Queens is definitely off the radar for the tourist or Manhattanite. Yet, for a real slice of New York life, this is the authentic NYC, where 46% of the population is foreign-born. I had heard of Jackson Heights for years, but yesterday I traveled there for the first time with a friend, also a long-time New York resident (Brooklyn) who had never been there. We were both astounded and are still reeling from the experience. Keep in mind, this is coming from New Yorkers who live in one of the most diverse cities in the U.S. We have Chinatown and Little Italy. But Jackson Heights is a whole other world. I have never seen such a ethnically and culturally varied neighborhood – it has been called a “utopia of diversity.”

From the New York Times: “In the 2000 census report, fewer than 20 percent of the households reported that English was the only language spoken at home. More than half also speak Spanish. And Arabic, Chinese, French (including Cajun and Creole), Greek, Hindi, Korean, Polish, Russian, Urdu, and Yiddish were among the more than 30 languages tallied.”

The neighborhood, much of it an historic district, is also unique, with its prewar buildings with huge private gardens. This photo was taken on 74th Street’s “Little India.” I will do a future post on our dining and shopping experience there…

Of all the small alleys and courtyards in Manhattan, Milligan Place can perhaps be most easily missed, with its small gateway sandwiched between two buildings on 6th Avenue near 10th Street in the Village. The four buildings in this cul-de-sac were built in 1852 as second-class boarding houses for waiters (primarily Basque) working at the nearby Brevoort House hotel. The land was purchased from the large Peter Warren estate in 1799 by Samuel Milligan, who built a home here. After his death in 1852, the house was replaced by the four row houses which we now find here.

Originally, Milligan Place was entered from Skinner Road (later named Christopher Street). In time, of course, these types of enclaves caught the fancy of the bohemian artists and later became gentrified. The cofounder of the Provincetown Players, George Cram Cook, and his wife, playwright Susan Glaspell, lived here from 1913-1917. Eugene O’Neill lived here as well. In 1963, an attempt to tear the buildings down (and those in nearby Patchin Place) was thwarted by a community group led by Ed Koch. Milligan Place is not so much charming for its architecture but rather for the peaceful oasis in the city it represents and that passersby may long for…

This is 9th Street between 8th Avenue and Prospect Park in the Park Slope neighborhood of Brooklyn. Park Slope is much too large a topic to do any justice to in one posting, so click here for a Wikipedia article.

Park Slope, along with Brooklyn Heights, is one of the premier residential neighborhoods in Brooklyn/NYC. The row houses here, as well as in other neighborhoods of New York, are frequently referred to as brownstones. This term is frequently used incorrectly – Park Slope has many buildings with elements of Romanesque and Beaux Arts architecture. This block of 9th Street is a good example, with a magnificent stretch of white limestone row houses from the early 1900s. These long rows of houses on wide tree-lined streets is fairly typical of many of the finer blocks in central Park Slope.

Although the Slope has seen a period of decline, even with areas of widespread blight and abandonment with vacant buildings and lots, those days are long gone. Park Slope has been thoroughly gentrified – pioneers need not apply…

This special clapboard residence at 17 Grove Street in the West Village was built in 1822 by William Hyde, a prosperous window-sash maker. This was the year that also saw an outbreak of yellow fever, which led many New Yorkers to find refuge in the rural area of Greenwich Village.

What is unique here is that this dwelling is a wood frame structure – one of the few and the largest remaining intact wood frame buildings in the Village. Construction of wood-frame buildings was banned in the city in 1866 for fire prevention. In 1833, Hyde added a workshop out back – note the small building to the left of the main building (separated by a small courtyard) in the photo. This eventually became a single-family residence. A third floor was added to the main home in 1870.

The building has since served many functions – even as a brothel during the Civil War. Of course the building has changed hands over the years. In 1987 both properties were sold for $1.1 million and meticulously restored. I love passing this corner – the bucolic setting and clapboard exterior really transports me in time and space …

The Lockwood de Forest house, at 7 East 10th Street, has to be one of the most unusual houses in NYC. Click here for more photos.

Lockwood de Forest had interests in art and architecture – he studied with Frederic Church and with Louis Tiffany in 1879, and he co-founded Associated Artists, a very influential decorating company of the 19th century. He had this house built in 1887 – a relatively plain structure. It is the intricately carved teak exterior elements (provided by a woodworking factory he owned in Ahmedabad, India) that are so striking to everyone who passes by it – the doorways, cornice, and, most noticeably, the 2nd floor projecting oriel window with its intricate filigree and relief carvings of birds, flowers, and many other details. The interior had large expanses of teak paneling, Indian furniture, and a brass ceiling on the 2nd floor. In 1900, a writer for House Beautiful described it as “The Most Beautiful Indian House in America.”

An interesting note: De Forest met Rudyard Kipling in India – Kipling stayed at 7 East 10th on at least one occasion. In 1922, the house was sold, and much of the interior was sold at auction. The house was purchased in 1994 by NYU for $2.5 million and was converted to the Edgar M. Bronfman Center for Jewish Student Life. Efforts have been made to preserve the exterior and remaining interior details…

On one of the most picturesque corners in the city, where Commerce Street meets Barrow Street, are a matching pair of buildings: 39 and 41 Commerce Street. Click here for 2nd photo. Folklore has it that these two buildings were built by a sea captain for his two feuding daughters. In fact, they were built in 1832 as an investment by Peter Huyler, a milkman from Hackensack, New Jersey. A full third story under mansard roofs were added in 1873. What’s unusual is that this pair of buildings shares a very large garden (the entrance doorways are through the garden). One must remember, however, that at the time these were built, Greenwich Village was still a suburb of the city and that most of the houses in the area had small adjacent plots – land did not have quite the premium that it has today.

The origin of the street name is not clear, but there was never that much commerce – records show only a brewery, woodshop, and factory. Today there is the Cherry Lane Theatre, a restaurant and a bar. By the turn of the century, the area was already home to bohemians, artists, and writers. So, for those of us who bemoan having missed the boat regarding real estate opportunity, rest assured – the boat left quite some time ago…