From Homes To Art Deco Shops, 63rd Dr, Rego Park, Spring 1949

Homes Yield to shops on 63rd Drive in Rego Park

By Historian Ron Marzlock, Queens Chronicle & Rego-Forest Preservation Council Blog contributor

From June 3, 2010 "I Have Often Walked" column

Art Deco shops which took the place of private homes on 63rd Drive between Booth and Saunders streets, in the spring of 1949.

In Rego Park, 63rd Drive was the shopping district that was never meant to be, but was in the end. It and 66th Avenue, formerly White Pot Road, are the two oldest roads in Rego Park, dating to Revolutionary War days. What’s now 63rd Drive, had been known as Remsen Lane, named for the family of Col. Jeromus Remsen, who won fame during the Revolution at the Battle of Long Island, also known as the Battle of Brooklyn. The patriots lost that 1776 melee, leaving the British in control of New York City for the rest of the conflict. The descendants of the Remsen family still owned property on 63rd Drive as late as 1900. 

There were 10 different Remsen streets, roads and avenues scattered throughout Queens until 1913, when the borough largely changed over to numbered streets. Remsen Place in Maspeth still exists.

When Rego Park was originally developed in 1925, 63rd Drive was planned to be a quiet residential street. A row of 10 homes was built on its west side between Booth and Saunders streets. The shopping district was on Eliot Avenue and Queens Boulevard. But it was announced as early as 1942 that the Queens Midtown Highway, later named the Long Island Expressway, would be coming directly through the spot where the stores were. Their destruction began in 1954. 

Anticipating the need for a replacement strip, Robert E. Hill, Inc. of the Bronx wisely bought the homes on 63rd Drive in 1947 to build stores in their place. One house that escaped, just visible on the left of this photo, was demolished later. The strip has been a major shopping mecca for Rego Park residents ever since. 

History of Duggan's Pond, Rego Park

From A Filthy Swale To A Swell Spot To Rest

By Historian Ron Marzlock, Queens Chronicle & Rego-Forest Preservation Council Blog contributor

From May 20, 2010 "I Have Often Walked" column

The former Duggan’s Pond at Woodhaven Boulevard and 63rd Drive, Rego Park in October 1938, after the city cleaned it up.

Duggan’s Pond — not really a pond at all but a trash-filled mud hole — was located at the corner of 63rd Drive and Woodhaven Boulevard. It occupied an oddly shaped triangle at a corner where Rego Park meets Middle Village. The so-called pond filled up when it rained and also was used as a popular dumping spot.

The city had acquired the site on Nov 11, 1920 from the Matawok Land Company for use by the Parks Department. It went downhill from there.

On May 27, 1931 the Rego Park Democratic Club sent a letter to the Queens health commissioner requesting that the depression be filled up immediately due to safety and health hazards. The city complied, leveling the ground and leaving the hundreds of discarded bottles at the bottom sealed up forever.

In 1938, only 18 years after the city originally purchased the site, it was finally graded, planted, and provided with study park benches for the local residents. The benches looked across the street just a few feet to the Horseshoe Barbecue Restaurant, which looked like a circular rocket ship prop out of Buck Rogers. That spot later became a Carvel, then a Westsons, Nathan’s and finally Dunkin’ Donuts. The triangle remains, well-appreciated as a safe haven to sit, rest, read, or just watch the day go by.

Early Rego Park Architecture Merits Preservation

Consider these questions....

- How was Rego Park named?
- Between all the bustle of Queens Blvd, where is Rego Park's history?
- What can we do as citizens to preserve our neighborhood from insensitive alterations and demolition? Are there any benefits?

What Rego Park has to offer in the name of history is directly in front of our eyes, but for some residents and passersby, it can be a needle in a haystack, so we have to be informed........

Rego Park was named in 1923 by developers Henry Schloh and Charles Hausmann of the “Real Good” Construction Co, after buying farmland. The land was once part of Forest Hills, which was named in 1906, but changed for real estate purposes. The first developments included 525 8-room Colonial houses bordering 63rd Dr and Elliot Ave, followed by elaborate apartment houses on Saunders St in the late 1920s, which continued through the 1940s on Saunders St and Queens Blvd, and were also highly regarded. A large quantity of the original homes stand today in a relatively unaltered state, and the apartment houses remain mostly intact. The first street was Remsen Ave (now 63rd Drive), named after the Remsen family, which owned a large parcel of farmland in Rego Park, which is difficult to visualize today.

Some other notable sites that are reflective of Rego Park's historic fabric include Public School 139 on 63rd Dr, which was filed with the Dept of Buildings in 1928, Lutheran Church of Our Saviour, which opened its first formal home in 1931 on 63rd Dr, and Rego Park Jewish Center on Queens Blvd with a cornerstone reading 1948 (Placed on the State & National Register of Historic Places in Oct. 2009), and the Lost Battalion Hall on the north side of Queens Blvd between 63rd Dr & Horace Harding. In the late 1930s and throughout the 1940s, classic Art Deco shops were erected on Queens Blvd and along 63rd Dr, and some were considered showrooms for goods, with customers appreciative of their mom & pop status and revolutionary architectural touches.

Remo Hall, erected 1927, is the earliest apartment house in Rego Park on Saunders St. It is a Tudor architectural gem alongside neighboring buildings that exhibit a smorgasbord of styles in our neighborhood, including Georgian Colonial, Art Deco, Moorish, and Medieval. Other historic apartment houses include Marion Court, Jupiter Court, Savoy Gardens, Elizabeth & Victoria complex, and the Oxford and Cambridge complex, and the the Saunders Gardens complex, which were all developed from the late 1920s - early 1940s. Many apartment houses are symbolic of Ebenezer Howard's Garden City Movement, since they grant a sense of place by reserving space for landscaping and breathing space by not developing the land in its entirety, have recessed building wings, feature courtyards, are low-rise in scale, feature roof gardens for residents to associate and keep cool during the summer months, and most incorporate traditional English architectural touches. Even though the Saunders Gardens complex is a later addition with Art Deco touches, it features recessed areas and the traditional roof garden, along the lines of Marion Court, and was developed around the central theme of a park.

The architectural and cultural diversity within a concentrated section of the neighborhood, sheds lots of history, and therefore merits preservation within a Rego Park Historic District by the NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission (http://www.nyc.gov/html/lpc/html/home/home.shtml). The general boundaries are inclusive of Queens Blvd, 63rd Dr, Saunders St, and Elliot Ave, and touch upon Booth St and Wetherole St. Rego-Forest Preservation Council has been documenting and researching this section of the neighborhood (and other sections of both Rego Park and Forest Hills) for nearly 2 years. This is much-needed, and will ensure survival of its historic and harmonious character, ensure that any future development is in context, and will maintain and enhance property values over time. NYC Landmarking (sometimes in combination with State & National Register of Historic Places status) also increases the likelihood of acquiring grants for property owners, through funding programs for historically-sensitive restoration work and building upgrades.

This is a collection of Saunders St, Queens Blvd, & 63rd Dr photos by Chair Michael Perlman of Rego-Forest Preservation Council: http://www.flickr.com/photos/8095451@N08/collections/72157617606028777/

This is a work-in-progress! Please browse and become our flickr friend and a supporter throughout the research process. E-mail unlockthevault@hotmail.com with questions, suggestions, or to become a preservation supporter. All contributors will be recognized.