Monday, July 28, 2014

Sad sight in Maspeth

An old German lady dies, her heirs sell her meticulously maintained house and grounds. I think you know what's coming...
Yep, the whole yard was destroyed.
This one naturally comes with a Hummer and...
lots of stucco.

47 comments:

Anonymous said...

Omg.... that looks disgusting.... those people should be ashamed of themselves for the way they are maintaining that yard

Anonymous said...

The redone house dose not look too bad but the lost yard with all the beautiful greenery taken away is sad.
Hey someone had the bucks and it's their right to do what they want as long as no laws were broken.

We're Queens - We Can't Have Nice Things said...

This is a tragedy.

But at least they didn't put up a low-class 6' white plastic fence at the property line like the Asians all do in Flushing!

Who thinks this cheap stucco crap looks good? Eastern Europeans?

Too bad no one want to build Tudors! Those skills have been lost - now we just see cheap and fast!

Low-class and ugly - welcome to Queens!

How dare they destroy a beautiful yard!

Anonymous said...

Who thinks this looks good? Not Eastern Europeans. Italians.

Anonymous said...

The german lady didnt die idiots. You're all bitching about the backyard the house isn't even done yet, wait til the spring and you'll all say it's the nicest backyard you've ever seen, for now keep talking all the shit you want about an unfinished house - the owner (btw why don't you put up pictures of your houses)

Anonymous said...

Would you please examine the photos?
The property is still being worked on and the yard contains building materials and a Porta-potty.

Perhaps you should give the new owner a chance to complete construction before attacking.

What is better, a new owner doing work on the property or a builder knocking down the house and putting up some "Fedders" POS?

Queens Crapper said...

ACRIS records indicate that the German lady's estate sold the property to the new owner. What is going to look better than what was there? Paving stones?

Anonymous said...

What is he constructing without permits?

Unknown said...

The same thing happened to my mom's home in Elmhurst. It is a corner property, and the front, side, and back gardens were all paved over to make parking spaces. Neighbors complained, and now only 4 cars are allowed. But it went from being a bit of green heaven to more grey hell.

Anonymous said...

It's actually a zoning violation to pave over your entire yard as well as a burden on the sewer system, so I hope that's not what's being done here. A yard that size would create a lot of runoff.

Anonymous said...

Stucco? and quoins? my eyes hurt.

Anonymous said...

crapper:
We may not like the architectural style of the new owner but it is their property. I don't think the side yard (There doesn't appear to be a rear yard) will be paved for a personal parking lot. The rear stone wall is too expensive for that.

Perhaps you might publish some pics when the construction is complete and then we can all play Ada Louise Huxtable.

Anonymous said...

Old world craftsmanship?

Anonymous said...

It's messed up about them paving over the yard and the stucco is not attractive looking but to be fair I used to walk by that house on my way to work and it was not meticulously maintained. Their was huge cracks on the sides of the building and loose bricks. It needed to be redone. Could have been better but it needed it.

Joe Moretti said...

And this is what happens when we have poor, useless, corrupt leaders and questionable city agencies. A free-for-all in Queens, do whatever the hell you want.



Anonymous said...

I know the family that used to own the house. They were a very well known family in the neighborhood.
The old German lady passed away a few years ago. The house was barely maintained afterwards. Constant flooding, repairs, maintenance was too much for them. So the family sold it, to a very rich Italian family. It was such a beautiful home, and no one in the neighborhood had such a beautiful backyard

Anonymous said...

NYC government is doing everything it can to hollow out communities to make them ripe for development that no one wants.

We need to start to organize city-wide to define this problem, bring it before the public, and to fight back.

Anonymous said...

illegal curb cut.

~fin

Anonymous said...

Has anyone ever looked at the rest of the street?
It's a freakin' disaster.
Ugly multiple family buildings, boats and cars parked in front yards, garbage, etc.
This place wasn't Utopia.

Anonymous said...

If I am not mistaken this is the former Schwalbach house.

It was built by the owner of Schwalbach Lumber which was on 60th lane off of Eliot Avenue.

Anonymous said...

Why does it matter what the rest of the block looks like or how the property came into the possession of the current owner? The point is that yet more of the "old Maspeth" has been destroyed. The town used to be full of large yards like this one with lots of shade trees and beautiful lawns and gardens. Now every inch either has concrete or a building on it. Hell, across the street from me was an old farm house with barns in the back and a rolling lawn, and now there are 3 Fedders shitboxes there. Which is eventually what will happen to this property because a wide side lot like that is developer gold.

Anonymous said...

Who thinks this looks good? Not Eastern Europeans. Italians.

