The Douglas Manor historic district is located in the
northeast corner of Queens between Great Neck Estates and Bayside, 12
miles east of Manhattan.
History
Indian Settlement: The peninsula was first settled by the Matinecoc
Indians who cleared the forest to raise corn. The peninsula (originally
known as Little Neck) also became a center for wampum making because of
the abundance of shells, including conch, quohogs, and periwinkles. The
Indians made white wampum from periwinkles and the valuable black wampum
from quohog shells. Through the years, various Indian burial sites have
been unearthed on the Douglaston peninsula, including several at the
Point, and one on Hillside Avenue. Matinecoc Indian remains were moved
to the Zion Church burial ground when Northern Boulevard was widened
during the 1930s.
The Van Wyck Farm, 1735: The early Dutch settlers embraced the richness
of the natural environment at Douglaston afforded by the long narrow
inlets and harbor at Little Neck Bay. At the Douglaston peninsula, tidal
wetlands provided an abundance of shellfish and salt hay for cattle. A
network of farms was quickly established in the area, utilizing the
creeks that ran through the wetlands at the "Alley" (near what is now
the intersection of the Cross Island Parkway and the Long Island
Expressway) and Udalls Cove. Docks at these two locations were used to
move goods and supplies to and from Manhattan. The shingled Dutch
Colonial farmhouse at West Drive and Alston Place was built by the Van
Wyck family. The front of the house faces the Bay, testimony to the
importance and relative speed of water travel compared to overland
travel routes to Manhattan.
Douglas Mansion, 1819: In 1819, Wyant van Zandt, a wealthy New York City
merchant and alderman, purchased the Van Wyck farm, and built a large
square mansion for his wife and 15 children. The transformation of the
peninsula from working farm to country estate signaled the beginning of
the era of estate development along the North Shore of Long Island's
"Gold Coast."
In 1835, George Douglas, a wealthy Scot, purchased the estate and began
developing it with plants and trees imported from all over the world.
Samuel Parsons, Douglas' neighbour at the adjoining estate at the base of
the Douglaston peninsula, was the Flushing nurseryman who was famous for
bringing the weeping beech tree to America. Parsons supplied Douglas
with much exotic flora and fauna over the years, and helped Douglas
create one of the garden spots of Long Island. The estate included a
pinetum and many rare trees which survive to this day. Several of the
large, 150 year old specimen trees on the front lawn of the Douglaston
Club date to this era. The estate also included the 600 year old Great
White Oak tree on Arleigh Road, the largest on Long Island.
Douglas' son William took over the estate after his father's death in
1862, and continued to develop the estate as a social centre. Little
Neck Bay became the focus for many yachting activities, and Douglas and
his friends were responsible for introducing polo to America. In 1871,
he refitted a British yacht, the "Sappho," and became the first winner
of the Americas Cup. James Gordon Bennett, publisher of the New York
Herald, and financier J. P. Morgan often moored their yachts--the
"Dauntless" and the "Corsair" respectively--on the Bay during their
frequent visits to the Douglas estate. The estate remained a social hub
for entertaining the wealthy and powerful of New York until the
turn-of-the-century, when the Douglas family decided to sell the
property.
Douglas Manor, 1906: The Rickert-Finlay Realty Company of New York
purchased the 175-acre estate and began selling lots in 1906. The
subdivision was planned according to Garden City ideals. The community
was designed for middle and upper middle class families who were
disturbed by the erosion of once stable neighbourhoods in the City that
were increasingly industrialized. These families sought a greener,
quieter environment where they could purchase a house with a small
garden and be within easy commuting distance of Manhattan.
In an era before New York City zoning, the planners of the Manor created
deed restrictions that prohibited businesses and other non-residential
uses that had spoiled older high quality residential areas of the City.
Only single family homes were permitted in the manor; stores and service
oriented businesses, as well as churches and schools, were concentrated
at the Long Rail Road stop for Douglaston.
The Manor's streets were laid out in a grid that curves to accept the
natural contours of the land and the shape of the peninsula. The houses
are set back a minimum of 20 feet, giving the narrow streets (18 feet
wide) definition, and creating an urban feeling in a neighbourhood that
is essentially suburban.
The deed restrictions dictated setbacks, height, density, and minimum
cost. Fences beyond the front building line were prohibited. Privet
hedges were planted to define property lines, and to give the owners of
the relatively small lots the idea of a visually shared green space.
Minimum lot was determined by desirability, with the larger lots (a
minimum of 100 by 100) facing the open bay on the west side, with lots
as small as 40 by 100 facing the wetlands of Udalls Cove. Modest
cottages were built on the smaller lots for people of moderate means;
along Shore Road, some of the larger houses had 12 rooms and included
maid's rooms and chauffeur's quarters. Unlike similar developments that
followed at Forest Hills Gardens (1911) or Kensington in Great Neck
(1914), no restrictions were put on the style of the homes built. As a
result, today the Manor has a collection of homes that encompasses every
residential style of the early 20th century, including Tudor,
Mediterranean, Queen Anne, Arts & Crafts, and Colonial Revival style
homes.
The most radical decision Rickert-Finlay made however, was the
development of the shoreline in common for the use of all the residents,
unlike developments at Bayside and Great Neck, where the shoreline was
developed privately and is not accessible. Shore Road, a lightly
traveled road that separates homes from the waterfront, now functions as
the neighborhood's promenade. Neighbors typically stroll in the roadway
where they socialize, enhancing the village-like quality of the Manor.
The close proximity to the railroad--no house is more than a mile from
the station--also contributes to an unusual amount of pedestrian
activity for a suburban area. These features make the Manor--and other
older suburbs that are focused on railroad stations--different from the
auto-oriented suburbs that typically were built after World War II. The
geographic boundaries of the Manor--a mile-long peninsula with only one
major access road from Northern Boulevard--reinforces the psychological
sense of a small sheltered town.
See also:
• Douglaston Yacht
Squadron, and Sappho
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