Tisdale Lumber Company, Hallett’s Point, October 9, 1935.

The Astoria Presbyterian Church, at 27th Avenue (1846 – 1920s) later moved to 33rd Street off Broadway, then (about 2005) to a small location on Broadway and 23rd Street. The stained glass windows sold for installation within a Latter Day Saints Temple in Utah about 2015.

This group of wood-frame homes, including 11-01 Welling Court at the corner of Main Avenue, its neighbor to the south (at right) and its neighbor to the east (with the two dormers) were demolished between May of 2016 and December of 2017. The buildings at the at the end of the block disappeared long again, and today only the small two-story home mid-block (9-28) remains and considering its run-down condition seems likely to be lost soon as well.

‘Astoria Institute’ (1825 – 1860?) funded by John Jacob Astor, was a young woman’s private school, part of a revolutionary development at that time in women’s educational opportunities giving rise to the Seneca Falls Convention. ‘Hallets Cove’ changed its name to ‘Astoria’ because of this building. It was later a parish house for St. George Church. Soon after its Request for Evaluation rejected by the Landmarks Commission, demolished for the Gloria D’Amico Senior Residence, named for a late Queens County Clerk.

St. George's Church dates to 1825 when a wood-frame edifice was erected on land donated by landowner Robert Blackwell. The church, which sat on a site near Astoria Boulevard, was destroyed in a fire in 1894. (Today the Astoria Branch of the Queens Library, a Carnegie library sits on the site of the original church.) A new brick church was erected up the block in 1903-1904. The St. George churchyard which is the final resting place of many early settlers currently sits between the library and the contemporary apartment house that backs up onto the church.

The First Reformed Church of Astoria (1835) the oldest religious congregation in Astoria. The first building is the Fellowship Hall moved back into the former cemetery (tombstones remain on the property). Lighting struck the replacement (late 1880s) – tower now half-original size.

La Roche Mansion, 1931. Built in the 1840s, the mansion was constructed for Horace Whittmore, a wealthy merchant. Later the home was owned by the chief lawyer for Erie Railroad, a man named Joseph La Roque. A 1935 New York Times article described the white, column-fronted (and backed) home with cupola as having an "antebellum style... creating a Southern plantation air." Though the mansion was demolished in either 1963 or 1965 (sources differ), a number of architectural details of the home were saved and are in the collection at the Metropolitan Museum. The wall paneling, ceiling medallion, and fireplace mantel are currently on view in a period room in the American Wing (Gallery 739).

Wood-frame farmhouse on Welling Court, near Hallett’s Cove. April, 1925. Photographer Eugene L. Armbruster notes “Furman occupied the house many years.” The house appears on the Beers map of 1873, with no owner listed. The house has been significantly altered, with shingled siding replaced by vinyl, but its frame appears intact.

27th Avenue, No. 805 ca. 1937 This house was built in the 1850s for Josiah Blackwell, a New York dry goods merchant and descendant of Robert Blackwell, who settled Blackwell’s Island (now Roosevelt Island) in the 17th century. It remained in the Blackwell family until 1921, when it was sold and, with the addition of a fire escape, converted into a boarding house. The young couple relaxing in beach chairs presents a distinctly modern rendition of bucolic contentment. Today the site is occupied by a six-story apartment building.

Judge Munson House, 1940. The Judge Munson House was a stone structure built in 1839 or 1840 by Stephen A. Halsey. Halsey, an integral figure in the development of Astoria, helped to lay its street grid, operated the ferry that traveled to Manhattan, and directed the Astoria Gas Works. The home, which was supposedly constructed from stone quarried on site, was later occupied by Captain Munson in 1866. From the 1890s until the 1940s the building housed educational facilities: first, the original Long Island City High School and later, Public School No. 9. The building was demolished during the planning of the NYCHA Astoria Houses.

The current edifice was built and dedicated in February 1904, but the congregation dates back to 1825 when Samuel Blackwell donated a portion of his land to the new Episcopal congregation. An earlier wooden frame church existed on location between 1828 until 1894 when it was burned down. Next door to the church was the Astoria Institute for the Education of Young Ladies (built 1824), an academy that was built to educate the daughters of Astoria’s wealthy. The academy was not successful and soon after it became the parish house for St George’s, until it was sadly torn down in 2005 despite pleas from the Greater Astoria Historical Society. Just behind the church, there is a graveyard that holds the remains of many of Astoria’s early settlers such as the Blackwells and the Trowbridges, and a few Halletts. From Alan Arichavala

Hell Gate Lighthouse, 1931. Constructed at the entrance to hazardous Hell Gate Passage between New York City's East River and western Long Island Sound, this small pyramidal lighthouse was lit in 1888. The wooden structure replaced a metal one that had been erected four years earlier and was darkened after only two years. That initial structure was 255-feet-tall and included an electric light that was described by the New York Times as "the most powerful light that has ever been put in a lighthouse." It should be noted, this beam was not a beacon to distant ships, but a giant electrical floodlight. It was decommissioned because shippers complained it was too bright and more of a distraction than a help. A 1931 article in the Times mentions that the Hell Gate Lighthouse was being modernized. It is unclear if the wooden pyramid was demolished at that time or a later date. Today, the light is mounted on one of the outfield light stands of Whitey Ford Field, a city-operated baseball diamond.

