July 5, 2008
A Home is a Queens Castle
Some Queens residents are getting touchy about sprouting McMansions in their borough. Many believe it's being transformed into the worst of suburbia: Huge ostentatious homes plunked onto undersized lots that don't conform to the neighborhood's aesthetics.
Residents of Forest Hills are upset with an influx of Bukharian Jewish immigrants, who like their homes large and lawns nonexistent. The NY Times quotes a Bukharian community leader: “Don’t be upset with our people because we like to be large. In Queens, most of the houses is old. New people build a new city. It’s good for community." And another explained, "We like to utilize every single square inch of land, every inch of territory."
Other neighborhoods are subject to the McMansion invasion: In Bayside, Queens, homeowners have battled against McMansions and where the city's R2A zoning prohibits the over-sized homes' construction. Still, some lawmakers seem unconcerned with the spread of McMansions throughout their districts, failing to even appear at community board meetings to discuss the matter--one new City Council member actually constructing one.
Queens Crap has a nice display of some overwhelming homes in Hollis (pictured) and Little Neck. And check out this Queens message board weighing in on McMansions.
| 
add to stumble upon
add to reddit
email this
add to facebook
add to del.icio.us
[ report this ]
Huh. Never thought of Foothill Avenue as Hollis. Live and learn.
It used to be a Cobblestone lined street. Fun when it rained.
[ report this ]
The Bukharans, by the way, are the same sect that has pretty much ripped up the historic mosaic tilework in the Trylon Theatre in Forest Hills, including renderings of the titular structure, an emblem of the first World's Fair in 1939-40.
Look, architecture is over. It's clear that most new developers and builders have absolutely zero concept about esthetics; either that or the money is too tight to build anything that looks halfway decent. Hence the fedders specials with concrete lawns and walls full of meters. You'll soon have to move far into the country to escape them. And even then...
That's why sites like Jeremiah's Vanishing NY, Queens Crap, and my own (to name just three; there are dozens more) have appeared over the last few years. We know there's nothing much we can do except get the word out about this garbage. Perhaps it's catharsis more than anything else.
www.forgotten-ny.com
[ report this ]
Architecture may be "over" in New York, but where I live, beautiful structures are being built right now -- even condo buildings.
[ report this ]
show that steep driveway again. how did that plan get approved? don't ask? we all know.
there's nothing beautiful about those houses, looks like someone went crazy on some CAD design your own home program.
same with some people who go overboard with the Bedazzler.
[ report this ]
Real charmers here with plenty of sunny windows and cozy breakfast nooks. And they're Manhattan-close, borough-convenient.
[ report this ]
i don't know much about housing architecture, but judging by the doors on that Mercedes, i think it's pretty obvious these people have some awful taste.