Morrell House

The development boom started in the 1980's as the horrible city economy began its recovery. One of the oldest houses in the borough was among the first victims. Here we have the Morrell house. The Morrell family were original settlers of Newtown.
Their house sat along a colonial road in Middle Village from 1719 until 1986, when a greedy developer, over protests of the town, demolished it in order to turn it into Queens crap. The city's Landmarks Preservation Commission helped by not designating this classic example of 18th century saltbox design.

The LPC's disdain for Queens is well-documented. There are just over 50 landmarks in Queens and more than 500 in Manhattan. If this house had been in Manhattan, it would have been landmarked immediately upon passage of the Landmarks Law in 1965. But, alas, it sat in a borough of working class people and immigrants who shouldn't celebrate their past or their architecture, so instead LPC said, "let them eat cake."

Flushing Frightfest

Submitted by K.W.:
42-18 155 Street in Flushing is the very model of a modern Queens barracks.
--Exposed water meters in front? Check.
(though the generally ubiquitous Fedders or Friedrich air conditioners are absent.)
--Bland yellow brick? Check.
--Metallic doors? Check.
--Absence of grass in front? Check.
--SUV parked in front? Check.
Generally, if there are old-growth trees in front of a modern Queens barracks, the trees will be cut down during or before construction. The new Queens homeowner does not want vegetation obscuring neighbors' view of their fine new building. Any grass in front of the building there previously will be cemented over, because the SUV has to go there. Garages are no longer built in back of the barracks; vehicles either go in a basement garage or on a flat patch of concrete in front. This is the future of Queens. Unless something is done.

A "Yikes!" from the Queens Gold Coast

Submitted by P.D.G. representin' the other side of Queens:

"This house, currently in the process of being badly altered, is in the Weeks Woodlands neighborhood of Bayside. Until a decade ago, this area next to Little Neck Bay was chock-a-block with well-appointed houses and mansions, mostly built between 1890 and 1930 for the major stars of Vaudeville. The house shown above was a lovely late 1920s Tudor, located on 215th Street just south of 29th Avenue. Notice the totally inappropriate roofline that is being constructed - a multi-hipped roof - and has destroyed the Tudor-style gables that are the signature of this type of house. It speaks volumes of the lack of understanding of most "architects" when it comes to building form, style and substance. Picture taken in mid-November 2006."

Flushing Avenue - an appropriate name!

Ladies and gentlemen, it's our Sunday special. And we do have quite a doozy for ya...
Flushing Avenue was an old colonial road that linked Maspeth to the piers in Brooklyn. In the 19th and 20th centuries, it became a 4-mile industrial strip. Most of the properties along it were one story high. However, all along it today, especially in Bushwick, ridiculously monstrous multi-unit buildings are sprouting up like stinkweeds. And speaking of stink - this must be one of the most polluted roadways in the whole city. Truck traffic is extremely heavy along its entire length. At the eastern terminus of the street, in Maspeth, are these. Not only are these things ugly, but they mushroomed out of something that wasn't even residential previously. These were manufacturing or auto repair properties along Flushing Avenue. Replaced with 30 units of Friedrich-inspired barracks (not counting the basements that are sure to be converted into illegal apartments that the city will ignore). A road named Flushing Avenue seems an appropriate venue for this type of crap. It would be nice if the city protected manufacturing interests the way they protect developers' rights. But, preparing for the expected influx of 1 million people by 2020 seems more of a priority for the Bloomberg administration. Hey Beantown boy: How many people are we going to lose because they have nowhere to work?

Elmhurst Half-House

Hey, how about this one? It's in Elmhurst on 91st Street. These developers never cease to amaze. This time they demolished half of a house and built an ugly monstrosity in its place, right next to the remaining half! The city recently stated that 27% of space in NYC is occupied by one and two family homes. Oh, the horror! The Departments of Buildings and City Planning are working overtime to make sure that as many people as possible are squeezed into every available space in Queens and that developers have free reign in the borough.

Welcome to Queens Crap!

Welcome, everyone, to the Queens Crap blog. Here we will examine architecture that is just what the title says - crap in the borough of Queens. This area used to be filled with farms, pastures, forests and beautiful homes. Now...well you will see for yourself. Surely, our Queens forefathers are rolling over in their graves!

Here's a great example to kick off this site with: The Huang house on Mazeau Street in Maspeth. This particular street is lined with 19th century homes...and then there's this. Read the full story about it here: Queens Chronicle. Looks like the city isn't doing much about developers like this who are destroying Queens.

Everyone is welcome to make submissions to this blog. Please send material to queens_crap@yahoo.com.