St. George Church, Astoria Village

Astoria’s pedigree dates to the mid-1600s, when William Hallett received a grant for the area surrounding what is now Hallett’s Cove by Peter Stuyvesant. However, the oldest structures in the region date to the mid-1800s, after fur merchant Stephen Ailing Halsey had incorporated the village in 1839.

Astoria was named for a man who apparently never set foot in it. A bitter battle for naming the village was finally named by supporters and friends of John Jacob Astor (1763-1848. Astor, entrepreneur and real estate tycoon, had become the wealthiest man in America by 1840 with a net worth of over $40 million. (As it turns out, Astor did live in “Astoria” — his summer home, built on what is now East 87th Street near York Avenue — from which he could see the new Long Island Village named for him.) Wealthy businessmen built homes on what are now 12th and 14th Street, some cozy boxes, others large, ornate mansions; sadly, those that remain have been altered nearly beyond recognition.

Hallett’s Cove today, the region in Astoria just south of Astoria Park and west of 21st Street, is today a mixture of breathtaking houses, ancient churches and graveyards, as well as forbidding, utilitatian housing projects and industrial buildings. The area near Astoria Park, as well as Ditmars to the north, feature views of the Hell Gate (1910) and Triborough (1936) bridges. It’s typical of the resolute nondevelopment of New York City’s waterfront that the closer to the water you get, the more boring the housing gets.

Virtually nothing remains of William Hallett’s original settlement along the cove that today bears his name (flags along the neighborhood’s streetlamps call this area Two Coves–Hallett’s Cove proper, at Vernon Boulevard and Main Avenue where they meet the East River, and Pot Cove, at the foot of Astoria Park South and Shore Boulevard). It was only after Stephen Halsey incorporated a village here in 1839 that streets began to radiate east and south from the area. Most of them, but not all, were named for local landowners. Even if you didn’t notice the old-style Victorian buildings found in the area, its age can be detected by the narrowness of some of its streets as well as the irregularity of its street pattern; 12th Street changes directions three times, and 26th Road slants askew its neighbors. Astoria Village is centered at 21^st Street, Astoria Boulevard and Newtown Road. West of here, the streets seem more timeless, with old churches, narrow sidewalks and hidden cemeteries, while east of here, things seem more conventionally Queens-like. Unfortunately, Astoria Village’s timeless quality is swiftly disappearing as developers buy up the old mansions and convert them to multi-family bland brick boxes.

There has been a St. George Episcopal parish in Astoria since 1825 when its site was donated by landowner Robert Blackwell; its original church was on Franklin Street, today’s Astoria Boulevard. After that edifice burned down in 1894, the present brick church at 27th Avenue and 14th Street was raised in 1903-1904. The Astoria Library, built with the aid of funds donated by Scottish steel millionaire and philanthropist Andrew Carnegie at Astoria Boulevard and 14th Street stands on the site of the present church.

The church interior, including its stained glass windows, has been lovingly restored in recent years.

Citing financial straits, the church was leased to a developer in 2005, which promptly razed its parish house, the old Astoria Institute for the Education of Young Ladies, at the southeast corner of 27th Avenue and 14th Street.

At present the St. George churchyard is attainable only by an unmarked driveway on 27th Avenue. The historic cemetery contains remains of early settlers in the area, the Blackwells and Trowbridges.