anniversary. On October 18 residents and interested visitors toured area homes, viewed displays, and went on nature walks as part of the celebration. Founded as the Village of Marathon in 1853, it encompassed the farm of Jeremiah Lambertson. The map filed at the time, with its large 200 ft. by 200 ft. plots is considered an early Garden Suburb. Substantially developed only after Long Island Railroad access, a tunnel under the East River and city subway systems enabled an easy commute to Manhattan, much of the residential development occurred between the last decades of the 19th century and the first quarter of the 20th century. As such the neighborhood features an intact collection of middle and upper middle class house styles of the period. Listed as the Douglaston Hill Historic District on the National and State Registers in 2000, it is presently the subject of an application for historic Landmarks Preservation Commission. The district encompasses 44 buildings including a small commercial district, the Zion Episcopal Church and churchyard, 34 private residences, and 4-5 multi-family residences designed by Palmer H. Ogden, the designer of the Plaza Hotel in Manhattan.

Northeast Queens

Tony Avella, New York City councilman for the 19th Council District, has taken a bold step toward better planning and more effective preservation in Northeast Queens. He has hired a planning consultant who, in partnership with the Historic Districts Council and the Queens Civic Congress, is studying the communities of College Point, Whitestone, Bayside, North Flushing, Douglaston and Little Neck and will be preparing a recommendations report. The report intends to address rezoning which will protect the present scale and character of neighborhoods, define potential individual landmarks and historic districts for designation, and identify potential open space sites for acquisition, and places with active deed restrictions. This area of Queens has been plagued with teardowns and replacement with multi-family structures due to the inconsistency between the existing zoning and the single family housing stock, a substantial proportion of it built in the late 19th and early 20 th centuries. The Councilman’s goal is to have a comprehensive planning document to guide future land use decisions. Congratulations to a forward thinking political leader!