Douglaston Hill Historic District, Douglaston Hill, Queens, New York City, New York, United States

About the district:

The Douglaston Hill Historic District consists of thirty-one wood frame houses constructed largely between 1890 and 1930. Well-preserved turn-of-the-century residential suburbs of free-standing wood-frame houses were once relatively common in New York City, but are now becoming increasingly rare due to newer development or inappropriate alterations. The majority of the houses were designed using either the Queen Anne, neo-Colonial, or Arts & Crafts styles, making the district visually coherent.

Douglaston Hill was laid out as a suburban development in 1853 in anticipation of the arrival of the Flushing & Northside Railroad.

Development proceeded slowly until the 1890s, when a small group of families acting as realtors, developers and home owners shaped the community. William J. and Josephine Hamilton, Denis and Ellen O’Leary, and several members of the Stuart family were among the first to build in the area and were all prominent residents. William Hamilton, described as the Awell-known builder of Douglaston, developed several lots. Denis O’Leary was a prominent attorney and politician who was active in civic affairs within and outside of Douglaston Hill, serving as an Assistant Corporation Counsel for New York City, Public Works Commissioner, U. S. Congressman and as a founding officer of the Douglaston Hose Company No. 1. The Stuarts were involved in different aspects of the building trades, including architect, contractor, carpenter, and painter.

Most of the houses in Douglaston Hill combine stylistic elements from architectural styles popular from 1890 to 1930. The picturesque qualities of the neo-Colonial, Queen Anne, and Arts & Crafts styles, with their intersecting rooflines, tall chimneys, clapboard and shingle cladding as well as spacious porches, link many of the houses. Nos. 240-25 43rd Avenue and 240-35 43rd Avenue were built in 1900-01 from plans by architect D. S. Hopkins by the O’Learys and the Hamiltons, respectively. They feature deep semi-elliptical porches with classical entry surrounds, Tuscan column porch supports, and complex treatment of the window groupings, including a Palladian window with decorative swags. The four houses at 240-24 to 240-42 42nd Avenue, built by the Hamiltons and the O’Learys in 1903-04, feature a complicated intersection of gables and multi-level eaves but are modestly-scaled. Homes continued to be built in the historic district through the 1920s including the 1925-26 neo-Colonial- style house at 24018 42nd Avenue, designed and built by Samuel Lindbloom, and the 1926-27 Arts and Crafts-style house at 240-11 43rd Avenue, designed by architect Aubrey Grantham.

The period from 1900 to 1930 was one of enormous growth for the borough of Queens and Douglaston. One Douglaston observer noted: ABy 1910 the old farms are disappearing....by 1920 our village assumes an air of suburban dignity. The Douglaston Hill historic district preserves this now rapidly-disappearing era of the suburban development of Queens.

Historical and Architectural Development of the Douglaston Hill Historic District

42-09 240 Street (aka 42-09 – 42-11 240 Street and 16 – 240 Street) Block/Lot: 8106/12

Date: 1926 (NB 12897-1926) Architect: Samuel Lindbloom Original Owners: Samuel Lindbloom and M. Edwin Schultz Type: Free-standing house Style: neo-Colonial Stories: 2 Materials: Wood frame covered with wood shingles, painted blue; above a concrete foundation. Notable site features: Sloping lot; cobblestone gutters; bluestone curbs; mature shrubs; concrete steps; cobblestone retaining wall at the sidewalk; brick retaining wall at the rear (east side) of the lot. Related structure on the site: Wood-frame garage.

Description: Main Façade (overlooking 240 Street): Three bays; brick and concrete stoop; gabled portico with open pediment and Doric columns; sidelit main entryway with fanlight and historic hanging lamp; non-historic one-over-one vinyl sash with pane dividers; molded window surrounds; historic paneled wood shutters; historic copper downspouts from the roof. Roof: Asphalt-shingle-covered gables with overhanging eaves; gabled dormers on the west slope with returning eaves, flat pilasters, and fanlit windows; vented cupola with surmounting, wrought-iron weathervane; brick chimney, painted gray; shed dormer on the east slope. North Façade: Irregular bay arrangement; similar to the main façade; electrical conduit. South Façade: Two-story porch, enclosed at the first story; grouped fenestration; non-historic one-over-one vinyl sash with pane dividers; asphalt-shingle-covered shed roof; square columns and railings.

Rear (East) Façade: Three bays; similar to the main façade; secondary entryway with historic paneled wood and glass door; wood porch with square columns and surmounting, asphalt-shingle-covered shed roof; non-historic one-over-one wood sash

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