March 2019 marks Forgotten New York’s 20th anniversary. To mark the occasion, I’ve re-scanned about 150 key images from the early days of FNY from 35MM prints. In the early days, when people including me were accessing FNY with dial-up modems, I had to save photos really small — in some cases, just 4″ across. I couldn’t find all those early photos — I think I foolishly discarded some along the way — but all month, and into April, I’ll be picking out some and showing the newly scanned versions.
Today’s image is Wogan Terrace, a pleasant dead end on 94th Street opposite the south end of Gelston Avenue, just east of 5th Avenue. It’s completely lined with pleasant attached Tudor-style houses. Bay Ridge is peppered with dead ends and one-block streets of this type such as Bay Cliff Terrace, Madeline Court and this one. It appeared fairly early on — it shows up on this 1929 Belcher Hyde atlas.
I must admit, I’m stumped about the origin of the name. It could be a portmanteau or combination word if the site had two developers. On the other hand “Wogan” is a British surname; Terry Wogan had a popular talk show on the British TV network BBC1 in the 1980s.
If anyone has a definite origin, shoot it to me in Comments.
Check out the ForgottenBook, take a look at the gift shop, and as always, “comment…as you see fit.”
3/1/19
10 comments
Hasn’t changed much as of last June. What’s amusing is that both your 1999 photo and the camera car’s pass-by both were on Garbage Day.
https://goo.gl/maps/aNvnowi7T8o
A similar style house is found in many places in Astoria, although they are usually 3 stories. They are essentially row houses with varying “tudor-ish” or european style fronts that repeat every 3-4 houses. Check out 32 street and 29 street in the 21st ave. area.
Kevin,
Thanks for 20 years of preserving our history!
The closest I could find was that there was a Thomas F. Wogan (1862 – 1949), Deputy Chief Register of Kings County and a longtime Democratic Party activist and leader in the Bay Ridge area. The houses were advertised in 1928 as new, and while I couldn’t find a direct reference naming the street for Thomas Wogan, the street was developed right during the time he was active.
Terry Wogan is no less than an icon of British broadcasting, who presented the BBC Radio 2 breakfast show for decades as well as hosting his TV chat show and the national ‘Children in Need’ charity event. So powerful is his legacy that the building in London from which many BBC Radio programmes are broadcast is now called ‘Wogan House’ in memoriam.
The Taurus in the foreground had me trying to remember if I’d ever parked on to that block. Same color, and a similar sticker on the left side. The trim is different though.
The homes remind me of the ones in Woodhaven/Forest Hills area. The ones in the crescent roads to nowhere.
Terry Wogan started out in Radio !
From all indications, it seems that Wogan Terrace is named for Tom Wogan, a very popular and populist politician from Bay Ridge. He was a headliner in Brooklyn politics for decades, beginning around 1902. By the late 1920s, when Wogan Terrace was developed, he was the Democratic District Leader from this Assembly District. He and his political allies ruled this part of Brooklyn for decades. Naming the street for him was probably a great honor for him, and didn’t hurt the developer’s chances in the neighborhood, either.
I lived in Bay Ridge from my birth at Victory Memorial Hospital in 1934 until I got out of college in 1956. For the most part we lived near 73rd St and Narrows ave…( 59 73rd St, and 7312 Narrows Ave… in highschool years we lived at 101 72nd)…however for y tear and a half we lived at 8922 Shore Court, a charming cobble stoned cul de sac running south of 89th Street between Narrows and Colonial Rd.. Close family friends lived for decades in Madeleine Court off of 68th Street.. I last visited and walked over Bay Ridge about 10 years ago… I loved the fact that so much was the same.. I went to PS 102 and Poly Prep..