Construction continues to grow in Forest Hills and throughout Queens.
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Housing Needs Change With The Times
By Michael Rehak
Housing in Queens has reached an all-time premium and the demand is a far cry from the days of colonial settlers, who once sprawled out across the countryside to make their living.
Today, as rampant overdevelopment continues to reshape the borough, the thousands of acres of farmland Queens once held dear have been transformed into high rise buildings, industrial sectors, large scale transit hubs and multi-family housing that all attempt to house today’s ever growing population.
All it takes is a set of eyes to get a feel for what the borough’s housing situation is now, but the role of housing and how it started on the farm and expanded to the high rise apartment building is something that many Queens residents might have forgotten.
Doorway To The Past
Few landmarked homes in Queens tell the story of what it was once like before the Revolutionary War and the ones that do exist certainly maintain the borough’s past glory.
For instance, the John Bowne house, located at 37th Avenue and Bowne Street in downtown Flushing is still is intact, the same way other homes might have looked in 1661, but the area around it might leave Bowne himself feeling like a complete tourist if he were alive today.
Some Jackson Heights apartments surround interior plazas. Tribune Photo by Ira Cohen |
Surrounded by large apartment buildings and just steps away from bustling Main Street, the Bowne house is one of the few remnants of a time and place that gained national prominence, but has seen its surroundings succumb to a population boom and a coinciding housing demand.
The exact Queens’ population at the time was not recorded until more than 100 years after Bowne’s took up the fight for religious freedom in Flushing. In 1790, Queens was figured to have just more than 5,000 – a far cry from today’s numbers, which hover around 2.2 million. It is obvious that even in the late 18th century, elbowroom certainly wasn’t the issue it is today.
The First Push
Then in 1839, Astoria became the first village to be founded since the 1600s. Soon after, Queens’ northeast seaboard became a popular residential community and in the 1850s we first saw developers purchasing what was then Western Queens’ farmlands. They converted areas of Maspeth, Corona, Winfield and Long Island City into village style lots. In the early 1900s, such development groups as Rickert Finley in northern Flushing, the Gross-Morton Corporation of Jamaica in Bayside and many others, also saw the promise that Queens was soon becoming.
In the 1920s, the total Queens population saw a growth rate of 130 percent and for the first time ever; it broke the one million mark. This was all due to expanded roadways, subway and railroad service and roadway transportation links to the outer boroughs.
Post-War Development
As the United States entered World War II Queens was in the middle of hosting a World’s Fair. People from across the country and across the world saw what the borough had to offer.
At the same time, many in military service were calling Queens their temporary homes. They liked it so much, many stayed when the war ended.
Growth surged once again and now the first garden apartments began to line the blocks in Western Queens while street after street became lined with attached houses that stretched for blocks across the entire borough.
Higher education institutions also began to emerge. Such colleges as St. John’s University and Queensborough Community College reshaped golf courses into learning centers and both Queens and York Colleges opened its doors in the 1950s and 1960s, brining higher education t the growing population.
Building Up
In the 1950s, the first high rises to hit Queens were the 2,300-unit Electchester houses. Built for the Local 3 electrician’s union, the houses served as a model of construction that would soon whip its way through Forest Hills, Kew Gardens, Jackson Heights, Briarwood and South Flushing.
Police talk to neighbors outside an illegally converted house where three were killed in a fire. |
In Jackson Heights, the six-story apartment buildings lined the major avenues and provided affordable housing built around community gardens and interior plazas.
By 1971, the tallest towers yet to hit Queens came when North Shore Towers, 32 stories tall, were erected on 102 acres in Glen Oaks.
Changing Shape
A relaxed restriction on Third World countries’ immigration laws was enacted by Congress in 1968, which spurred groups from South and Central America, Asia and the Caribbean to make their way into Queens. During this time, the borough became known as the most diverse county in the world.
As immigrant groups began to settle in neighborhoods where they could feel closer to home, many groups stuck together and soon evolved such places as downtown Flushing, Jackson Heights, Jamaica and Corona into replicas of their roots.
Now, as the housing demand has reached its highest point, the struggle for communities to retain the character they had 50 years ago continues to be fought between developers, a demanding market and long-time residents who want their neighborhoods preserved.
As the fight wages on, rezoning initiatives continue to be introduced. Some hope that Queens’ entire landscape will soon be preserved, allowing growth only in parts that can handle increased density, while others are downgraded to deter rampant overdevelopment.
Tight building controls, the ballooning cost of property and the growing population have led to illegal conversions of single and double family homes into tenement-style structures where two dozen people live in a two-family house. These illegal structures are often poorly and dangerously upgraded, leading to hazardous living conditions that result in losses of life.
Under the impression that “God isn’t creating any more land,” Queens residents now find their living space quickly shrinking. The borough’s history, and the tenacity of its residents, has proven that changes are inevitable.
