Ceremony Celebrates R’wood Landmarks
Special street signs marking the way through one of Ridgewood’s three landmark districts were officially celebrated last Thursday, Apr. 18, with a ceremony at Korean Square- located at the intersection of Forest and Grandview avenues- by local lawmakers, civic leaders and preservationists.
The terracotta-colored signs point drivers and pedestrians alike down the streets of the Ridgewood North Historic District, an area of 96 apartment houses generally bounded by Forest and Fairview Avenues between Gates Avenue and Woodbine Street constructed at the turn of the 20th century.
Known as the “Mathews flats”- reference to Gustav Mathews, the man who designed and developed the homes as alternatives to the tenements of Manhattan-the buildings are famous for their yellow and orange brick façades, stone cornices, wrought-iron fencing and brownstone stoops.
The historic district was officially created in 2009, and the terracotta street signs were installed in the dis- trict in recent months through funding provided by the non-profit New York Landmarks Preservation Foundation.
Historic signs at Korean Square were unveiled at last Thursday’s ceremony, which was attended by Ridgewood’s two City Council Members-Elizabeth Crowley and Diana Reyna-along with Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) Chairperson Robert Tierney, Assemblywoman Catherine Nolan, Theodore Renz of the Ridgewood Local Development Corporation (RLDC) and Ridgewood Property Owners and Civic Association (RPOCA) President Paul Kerzner.
Both the RLDC and the RPOCA are working on the creation of landmark districts in Ridgewood covering the 2,982 structures previously added to the State and National Registers of Historic Places during the 1980s.
Along with the Ridgewood North Historic District, there are two other landmark areas in place in Ridgewood: the Stockholm Street Historic District, with 36 brick rowhouses on the Belgian block-lined section of Stockholm Street between Woodward and Onderdonk avenues, created in 2000; and the Ridgewood South Historic District, which contains over 200 Mathews flats in an area generally bounded by Woodward and Onderdonk avenues between
Woodbine Street and Catalpa Avenue.
Each Mathews flats apartment house consists of eight units; at the time they were built, they were considered a “radical improvement” on the tenements generally found in Manhattan, as each home had greater access to fresh air and natural light.
Mathews constructed and sold over 300 apartment buildings in Ridgewood on former farmland between 1909 and 1912; the buildings were made affordable to middle-class New Yorkers who lived in one unit and rented out the remaining apartments as a second source of income.
“The Mathews flats are an important part of the city’s history,” Crowley said. “This historic district designation recognizes the deep cultural legacy that exists in Ridgewood and historical significance of these buildings will be preserved.”
“I am so proud to be honoring the Ridgewood community today,” Reyna added. “The historical district designation recognizes the deep cultural legacy that exists in Ridgewood and will preserve this legacy for generations to come.”
“The flats buildings of Ridgewood set a new standard in moderateincome housing in New York City when they were completed more than 100 years ago, and they remain as innovative, stylish and distinctive today as they were back then,” Tierney said. “We are thrilled that the New York Landmarks Foundation has made it possible to interpret and convey Ridgewood’s role in the development and history of New York City to anyone who passes through its historic streets.”
Kerzner hoped it would be the first of may historic signs to be installed “in the ever-expanding historic districts in Ridgewood.”
“If one were to look at historic districts throughout the city, it’s clear such designations protect the integrity of a neighborhood’s housing stock and its property values,” he added.
“This ceremony today marks an important milestone for the Ridgewood community in its pursuit to have our almost 3,000 New York State and Federal Historic designated buildings landmarked,” Renz stated.
Toward that end, the LPC is currently in the midst of reviewing plans for the Central Ridgewood Historic District, the largest of its kind for the neighborhood to date. If approved, the district would landmark 940 rowhouses in an area generally bounded by Forest Avenue, Fresh Pond Road, Woodbine Street and 71st Avenue.
An LPC spokesperson told the Times Newsweekly on Monday, Apr. 22, there is no word on when the commission will take a vote on the Central Ridgewood plan. A hearing for the proposal was first held in October 2010.
