Queenswalk: A Plan for Ridgewood, Part One

Ridgewood, Queens has been in the real estate news lately because Williamsburg and Bushwick are getting too popular. How ironic is that? I happen to remember when Bushwick nearly burned to the ground, and I certainly remember being there afterward, when the J train passed over empty Broadway streets that looked like Dresden after World War II. Now it’s the newest “hippest place in the universe.” That is not the topic of our story, not really. But Bushwick has a role in our story, nonetheless.

Ridgewood and Bushwick are next door neighbors, so close that unless you know your borders and geography, it’s hard to tell when you pass from Bushwick into Ridgewood. There is no border crossing, no passports are needed, and the color of the currency is the same: green. If you were to cross that same border one hundred and twenty years ago, the language in both communities would be the same, as well: German.

Well, technically Dutch came before German, as the Dutch settled in this area in the 1660s. They were farmers, and grew lettuce, corn, potatoes, and various fruits for the Brooklyn and Manhattan markets. That produce was sent to market by the wagonload down roads that followed old Native American trails; the first people to walk this land. Myrtle and Metropolitan Avenues, along with Fresh Pond Road were some of those trails, and farmers could take their merchandise from the area all the way to the Wallabout and Fulton Ferry waterfronts.

By the mid-19th century, the farms were being replaced by streets and homes. The first wave of development came in the 1850s, when thousands of German immigrants flooded into what was called the Eastern District; parts of Williamsburg, Bushwick and Bedford Stuyvesant. They were fleeing a civil war in the German states, and came here for a new start. The immigrants were not just farmers and peasants, but educated men, businessmen, craftsmen and artisans. They established businesses, banks, houses of worship, and cultural institutions. They also brought with them the craft and business of brewing beer.

German lager beer not only was popular with Germans, it soon won over the rest of the country as well, replacing English style ales as the drink of choice. Breweries popped up all over, especially in Bushwick. As the need for more workers grew, more room was needed for housing, and Ridgewood, being right next door, became home to an expanding workforce. German businessmen also opened other kinds of factories; sewing factories, and knitting mills.

The second wave of development occurred when the Myrtle Avenue Elevated train connected Brooklyn and Queens to Downtown Brooklyn and Manhattan in 1888. The area along Myrtle, consisting mostly of three and four story tenements, grew rapidly, and spreading out from the train, picnic grounds, racetracks, beer halls and amusement parks were taking over the farm land, all patronized by the area’s German inhabitants. In spite of all of the activity, and people, it wouldn’t be until the first decades of the 20th century, that real development came to Ridgewood.

The builders who had built up Bushwick began buying up the remaining farms, as well as the racetracks and picnic grounds of the late 19th century. At first, they began building wood framed storefront buildings, small tenements, and two and three family row houses. But in 1905, wood framed building was made illegal, and all subsequent building was with brick and mortar. In 1909, the Queensboro Bridge opened; linking Manhattan and Queens, and this spurred even more development, as canny speculators banked on the success of the automobile in American life.

Development quickened most of it by only a handful of builders, using the same architects and the same materials, so that much of Ridgewood has a uniform and pleasingly ordered appearance; one that remains to this day. Building continued until the last farmland disappeared in early 1930s, and Ridgewood settled down into quiet and undisturbed obscurity. Until now.

Ridgewood has three historic districts and a handful of individual landmarks. Two of the historic districts are very similar in architecture, materials and histories. That’s because the same developers, same architects, and even the same bricks went into both districts. They are the Ridgewood North and Ridgewood South Historic Districts, designated by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2009 and 2010, respectively.

Ridgewood North’s boundaries are roughly Fairview, Forest and Grandview Avenues, and Woodbine Street and Gates Avenue. Not that far away, Ridgewood South’s boundaries are Woodward and Onderdonk Avenues, and Catalpa Avenue and Woodbine Street. Ridgewood South is a larger district. Almost all of the buildings in both districts are multi-family tenement buildings, with one or two apartments per floor, in three or four story walkup buildings. The St. Mathias Church complex is also included in Ridgewood South. The buildings represent housing for hundreds of families, and at one time, were almost exclusively by Germans, for Germans.

As everyone knows, 19th century tenement housing for New York’s poor immigrant population was awful. Crowded, dark, airless, windowless buildings were filled with people literally dying to get out. Sanitation conditions were medieval, and it took until 1901 for the “New Tenement Law” to even mandate indoor plumbing and running water. It took many years afterward for it to be enforced. In the meantime, the lack of available land for single family homes, and the sheer numbers of people who needed housing made developers rethink the notion of apartment living. Not everyone wanted, or could afford a single family home. An entire new class of middle class renters prompted the building of multiple unit buildings, better than the dreaded tenements, affordable, and in nice neighborhoods.

In Ridgewood, Gustav Xavier Mathews saw the need, and met it – big time, creating one of New York City’s most unique neighborhoods in Ridgewood, Queens. Mathews was born in Germany in 1871. The family name was Matheis, then. His parents and their five sons immigrated to New York in 1886, first to Manhattan, then to Myrtle Avenue in Bushwick, by 1900. Gustav married Clara Kuntz, the daughter of a prominent Bushwick-Ridgewood builder named Louis Kuntz. It was from his father-in-law that he learned the building business. Gustav and Clara had four sons, all of whom later became involved in the family business. When Clara died in 1917, Gustav remarried and the family added a daughter. After over fifty years as a builder and developer, Gustav Mathews died at the age of 88 in 1958.

He began buying up land in Ridgewood and further into Queens. He formed the Mathews Realty and Construction Company with two of his brothers, and G.X., as he was known, was off. His first developments were along the Myrtle Avenue train line. He built row houses that looked like single family houses but actually had one apartment per floor. In 1909, he formed the G.X. Mathews Company, with himself as president, a position he held for life. He then bought up two large local farms, and began full scale block development. His model tenements were developed at this time, and they would make him rich, and put Ridgewood on the map. They were called “Mathews Model Flats,” and they won awards and building contracts, and were copied by builders everywhere.

In 1911, Mathews purchased the old Meyerrose Farm, the site of the Ridgewood South Historic District, and began building. He would put up 170 model tenements on the site. Next time, we’ll look at what made the Mathew’s Model Flats so special, and what’s so special about the building stock in Ridgewood. We’ll talk about space planning, aesthetics, affordable city living, beautiful streetscapes, and bricks. Those Ridgewood bricks are very special. GMAP

(Photo of Woodbine Street:Christopher D. Brazee for the Landmarks Preservation Commission)