Friday, February 16, 2007

Grand Crap

The small homes that formerly dotted Grand Avenue in Elmhurst harkened back to a simpler time when less house and more green space was valued. Today, packing as many people into a behemoth structure is what is in vogue. Developers and architects incorporate absolutely no tasteful elements in their building designs; therefore, people's homes now resemble barracks. Actually, many army barracks are better looking than both of the examples presented here.

Van Loon Street and Grand Avenue is an appropriate corner for this grand loony example of Queens Crap. The builder obviously exploited several loopholes in the zoning code to erect this monstrosity. The building contains "community facilities," one of which is already boarded up, and occupies a corner lot and adjacent lots which allow for greater density. Note the firehouse at the extreme right. Scroll to the bottom of this page to see what types of homes were at this site decades ago.

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

The old factory buildings in Long Isaland City have much more architectural style than these....with more windows and light. These monsters are nothing but meat packing plants! Le't see how many rent-paying humans per square foot we can squeeze in per floor! Are these places to raise families?

Anonymous said...

No, these are places to shoe-horn drones for the service industry in Manhattan. The subway stop is only a few blocks away.

No wonder the city cynically sends the immigrants to Queens: we are to be the dormatory for the domestics of the rich.

Thanks Queens leadership. You are doing a great job. Hope you enjoy your summer homes and pensions.

Anonymous said...

Ironic that the first picture on Grand Avenue was Ass* Marge Markeys old office space. Rumor has it that one of her Staff members represented and had a piece of the property being sold so that crap could be built.
Seems like she just sold out to the highest bidder.. all Bad neighbors never look behind on something they just crapped on.
Take the money and run is the motto of the local politicians & their staff.

Anonymous said...

Yes, but this mentality is encouraged throughout the borough.

That is bad enough, but the thing that gets me is that the preservation community in the city through benign neglect of the outer boroughs permits this, if not actually encourages this.

Oh yes, they will tell you, the first line of defense is the local historical groups. Yea, sure, they will put up a good fight - lots of resources there. Rocks and a few spears against the developers' juggernaut.

Just who are we kidding?