WHERE: The Addisleigh Park Historic District in the St. Albans neighborhood of Queens
START/FINISH: St. Albans station (Long Island Rail Road), also Q4 bus
DISTANCE: 1.8 miles (2.9 kilometers)
Photographs by Michael Cairl. Map courtesy Google Maps.
Route of this walk, reading clockwise from the right.
Until recently I did not know about Addisleigh Park in Queens, but after a piece on the radio about the area I did some research and decided this would be worth the trip and the walk. I was not disappointed. Addisleigh Park is the African-American “Gold Coast” of New York City, perhaps more so than Sugar Hill in Manhattan. Many African-Americans who were prominent in athletics, entertainment, and letters moved here, as well as one outlier.
St. Albans is in southeast Queens. Before World War I this area was semi-rural, but since the 1910s it has been semi-suburban and easily accessible to Manhattan by the Long Island Rail Road. It is a quiet, low-traffic, low-rise neighborhood of detached houses. The main street in the area, Linden Boulevard, has a small commercial zone near the train station. Before World War II the U.S. Navy moved the Naval Hospital from the Brooklyn Navy Yard to a campus in St. Albans. That campus now houses a primary health care facility of the Department of Veterans Affairs.
At the Untapped Cities website there is an excellent look at Addisleigh Park. Take the time to read it at https://untappedcities.com/2020/06/23/explore-queens-addisleigh-park-the-african-american-gold-coast-of-ny/. But I shall quote the following by way of introduction.
The area was mainly developed in the 1920s and 1930s, developed by the Burfey Realty Company, and originally the area attracted famous golfers since Addisleigh Park was built close to the St. Albans Golf Course. Drawn by the golf course, Babe Ruth also had a home in the area at 114-07 175th Street, which was primarily settled by white families at the time. The area was initially created as a segregated area for white people, yet by the 1940s, this policy was reversed and many African-American families began to move into the area. Addisleigh Park contains around 650 homes in English Tudor and neo-Colonial Revival style, many built between 1910 and 1930.
According to Laurie Gwen Shapiro, author of The Stowaway, who recently went to the neighborhood on research for her next book and offered us the pictures, “I met many residents who asked me why I was walking around and after a few words of explanation everyone I spoke to was thrilled I was interested in local history and told me other buildings that are not listed – like where Mercer Ellington and Willie Mays and Wild Bill Davis lived. Everyone I met had lived there for over 30 years and said no one ever moves. It is home.”
The walk started at the St. Albans station on the Long Island Rail Road. Underneath the railroad overpass is a mural of some of the people who graced this Gold Coast as residents or visitors.
All West Hempstead Branch trains and some Babylon Branch trains stop here. The station is not wheelchair-accessible, and if you arrive in one of the two westernmost cars you will have to negotiate a large gap between the car and the platform. I’m grateful that a stranger helped me across that gap. If accessibility is a consideration, take the Q4 bus from the fully accessible Jamaica Center subway station (E and J trains); this stops at the St. Albans train station.
Leaving the train station, turn west (left) on Linden Boulevard and continue to 175 Street. Along the way I saw a large house with a corner turret that I had to photograph.
At 175 Street, turn right and cross Linden Boulevard. Just past Linden Boulevard, on the right, is the first house on this walk, 114-07 175 Street. This was once owned by Babe Ruth.
Cross Murdock Avenue. On the left was the next house on the walk, 113-02 175 Street, once home to jazz musician Mercer Ellington, son of Duke Ellington.
Turn left on 113 Avenue. In this block, on the right, is 173-19 113 Avenue, former home of the activist and educator W.E.B. Du Bois and author Shirley Graham.
Turn right on 173 Street and right on Adelaide Road. At the corner of 175 Street is 174-27 Adelaide Road, once home to jazz musician/band leader Count Basie.
Turn right on 175 Street, then cross Murdock Avenue and turn left. The large house on the right, 175-12 Murdock Avenue, once belonged to heavyweight boxer Joe Louis.
Continue on Murdock Avenue and turn left on 177 Street. On this block are 112-40, once home to baseball great Jackie Robinson from 1949 - 1955, and 112-27, where Herbert Mills of the Mills Brothers vocal group lived.
Jackie Robinson house.
Herbert Mills house.
Also on this block is a house I found oddly appealing.
Walk back to Murdock Avenue, turn left, then left on 178 Street. At 112-45 is the former home of the great singer Lena Horne.
Walk back to Murdock Avenue, turn left, walk two clocks to and just past 179 Street. Along the way I saw this street co-named for two pillars of this community, David and Renee Bluford. From the website of the J. Foster Phillips Funeral Home:
Renee has been honored as the recipient of numerous awards from Alpha Phi Alpha Fraternity; Jamaica Service Program for Older Adults; Greater Queens Chapter of the Links; NAACP; New York State Association of Black and Puerto Rican Legislators, Inc.; The Guy R. Brewer Democratic Club; New York City Council Member I. Daneek Miller as well as several prestigious awards from local, state, and community organizations.
There is no sidewalk on the left (north) side of Murdock Avenue between 178 Place and 179 Street; either walk in the street or on the sidewalk on the opposite side. The house at 179-07 Murdock Avenue used to be home to Ella Fitzgerald and Ray Brown.
Around the corner, at 114-10 179 Street, is where the great Brooklyn Dodgers catcher Roy Campanella lived.
Turning around (heading south) on 179 Street, walk toward Linden Boulevard. I always enjoy an outdoor Christmas display and think I found the best one in the neighborhood.
Continue to Linden Boulevard and turn left to the train station.
This was an easy walk. There are no hills and most of the sidewalks are in good condition. There is not much car traffic. It’s interesting to think of the house parties that took place here with these prominent people in attendance. Those parties must have been quite the times, especially in an era when Jim Crow was alive and well even in New York. All this, well off the tourist trail.
Onward! Happy New Year!