The Office of Council Member Paul A.

Vallone
New York City Council, District 19
Lionel Morales, Communications Director at Office of Council Member Paul A. Vallone
347-886-9340 lhmorales89@gmail.com

For Immediate Release

Vallone Secures Two Victories with the

Landmarks Preservation Commission
December 2nd, 2014
In the past week, the residents of Northeast Queens have scored two victories with the
Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC). First, the LPC has officially landmarked the
Hawthorne Court Apartments in Bayside. These apartments were built during the late
1920s and early 1930s in the Tudor Revival style and designed by the Architect Benjamin
Braunstein. The Bayside Historical Society launched a campaign to protect this complex
and the movement was supported by Council Member Vallone, who wrote a letter to the
LPC declaring his support of a landmark designation.
"I am proud to have supported the land marking of the Hawthorne Court Apartments
and thank the Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) for granting them the
designation," said Council Member Vallone. I believe this location is a prime example of
the historic, award winning Tudor design and high quality development that the LPC must
protect. The Hawthorne Court Apartments have withstood the test of time and most
importantly, they are iconic of the character of the surrounding neighborhood."
As a classic example of Tudor-revival apartments built when Bayside was fast developing as
a 20th-century railroad suburb of NYC, the Bayside Historical Society has long been an
advocate for landmark designation of the Hawthorne Apartments in Bayside and welcome
the news of its pending designation with great joy and anticipation said Paul DiBenedetto,
President of the Bayside Historical Society.
Further east, the LPC has had an expansion of the Douglaston Historic District calendared
since 2008. However, a large majority of the homeowners who reside in the area that
would be included in the expansion have strongly voiced their opposition to being
landmarked. In March of this year, Council Member Vallone met with a group of these
homeowners who presented him with a petition signed by 11 of the 17 affected
homeowners who were opposed to the expansion. Additionally, in 2008, Community
Board 11 voted against the expansion nearly 2 to 1. Council Member Vallone consulted
with the LPC at length in regard to this expansion as well as the Hawthorne Court
Apartments land marking. Just this week, the LPC announced that the Douglaston
Historic District expansion is set to be decalendared on December 9th, a huge win for these
homeowners.

There are times when land marking is improper as it imposes undue restrictions on the
rights of homeowners to renovate, modify or even sell their properties as they wish, said
Council Member Vallone. When a majority of homeowners are against it, land marking
does not provide a benefit to the city that can override the wishes of these residents. After
years of indecision on both this expansion and the land marking of the Hawthorne Court
Apartments, I am glad that our correspondence with the LPC resulted in both of these
favorable outcomes.
A small group of a dozen homeowners, just outside Douglas Manor in Douglaston
Queens, has just been victorious in a seven year crusade waged to avert being landmarked
and retain control and autonomy over their homes and properties, said Franklin White,
one of the vocal homeowners opposing the land marking. The key elements in this victory
were the unequivocal support of our Community Board 11 and the forceful backing of our
Councilman, Paul Vallone. Without their support, our homeowner crusade would have
been in vain, and we really didnt want to lose this one.
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