Douglaston Historic District (New York City, New York)

 neighbourhood, historic landmark

Douglas Manor is a railroad or "garden" suburb on 175 acres that is largely intact. Architectural styles are eclectic, representing every architectural style of the early 20th century, including Queen Anne, Colonial, Tudor, and Mediterranean Revival. Area planned according to cooperative ownership of the mile-long waterfront, unlike any other New York City neighborhood. Rickert-Finlay built the neighborhood as an early deed-restricted suburb in 1906.

Douglaston was built to represent the aspirations of the growing middle and upper middle classes of the time, and continues to play that role in the life of New York City. It is geographically and architecturally coherent, defined by the natural boundaries of the Douglaston peninsula. The development deed restrictions which predate New York City zoning (1916), and which dictated massing and setbacks, and zoned lots from largest (facing the Little Neck Bay) to smallest (facing Udalls Cove) that has ensured a mix of the middle class. Originally, the avenues and drives had British-sounding names, but officials slapped numbers on them decades-later in a bid to give Queens a Cartesian uniformity.

The architecture reveals simultaneously the three eras of its development -- Dutch farm (Van Wyck House, 1735); country estate (Douglas mansion, 1819) with tenant farmhouses and stable; and planned garden suburb. Douglaston contains the largest collection of Arts & Crafts influenced building in New York City, and more Gustav Stickley houses than any other neighborhood in New York City. It also contains eight houses by Josephine Wright Chapman, the largest collection of her work anywhere. Chapman was a well known architect who was only one of a handful of women practicing in the United States at the turn of the century. Others represented include McKim Mead & White, Diego deSuarez, Frank Foster, James Sarsfield Kennedy, Buchman & Fox, and Aubrey Grantham.

Douglaston was the last of New York City's garden suburbs designed for the horse and carriage. The community contained a thriving arts, movie, and theater colony. Residents included Ginger Rogers, Hedda Hopper, Annette Kellerman, and a host of other silent film and theater stars. Artists included George Grosz, Elbert McGran Jackson, set designer Irwin Piscatur, and pianist Claudio Arrau.

Douglaston had the oldest tree on Long Island and in New York City, the 600yo white oak on Arleigh Road which was cut down in 2009. A towering ginkgo in front of a 1910 colonial at 112 Manor Road is now considered the oldest. Lastly, Douglaston played a major role in the yachting history of New York City. William Douglas' yacht, Sappho, was the first winner of the Americas Cup.

There are currently around 550 single-family homes.

www.dlnhs.org/
archive.org/details/gardens-of-eden-long-islands-early-...
www.dlnhs.org/douglasmanor/DouglasManorHistoricDistrict...