Crowdsourcing Experiment: Courtyards and Gardens of Prewar Jackson Heights
This weekend’s NYT article generated lots of interesting and welcome inbound emails with tips of topics to cover. One of these was a suggestion to write about the courtyards behind some of the prewar apartment buildings in Jackson Heights. This struck us as a great idea, but one that could be best accomplished with the…
This weekend’s NYT article generated lots of interesting and welcome inbound emails with tips of topics to cover. One of these was a suggestion to write about the courtyards behind some of the prewar apartment buildings in Jackson Heights. This struck us as a great idea, but one that could be best accomplished with the help of readers who live in or around these building. So consider this our first official appeal for photo submissions. You can email us at queens@brownstoner.com. Similarly, please use the comments section below to let us know about which buildings have the nicest courtyards and gardens. We know about Greystones and The Towers (pictured above). What are some others? Thanks!
Photo by Emilio Guerra
http://queens.about.com/od/photogalleries/ss/jh_coops_3.htm
Hampton Court garden is stunning.
PS because the Greystones split a street instead of take up a city block, there is no one shared Greystones garden like there is a Hawthorne, Hampton, Towers or Chateau garden. Each side of the Greystones has garden space behind, but it backs up on another building that is not allowed garden access. So you don’t quite get the same courtyard feel. Still nice to stroll back there, though.
I think Hawthorne Court and Hampton Court are the nicest. I like the ones with big lawn space; the Towers is more pathways and shade. Other poster is right that once a year the JHBG has them all open to the public on the same day, so you can check them out. Unfortunately this happened rather recently, in June I think, so it’s a while until the next opportunity.
Actually there is a large grassy section at the north end of the Towers garden and a few grassy areas throughout.
Jackson Heights offers beautiful examples of prewar architecture without a doubt. One express stop from there is the legendary Forest Hills Gardens, designed as one of the first planned communities in the US. This incredible suburban enclave is also only a 15 minute ride from Penn Station via the LIRR. It would be great if Queens Brownstoner would shine some light on Forest Hills as a whole. You would be hard pressed to find another neighborhood in NYC with the same combination of urban and suburban living, walkability, and public transit options.
The Towers garden is gorgeous and has an open, grassy children’s section at one end.
Once a year the gardens are open to the public. Check out this link for more information:
http://www.jhbg.org/2013/05/01/celebrate-historic-jackson-heights-2013
Elm Court is beautiful and refined
Check out Hampton Court. A perfect secret garden.