The Queens County Farm Museum is getting some serious green to fix three greenhouses on the state’s oldest continuously running farm, according to city records.
The city Department of Design and Construction will begin a $1.4 million construction project in 2015 to restore the wooden structures.
The last time the Floral Park site’s greenhouses were restored was in 1999 and since then their concrete foundations and wooden window frames have decayed.
According to James Trent, the founder of the museum, the greenhouses need to be restored every few decades since they were built in 1929 and 1934.
“They’re the last wooden greenhouses owned by the city,” he said. “These houses are very attractive but they need to be worked on periodically.”
Currently, only one of the sites are being used for plants and flowers. The other two are empty and the public isn’t allowed in them out of fear that the aging wood might drop the glass panels that they hold.
“It really causes the wood to shift out of place,” said Executive Director Amy Boncardo. “It’s like a living structure and very complex.”
The farm, which began in 1697, is owned by the Parks Department and serves as an agricultural production center and an educational center for schools.
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