Entrance to the 92nd Street Ferry, at the foot of Astoria Boulevard (formerly Fulton Street), March 9, 1931. Municipal ferry service operated from Astoria to 92nd Street between 1867 and the 1936 opening of the Triborough Bridge. Prior to the introduction of regular steam ferry services, various irregular — and unusual — private ferry operations carried passengers from Astoria to Manhattan. During the 1830s, these included Stephen Halsey’s “horse ferries,” boats powered by yoked teams of horses walking in circles on deck.

The earliest ferry to Hallets Point in the mid-1600s used the same location as the modern service – on Hallets Cove. The early boats were summoned by a bell on the opposite shore. During the Revolution, the British started regular service. Steven Halsey, the “Father of Astoria” purchased steamboats that kept regular schedule between the tip of Hallets Point and Manhattan. Service terminated with the opening the Triborough Bridge in the 1930s. There is new interest in reviving direct service to Yorkville

9-29 27th Avenue One of the homes in the original village of Astoria, this stately Italianate was constructed for a local doctor. It is one of a handful of large homes that remain of the original village residences. It is located within the largest concentration of these historic buildings between 9th and 14th Streets and 26th and 27th Avenues. Called the Chamberlain-Taylor (deWayt) house (for the various doctors who owned it), it was constructed in the early 1840s. In 2013 the house, which had been gut renovated, was put up for sale for $1.5 million before being removed from the market soon after.

The Samuel Blackwell Mansion (1826 – 1950s) built in the style of an ante-bellum southern planter’s house, was on the highest ground in Astoria with a view of the East River from Roosevelt Island to Hell Gate. Fallen from glory its replaced by a church in the 1960s.

Two small buildings (actually on 27th Avenue) were likely the two small buildings depicted in an early drawing of Ft. Stevens (a War of 1812 fortification on Hallets Point). They disappeared about 2005.

Join Adelaide, as she traverses through Queens and discovers its many historical and hidden secrets!

Robert M. Blackwell House

Still standing (2020) it may be an 18th century survivor perhaps built when the area was a large British camp during the American Revolution. A number of adjacent buildings are gone (as of 2018) despite pleas for saving or at least conducting an archaeological assessment. A former tenant in one of the removed buildings, as a child, found a number of early 19th century coins in his yard.

Twin wood-frame houses on Orchard Street (now 26th Avenue), October 9, 1935. The houses appear on maps of Hallett’s Point as early as 1903, and may date to the late 1890s. (No. 3-10 is at left, 3-08 at right.)

The First Reformed Church of Astoria was organized in 1839 by a group of Christians who had previously been meeting in the local schoolhouse since 1835. The original church, a white wood-frame structure, like many wooden churches in New York, was lost to a fire. Following the fire in 1888, a new brick house of worship was completed on the same site. The Victorian Gothic building has terra cotta and copper details, and a soaring (and ornate) octagonal tower and steeple.

St. George's Episcopal Church, Parish House, May 25, 1937. This clapboard building began its life in 1828 as the Astoria Institute for the Education of Young Ladies, a finishing school for the young daughters of the wealthy families residing in the mansions of nearby Hallet's Cove. Sometime after St. George's built their brick church next door (circa 1903-1903), this building became its parish house. In the early 2000s, as the church suffered from lack of funds, a decision was made to raze the building for the construction of senior housing.

Sunbathing in front of large free standing mansion, 1937. This Berenice Abbott photograph depicts sunbathers and a dog on the expansive lawn that surrounded this large home at 27th Avenue and 9th Street. Once the streets closest to the East River in Astoria were lined with large 18th and 19th century homes. Much like this one, which has been replaced with a large nondescript brick apartment building, most were torn down by the mid 20th century.

Astoria branch of the Queens Public Library, June 2, 1927. One of seven Carnegie Libraries built in Queens, the Astoria branch was designed by Tuthill & Higgins firm and completed in 1904. The library’s original Flemish Revival design featured angled corner entrance, framed by twin chimneys and a curved stepped gable. The distinctive entrance was removed during 1930s-era renovations.

And just like that, another year here at Urban Archive is coming to a close in just a few short days! We've asked our partners to pick some of their favorite stories, images, and facts they encountered this year to share with you. Check them out below!

From mansions to tenements, when it comes to housing, New York has it all. This New York Public Library collection examines housing in New York since the mid-19th century, with a particular focus on vernacular and wood-frame structures across the five boroughs.

Albert Gallatin House, 1937. The house at the southeast corner of Vernon Boulevard and 30th Road was the 1800- built Albert Gallatin House (also called the General Ebenezer Stevens House, for its original owner, a participant at the Boston Tea Party). Gallatin was the Swiss born American politician, diplomat, and linguist. He was one of the founders of the University of the City of New York, which is now New York University, and he also founded American Ethnological Society. He served as Secretary of the Treasury for 13 years (the longest tenure of a Treasury Secretary in U.S. history). In 1849 he passed away at this home in Astoria at age 88. Fun Fact: His visage was on the U.S $500 bill that was printed in 1862–63. The building seen here was once part of a larger mansion that was split up and moved apart sometime in the 19th century. Like many of the colonial and Victorian homes that survived into the 20th century in Astoria, this home and its wood-frame neighbors were demolished in the 1930s and 1940s as the now sizable population of Astoria was in need of residences and public institutions, and local manufacturing was booming.

Although the capitals of the columns are missing, this large house with its tetrastyle porch was a good example of the handsome architecture produced by the Greek Revival, in which an otherwise ordinary rectangular house might acquire both elegance and a certain degree of distinction through the addition of such a porch.