Woodhaven and Ozone Park were settled in the 1600s by Dutch and English settlers, who gradually eased out Native Americans; Woodhaven became a racing hotbed in the 1820s when Union Course, at what is now Jamaica Avenue and Woodhaven Boulevard was built in 1820s. Centerville and Aqueduct Race Tracks would follow.

From the 1830s to the 1850s, what is now East New York and Cypress Hills, Brooklyn, and Woodville, Queens, were developed by Connecticut businessman John Pitkin. To avoid confusion by the Post Office with an upstate New York State town in the days before zip codes, Woodville residents voted to change Woodville’s name to Woodhaven in 1853.

Much of old Woodhaven has been blunted away from nearly two centuries of development, but some great pieces from the old days are still found here and there.

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There are plenty of other buildings with ornate cupolas and towers in New York City, but this one on 95th Avenue and 93rd Street seemed all the more impressive because it was unique in Woodhaven… there’s no other building like it in the area.

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Its former egg-shaped Moorish dome made it a veritable skyscraper. The dome may have been removed decades ago, but there’s still enough detail on this over 110-year old building to make it one of Woodhaven’s treasures; its cornices and eaves have not been lost to development. It was originally the home office for the Woodhaven Bank. The “Wyckoff” that still remains on the corner turret above the third floor may refer to the building’s original owner or developer.  Photo from Old Queens in Early Photographs by Vincent Seyfried and William Asedorian

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Just as piano manufacturer William Steinway and brick works king Balthazar Kreischer built small communities to house their factory workers in northern Astoria and Charleston, Staten Island, respectively, so did LaLance & Grosjean, the nationally renowned manufacturer that was among the first to make porcelain enamelware, a cheaper, lighter alternative to heavy cast-iron cookware under their brand name, “Agate Ware.” Swiss industrialist Florian Grosjean set up an importing business with French businessman Charles Lalance in 1863, and by 1876 had built a large kitchenware factory on Atlantic Avenue between today’s 89th to 92nd Streets, and workers’ housing on 95th and 97th Avenues between 85th and 86th Streets.

In the 1980s, most of the LaLance & Grosjean red-brick factory buildings were razed in favor of a large Pathmark supermarket. In a similar situation to the Tower Square New York and Queens trolley barn at Woodside Avenue and Northern Boulevard in Woodside, its clock tower, at the corner of Atlantic Avenue and 92nd Street, has been somehow preserved.

The LaLance and Grosjean wood-framed row house factory workers’ buildings are still there, though the ones on 95th Avenue are less modernized than the ones on 97th Avenue, so they appear closer to the condition they were in when the workers occupied them.

 

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The Woodhaven Cultural and Historical Society has installed a handsome metal sign commemorating the factory. Oddly enough, the sign is not on Atlantic Avenue but rather in the Pathmark parking lot behind the building.

 

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Alice Court, Bedford-Stuyvesant

Meanwhile, a few miles west on Atlantic Avenue, in the heart of Bedford-Stuyvesant, are more buildings associated with the firm. Two alleys protrude north from Atlantic Avenue between Kingston and Albany Avenues. Here, Atlantic  Avenue for the most part is a relentless stretch of auto body shops, gas stations and light manufacturing along the Long Island Rail Road, which runs down the middle of the street on an elevated trestle. They stand out with their detailed and ornamented exteriors, with corner cupolas and turrets. Both have recently been given NYC Landmark status in a small district.

 

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Agate Court, Bedford-Stuyvesant

The two-court complex was built for Florian Grosjean as a real estate venture. Alice Court was named for Grosjean’s daughter, Alice Marie, and the agateware in which he had made his fortune. Driving down Atlantic Avenue, you would never think about associating these two widely spaced architectural treasures.

A much more detailed examination of the LaLance & Grosjean metalware complex can be found in Project Woodhaven.


What's Your Take? Leave a Comment

  1. I’ve always known this area as still Ozone Park not Woodhaven, Woodhaven begins on the north side of Atlantic ave. and the domed building is definitely Ozone park since it’s a block south of Atlantic ave. and both fall within the 11416 zip code. I used to live on 78th st. and Atlantic ave. and our address was in Ozone park even though Google maps shows a weird border that placed our house in a sliver of area that doesn’t belong to either neighborhood. The businesses within the pathmark shopping area also list as Ozone Park. Sorry to nitpick but Ozone Park rarely ever gets attention.

    The dome on the corner building has been gone for as long as I can remember, there’s actually a lot of old woodframe and row houses scattered around the neighborhood amongst the archie bunkers and Fedders you just have to know what to look for since most have lost their original details.

    Ozone Park and especially Woodhaven are two hidden working class gems, they give you a best of both worlds, residential neighborhoods that ride the line between urban density and suburban smaller town feel. I suspect that once East New York is “changed” (no need for the G word) and people realize how awesome of a family neighborhood Cypress Hills is you’ll see these neighborhoods prices rise.