Phipps Garden Apartments, 1932.

The Phipps Garden site had been set aside for development by the City Housing Corporation, a limited-dividend company responsible for the construction of the adjacent Sunnyside Gardens community between 1924-1928. Remaining lots were sold off, including the future Phipps Garden site — two square blocks between 50th (then Fitting) and 52nd Streets (Dickson), north of 39th Avenue (Middleberg) — which was purchased by the Society of Phipps Houses, a “model tenement group.”

Henry Phipps, a steel magnate, envisioned a development for “white collar clerical workers” and hired Clarence Stein, the Sunnyside Gardens architect, to design the complex. Phipps Garden is a notable early example of “superblock” architecture; the developer was allowed to close 51st Street (Stone) to accommodate a larger building. The first Phipps building was constructed between 1931-2, with a second building added in 1935.

In 2007, the Landmarks Preservation Commission included Phipps Garden in the Sunnyside Gardens Historic District.