The Boulevard Gardens Apartments , in Woodside, Queens, New York City, is an apartment of 960 units opened in June 1935, during the Great Depression. The buildings are located on 54th Street and 31st Avenue. They were designed by architect Theodore H. Englehardt for Cord Meyer Development Corporation; The design is based on the Elgelhardt apartment complex designed in Forest Hills.
Video Boulevard Gardens Apartments
Low-income housing
The housing project has ten units, each housing 96 families, 960 families. The buildings are low-rent flats with an average rent of $ 11 per room. They are equipped with a Federal loan of $ 3,450,000 from the Public Works Administration in Woodside, Queens. Boulevard Gardens is just one of seven housing developments funded by PWA through private companies. Despite the success of the program, future funding only goes to public housing authorities. In September 1935 the builders, Boulevard Gardens Housing Corporation, reported that all units were leased.
The Dick-Meyer Corporation built a front block of fourteen stores adjacent to the apartment. They were fully rented in October 1935. 3,000 residents of the development had easy access to twenty-seven retail stores, 300 car garages, and cinemas.
In October 1935, John Volpe, president of the Lower East Societies Public Conference, wrote a letter to the editor of the New York Times. He argues that the slums are only partially solved by government assistance for projects such as Knickerbocker Village, Boulevard Gardens, and Hillside, Queens. Low-income groups can not afford to pay rent because the price is not low enough. He offers an example of a New York City Housing Authority project on East 3rd Street (Manhattan). This residence is most attractive and much cheaper.
In May 1936 the majority of families in larger buildings paid between $ 35 and $ 50 per month for rent. The decision by the New York State Housing Council reminded the Parks Boulevard Housing Companies to book their accommodations for low-income families. Management is advised to gradually eliminate tenants whose annual family income exceeds five times their annual rent. Eleven other housing projects are affected by the action. State council data show that 3.8% of families living at Boulevard Gardens Apartments have annual revenues of $ 4,000 or more.
Dwight L. Hoopingarner, director of the association of the housing division of the Public Works Administration, reported a waiting list of 5,000 families for vacancies at Boulevard Gardens on July 29, 1936. Boulevard Gardens assessed property taxes of $ 3,635,000 for 1937, an increase of $ 660,000 from a year earlier.
Maps Boulevard Gardens Apartments
Design and landscape
The award-winning design at Boulevard Gardens illustrates the strong connection between the environment and the quality of life.
Boulevard Gardens, heralded as "A New Idea in Housing Apartments," and as Woodside's "Village Model", won an award for the architectural achievements of the Queens Chamber of Commerce in 1936. Practical design and fascinating layouts remain as popular today when welcomed its first resident on June 25, 1935.
The Gardens is a complex of 10 six-story buildings with a total of 960 apartments. The structure covers only 22% of the land, the remainder is reserved for landscaping and playgrounds.
This revolutionary development sets a rare-equivalent precedent for open space and the design of apartment houses. The main entrance leads residents to a series of steps toward the formal terraced arch. The neo-Georgian entrance is marked with a magnificent Doric column leading to two open courtyards.
It contains special designs and landscape features that remind them in the city's established parks. The oak and mature maple, the lifeline to the past, reinforces the taste of the Gardens history. The buildings were rebuilt from the sidewalk by raising grassy dikes that complemented the street scene and increased the feeling of openness in the environment. Spectacular shade trees, tortuous trails, and well-laid seating areas give the Boulevard Park a special character as a model village.
In November 1999, Boulevard Gardens was a 960 unit co-op covering 12 acres (49,000 m 2 ) and 10 buildings with 6 floors each. This is almost the same as 2009.
References
External links
- Residence of Boulevard Gardens
Source of the article : Wikipedia
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