How Hunters Point took shape.

In the designation report’s historical account, the street is East Twelfth Street. The district land formed part of the Van Alst farm and was acquired by Union College’s trustees in 1861. Root and Rust bought the development land from the college on December 22, 1870. Those are land-history dates; they are not a reason to date every house to the year of the land sale.

A separate city historical study describes the wider village plan drawn in 1854 for the former Hunter farm: 16 blocks laid out with 25-by-100-foot lots. That larger neighborhood plan helps explain the development setting, but its dimensions should not be assigned to a particular district house. A modern buyer still needs the property’s survey and records.

Sources: LPC · 1968 designation report, LP-0450 ↗ · NYC · Hunter’s Point South FEIS, Historic Resources ↗

The arrival of LIRR service in 1861 accompanied major changes at the waterfront. The city’s historical study records railroad filling and construction of a depot and maintenance facilities, with passengers transferring between trains and Manhattan ferries at Borden Avenue. Freight moved through a different system: barges fitted with tracks and transfer structures that connected railcars to the shore.

The houses were part of a neighborhood shaped by housing, industry and commerce together. Later connections changed the wider setting again: Queens joined New York City in 1898, the Queensboro Bridge opened in 1909, and the Steinway Tunnels began carrying subway service in 1915.

Sources: NYC · Hunter’s Point South FEIS, Historic Resources ↗ · NYC City Planning · Hunters Point Subdistrict archive ↗ · New York Transit Museum · Minutes to Midtown: Long Island City ↗

The timeline follows the 1968 designation report’s dates and descriptions. It is a historical overview, not an inspection of the present buildings. The twelve group profiles explain the particular addresses in more detail.

1. 1870

   Root and Rust’s purchase of the development land from Union College.

   Background to the early rows; not a construction date for every building.

2. 1871–72 and the early 1870s

   Italianate rows in brick and Westchester stone.

   The north-side early groups and the paired stone rows on opposite sides of 45th Avenue.

3. 1870s and 1880s

   Further brick development and the Second Empire mansard pair.

   21-41–21-51 and 21-53–21-55 45th Avenue.

4. 1887

   The 23rd Street row, the individual frame house and the six-house brick group.

   44-70–44-78 23rd Street; 21-34 and 21-22–21-32 45th Avenue.

5. 1889

   Yellow-brick and Queen Anne apartment-house forms.

   21-48 and 21-42–21-46 45th Avenue.

6. 1890

   A small group of gabled wood houses.

   21-36–21-40 45th Avenue.

Sources: LPC · 1968 designation report, LP-0450 ↗

The two Italianate stone rows reward comparison across the avenue. LPC recorded Westchester stone fronts, but described their balustrades and yard railings as composition stone. The report also noted five-pointed stars on first-floor window brackets. A façade can contain several materials, each needing its own condition assessment.

Around the corner, the 23rd Street row’s shallow bow fronts were described with sets of three vertically joined square terra-cotta tiles. On the south side, the Queen Anne apartment houses at 21-42–21-46 were recorded with angular bays and a checkerboard treatment formed by alternating header-brick patterns. Look for the relationship between surface, projection and roofline, while remembering that the report records what was there in 1968.

LPC’s account of the individual frame house at 21-34 connects it with the Burnell family and a daughter, Lotte, who performed with the Piano Fiends at the Palace Theatre.

Sources: LPC · 1968 designation report, LP-0450 ↗

The November 22, 1966 hearing recorded seven witnesses in support and no opposing speakers. Designation followed on May 15, 1968. The report also documented earlier changes, including multi-family conversions.

The report’s twelve inventory entries total 47 buildings: 23 on the north side of 45th Avenue, 19 on the south side and five on 23rd Street. That is a building count, not a count of legal dwelling units, single-family houses or available listings. “Twelve groups” is the guide’s useful index to those entries; it does not mean twelve separately designated landmarks.

For a purchase, pair the historic record with current approvals, lawful use and condition.

Sources: LPC · 1968 designation report, LP-0450 ↗ · LPC · Official district map ↗ · LPC · Designation reports ↗