NEW YORK (AP) — A housing development in Queens constructed for middle-class families during a housing shortage after World War I was nominated Tuesday for landmark status by the city's Landmarks Preservation Commission.
Sunnyside Gardens has 624 residential buildings and would be the borough's largest historic district, the commission said.
It was built on 16 blocks between 1924 and 1928. The low-rise collection of brick buildings is arranged around 12 courtyards, and was designed by Henry Wright and Clarence Stein, an architect who helped design Temple Emanu-El and St. Bartholomew's Church in Manhattan.
When it was completed, Sunnyside Gardens provided apartments, single and multifamily houses for purchase or rent for more than 1,200 families, as well six acres of common gardens and a park. The district also includes the Phipps Garden Apartment buildings, two courtyard apartment buildings constructed between 1931 and 1935.
Many of Sunnyside's original residents included mechanics, chauffeurs, municipal employees, teachers, writers and artists, including Perry Como, trumpeter Bix Beiderbecke, Judy Holliday and painter Raphael Soyer.
The board's recommendations must still be approved by city planners and the City Council.
After Sunnyside Gardens, Douglaston would be the borough's largest historic district, created in 1997 with 600 homes, the commission said. The Jackson Heights district, designated as a landmark in 1993 with 538 structures, is the third largest.
Carl may be onto something: Bix is mentioned as only one of three performing artists, next to the high-recognition names of Perry Como and Judy Holliday.