Feb. 14, 2017 By Hannah Wulkan
A controversial structure that was universally panned by Sunnyside residents has found a new home in California.
The 1931 Aluminaire House, which was to go up on the corner of 39th Avenue and 50th Street in the Sunnyside Gardens Historic District, is headed to Palm Springs.
The house was slated to go on the site of the old Phipps Playground along with an eight-unit residential development before the controversial plan was rejected by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 2014 for being out of character with the historic district.
The house has now started the trip to California in a 45-foot-long trailer, the New York Post reported, at a cost of $15,000. It will be set up as a permanent structure in Palm Springs and is slated to open to the public in 2018.
The 1,200 square foot Aluminaire House is viewed as architecturally significant since it was the first all-metal house built in the United States.
However when developers first proposed setting up the historic home in Sunnyside Gardens in 2013 the plan met a harsh backlash from the community.
Councilman Jimmy Van Bramer, who represents the area, came out strongly against it at the time, stating that it did not make sense alongside the surrounding architecture.
“I am happy that the Aluminaire House found a more suitable home in Palm Springs, CA,” Van Bramer said in a statement yesterday. “While I appreciate the novelty of its design, the all metallic building would have been wildly out of place amongst the historic brick homes that make up the landmarked community of Sunnyside Gardens.”
Phipps Playground
