From Lost City:...according to this reader, it was recently sold by the old lady who owns it, and the new owners plan to tear it down.
My correspondent is very upset about this, and wishes she could save the structure. Why, you ask? I can understand you asking. But look beyond the awful layers of be-uglifying siding which have coated the house over the years, and recognize the innately handsome frame of the building, which is actually 110 years old. (Surprise!) And then consider how ugly Woodside is in general and how little it can afford to lose yet more of its older edifices.
...I'm just pointing out the kind of hidden-in-plain-sight thing that is being lost every single day in this short-sighted town. Is there any chance—ANY chance—that the home that replaces this one will be a patch of what will be lost?
Gonna go out on a limb here and say NO.
13 comments:
With the exceptions of a new nice blocks on the borders of Sunnyside, Woodside is one of the ugliest towns I have ever seen. It goes without saying that it befouled by a mish-mash of ghastly incoherent modern crap, but alas, even most the older buildings are soul-crushingly ugly as well.
The only thing special I see in that picture is the porch, the rest of the house looks like generic 100 year old crap.
I would feel sorry for any urban planner tasked with finding a coherent vision for Woodside, but that town is so far gone I doubt they would ever even bother.
^^ meant to say "with the exception of a FEW nice blocks..." in the post above.
>>>I would feel sorry for any urban planner tasked with finding a coherent vision for Woodside<<<
Why does an urban planner need to find acoherent vision?
That's what the south shore of Staten Island or Georgetown in Brooklyn look like: block after block that look precisely the same.
www.forgotten-ny.com
Unfortunately some moron builder will jam a two sizes too big brick box house with fedders air conditioner boxes out every window, a driveway that is so small that not even the smallest car can fit, and not even one inch of grass or green space.
Yes, I agree about Woodside being ugly, but it's a step above Elmhurst and Corona.
I like 68th St, between Queens Blvd
and 43rd Ave, with those tall trees
on the block.
To the poster above:
Well, I have not been in Elmhurst or Corona, but I have a hard time believing they are any uglier than Woodside.
Elmhurst and Corona are by far uglier than Woodside.
Woodside is still quiant.
this is a result of the non-exististant preservation in queens - sure a few little enclaves are protected but as the old saw states, those that know aint talken and those that don't .... get developed.
What a lovely house. What a shame that we are losing such beautiful what should be historic homes. I wish I had the money to buy it.
The previous poster has it right. Few people buy these properties and restore them. They are illegally converted by absentee owners into mini-apartment buildings where 20 to 30 people live and sometimes die. OR they get converted into the square footage maximizing fedder specials so common to Queens.
The blessing of Woodside with its access to the #7, LIRR, the BQE, and LGA, is also a curse because its apartments command the highest rents in Queens.
I bet that this house had wood lintels and shutters, and no generic siding above its porch. The homeowners gave up on the community over time, by either altering the homes cheaply, or selling it to another party who didn't value the once rich character of Woodside. Nevertheless, there are so few of these homes standing, that ALL merit a restoration. Look beyond siding, and see the beauty that is underneath, and restore your property. Never sell to "finish it by Thursday" developers of today. Stand up for your neighborhood as whole, and make a difference. Differences do add up. Consider contacting HGTV's Curb Appeal.
All of this is easy to say when it's not your $. Why don't one of you man up and offer to buy the place, then spend your $ restoring it?
People have become lazy and have no respect or pride.
I couldn't get a contractor to redo a flagstone walkway and steps.
They all wanted to sell me on the cheap and easy 2 hour job of slap down gravel mix at $3800.
Every dam resposne to my question "do you use American labor I don't want no illegals here" was:
1-"don't worry all our workers have papers OR
2-"that's none of your GD business sir get somebody else"
I had to research it and do it myself, it was 4 days of back breaking work but worth it.
6 bags of hydraulic concrete and a bag of gray coloring dust $160
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