Far Rockaway Beach Bungalow Historic District nominated to be on registers of historic places
Crain’s reports that on Tuesday, the Far Rockaway Beach Bungalow Historic District was nominated by the NY State Board for Historic Preservation to be in the New York and national registers of historic places. There are about 400 (down from 7,000 during Rockaway bungalow heyday) that remain and they survived Hurricane Sandy, “relatively unscathed”; from what we can tell…
Crain’s reports that on Tuesday, the Far Rockaway Beach Bungalow Historic District was nominated by the NY State Board for Historic Preservation to be in the New York and national registers of historic places. There are about 400 (down from 7,000 during Rockaway bungalow heyday) that remain and they survived Hurricane Sandy, “relatively unscathed”; from what we can tell from the maps, the boardwalk did better here than a lot of places.
This nomination could lead to the neighborhood becoming a historic landmark.
Here is the general area – Beach 24th, Beach 25th, and Beach 26th Streets between between Seagirt Avenue and the Atlantic.
Image source: Google Maps
If you’d like to read the application that was submitted to the Parks Service in October, check it out (.pdf). It’s a very interesting read.
The Board for Historic Preservation calls the neighborhood “the last remaining intact community of the seasonal beach bungalow architecture that once dominated the oceanfront of Far Rockaway.” To learn more about the bungalows, the film, The Bungalows of Rockaway has a lot to share and say.
Sandy survivors nominated as landmarks [Crain’s]
The Bungalows of Rockaway [QNYC]
I am thrilled to hear that the Bungalows will finally be recognized as a precious part of our history; affordable living on the beach. I have mourned for many years the loss of our family Bungalow that was located on Beach 46th Way and Edgemere Blvd. Our street as “paved” with sand but had a sidewalk in front of the houses. Our street was developed in 1904 (date posted on the fire hydrant I tried to steal a bunch of years ago). We were surprised one day with a phone call that the City of New York had knocked the bungalows down overnight (surprise attack). We could do nothing at the time. The laws were different than now. Even with a “ground lease” of 99 years for the house, we had no recourse. We received “condemnation” money of $4,000.00 in 1966 for the building. A few years ago, at a Women’s Army Corps Annual Convention I attended with my Mother, I ran into the woman who had headed Mayor Lindsay’s group that made the decision to clear out the bungalows in our area so high rise housing for the (Jewish) elderly could be built. During the conversation, this woman called the bungalows “those little shit houses”. I was so floored by the fact that I was sitting at the same table with THE person who had the power to take our house, I was almost speechless. But, when she called the bungalows “shit houses”, I blew up saying,”we owned one of those little shit houses” for over 50 years. I think she got the point, sort of. Needless to say, the area from about Beach 30th through the 40’s (I can’t remember how many blocks were destroyed) never saw any development. When I last visited in the mid-1990’s, the street was still in tact. I measured off the distance from the fire hydrant to our house and removed 1 brick and a part of the sidewalk that was chipped. I could not believe that the sand and wind had NOT changed the street. At the end of the street was the “restored” ramp that sloped up to the boardwalk. Since Hurricane Sandy, I have not been able to find photos of those exact streets.
One downside of Historic Preservation are the building restrictions and the ultimate higher prices. I hope the Bungalows can stay in the hands of the middle class people and avoid any “trendiness”.