“There’s no other New York experience like walking west on high-energy Church Avenue, then turning left on Buckingham Road into a still, storybook enclave of large freestanding houses of encyclopedically varied styles,” writes Francis Morrone in last Friday’s NY Sun. When developer Dean Alvord bought the 50 acres of land in 1899, his goal was “to create a rural park within the limitations of the conventional city block and city street.” Details like the planted medians with rounded edges intentionally try to create the effect of having left the city grid. The 1903 house at 131 Buckingham Road (original postcard, above), dubbed ‘”the Japanese House”, is Petit’s most famous work, but Morrone prefers 94 Rugby Road, a Spanish Mission-style house, and 100 Rugby Road, a Swiss Chalet. (Recent photos of all three houses are on the jump.) Across the street, at number 101, is the John Nitchie-designed Queen Anne featured in Sophie’s Choice.
John Petit’s Visionary Home Designs [NY Sun]
From 1997: Delicately Oriental, but ‘Practical’ [NY Times]
Postcard &recent photos of Rugby Road from Victorian Flatbush
Recent photo of 101 Buckingham by Don Wiss

The Japanese House at 131 Buckingham

The Spanish Colonial at 94 Rugby Road

The Swiss Chalet ar 100 Rugby Road