Bayside Avenue in Queens is nowhere near Bayside, the neighborhood. Instead it runs between Union Street and the intersection of 154th Street and 29th Avenue in Flushing. In what is something of a feature in NYC nomenclature, the road is named for the neighborhood or town toward which it points (cf. Flushing Avenue, which isn’t in Flushing at all but is in Fort Greene, Clinton Hill, Bushwick and Maspeth).
Bayside Avenue is home to a number of eclectic houses, some of which are on wide plots. This one is a Second Empire-ish jewelbox shadowed by a much taller conifer. Other similar buildings are scattered around Flushing, but some have been sacrificed to the Great God Progress, which demands bland, multifamily buildings.
Former Historic Districts Council president and local resident Paul Graziano:
The building was constructed around the Civil War by G.W. Haviland. He was a surveyor by trade and had a long and distinguished career in Flushing and other parts of NY.
I live around the corner from this house and, so far (cross fingers), it’s still there.
Back in the 1980s, the current owners bought it when it was being marketed to developers for a teardown. They saved it and did a beautiful restoration.
Starting in the mid-1990s, a number of the bigger houses on this block – which used to be one of the nicest in all of Queens – were sold to religious organizations who tore them down one by one…
If ever there was a house that should be landmarked, it’s this one.
11/30/12