The Wyckoff Building - Symbol Of The Future 

Earlier this week, we brought you a story from 1979, the New York Daily News, about Old Woodhaven Village.  Here's the sidebar to that story, once again courtesy of PW-reader Joe Virgona.  This article details the history and the then-current condition of the Wyckoff Building.  In 1979 the windows were sealed and it was sitting in disrepair.  In this project we also take a look at the Wyckoff Building today.

Wyckoff building was `symbol of future'
February 11, 1979

written by William Neugebauer, photos by Dennis Caruso
copyright 1979 New York Daily News

Bricked tightly shut, its' windows boarded, the Wyckoff Building at 93-02 95th Ave. remains today the visual figurehead of Old Woodhaven Village and one of its most ambitious architectural structures.

The Queens Historical Society maintains that a community cultural group could renovate the handsome four-story building under state grants and use the interior as an arts center, for a dance group or for some other cultural purpose.

Society officials say the building, opened in 1890 as the home of Wyckoff & Co. a Woodhaven real estate exchange, apparently was built as "a symbol of the future" with Woodhaven's development peaking.

Late Victorian tone

The structure is designed in a late Victorian tone showing Queen Anne, Romanesque Revival and Moorish Oriental influences.  The walls are of machine-pressed brick in a soft, red color.  Extended bays and an elaborate Moorish-type onion dome with scrolled finial.  The extended bay on 95th Ave. had an octagonal peaked cap with finial and the 93rd St. bay was crowned with a balustrade centered by a solid panel emblazoned with the date 1889.

According to the society, the danger of the building's being demolished is apparent, but with the exception of bricked-in ground-floor windows and the loss of turrets and domes, "its' exterior is as fine as it was when the building was new."

Jones House survives

Another handsome surviving structure of Old Woodhaven is the L-shaped Elisha U. Jones House at 95-20 93rd St.  The house is Greek Revival in general form but Italianate in some surviving details.

The residence was built by Elisha U. Jones after 1856 and its two-story south ell is original to the house as it appears drawn in atlases of 1859, 1873 and 1891. 

"It is easy to imagine the charm and elegance this dwelling could impart if it were restored as part of the village effort," a society spokesman said.

Here are the pictures from 1979:

Here is how the building originally looked, in the 1890s:

Now take a look at it today -- what a job they did restoring it -- it's beautiful!  

Click here for the original Daily News article as it appeared. 

If you have any comments, or would like to suggest other projects, drop us a line at info@projectwoodhaven.com or projectwoodhaven@aol.com.  

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