-------------------

Italians yes, but also Eastern Europeans. The Polish and Slavs that have started moving into Glendale and Ridgewood LOVE stucco and chrome railings.

Anonymous said...

I would have done the same thing...im not going to be waiting 1hr+ for a parking spot when I get home when theres a perfectly good yard I could use.

Anonymous said...

I don't think it looks that bad at all. It could be much worse. I miss tge many big yards thst once existed in Maspeth, but at leadt it's not an 8 family condo like the one that replaced the old Gress Mansion (christmas tree place) on Gand and Flushing.

Anonymous said...

Or the couple that bought my last house (for themselves they told me) on 65th in Winfield and somehow ( I still wonder how) turned the place into a 3 family home.

Anonymous said...

There's a garage under the house, no need to rip up 2 yards. I'm sure we'll see a subdivision in the near future, either by this owner or a subsequent one.

Anonymous said...

Take a look at the future slums that were built across the street and down the block from this house.

Anonymous said...

All that greenery gone means there's nothing to absorb rainwater -- then people wonder why there's so much flooding. Idiots!

Tania said...

For what it's worth, I live directly behind this house (our yards are adjacent) and the new owner has been nothing but neighborly. He's a family man with a neighborhood business who just wants the best for his wife and kids. I respect that and appreciate it a whole lot more than I would some faceless developer who could have come in and knocked the place down completely and built a character-less, multidwelling building. If you don't stucco, don't put it on your own home - to each his own. The owner shared his plans for the yard with me and you can bet it will be gorgeous once it's finished. Rome wasn't built in a day though, so please try to be fair, and reserve judgment.

Queens Crapper said...

I'm more than willing to do a followup once the yard is complete, but having passed it dozens of times in its previous carnation and then seeing it in this condition, it was like a kick in the stomach. It takes awhile for trees to mature to the point where they were before he cut them down.

Anonymous said...

Why do the Italians pave over anything natural like grass or gardens. Then they grow there plants in pots. We need open lawn and gardens to help when it rains. We need less Italians cementing everything.

Anonymous said...

We need less Italians cementing everything.

Bullshit. We need more politicians going after quality of life issues.

georgetheatheist said...

So, what's a good alternative to stucco? Faux brick?

Anonymous said...

Why would a "wealthy Italian family" want to live on a dumpy street in Maspeth? Sounds like a case of trying to be a big fish in a small pond. New Money. And if that really was the owner making a comment near the top of the thread, not well educated.

Anonymous said...

Bentley parked in the driveway. All very humble, right?

The real brick, combined with that beautiful yard, certainly made the Schwalbachs' the nicest home in the 11378. The new exterior is nothing but an eyesore, whatever they do with the yard.

I also live behind this property, over on 60 Road. It is a sad state of affairs on 60 Drive.

Anonymous said...

This vehicle is lacking a front plate. Is it registered out of state?

Anonymous said...

I've met the owner and he is one of the most humble men I've met. He came over introduced himself and even showed me the plans for his house and backyard. He's a local business owner and even though he's got money and nice cars it doesn't get to his head. Give the guy a chance and let them finish their construction before we bash the guy.

Anonymous said...

he has a white hard top bentley, not a convertible, I have no idea who's bentley you stalked with Google maps

Anonymous said...

So there just happened to be a another Bentley parked in front of this chap's former address, but it wasn't his? ROFLMFAO!!!!

Anonymous said...

looks like he is now putting up a new building

Anonymous said...

maybe a 6 famaly

Anonymous said...

Sure enough. All the bullshit comments about what a great guy he is, how he's making his yard look beautiful, etc. and they were all lies.

PROPOSED HORIZONTAL ENLARGEMENT TO EXIST (2) STORY & ATTIC RESIDENTIAL BUILDING.

He's building a house on steroids.

Front Yard (ft.): 5
Rear Yard (ft.): 39
Rear Yard Equivalent (ft.): 0
Side Yard 1 (ft.): 6
Side Yard 2 (ft.): 3

No more large side yard. This, I love:

No. of parking spaces: 192

Really?

Anonymous said...

The phone number on that application traces to the owner of one of those auto body shops along Flushing Ave that parks its junk cars in the street. Yes, these are upstanding people.

Anonymous said...

Parking Area (sq.ft.):
Existing: 686
Proposed: 2,472
There goes any chance that there will be a lawn. Holy crap.

Anonymous said...

He shouldn't be doing any construction yet, the plans weren't approved, just sent to plan examiner.

Anonymous said...

Plywood nice fance

Anonymous said...

This jerk is far from a nice guy. Who builts this on this shitty street. He comes here everyday driving a different car, thinks he's Donald trump flexing his money at all the neighbors. Could have built a nicer house considering the slew of expensive cars he has. What a loser