21-41 45th Avenue
Long Island City | built 1879
Open on the map2 entries
The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.
Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.
- 1870
Spencer Root and John Rust buy the 45th Avenue land from Union College
On December 22, 1870, two developers, Spencer B. Root, who came from Greenfield, Massachusetts, and Brooklyn's John P. Rust, bought land on what was then East Twelfth Street from Union College and started building the houses that line it. The pair are said to have gone bankrupt before meeting their obligations. The street's first residents were old American families, soon followed by families of Irish descent, many of whose men held posts in Long Island City's government.
“John P. Rust of Brooklyn, New York who bought the land from Union College on December 22, 1870…”
- 1870
Root & Rust build 21-41 as one of six plain Italianate brick houses
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Root & Rust built No. 21-41 in the 1870s as part of a group of six three-story brick houses, Nos. 21-41 through 21-51, in a much plainer version of the Italianate style than their other rows on the block. Set on 16-foot lots, narrower than those of the earlier rows, the houses have more upright windows and unadorned lintels and sills. The Landmarks Preservation Commission's district report noted that No. 21-41 still had its stoop with cast-iron handrails.
“This group of six brick houses, also built by Root & Rust in the 1870's, is a much simpler version of the Italianate style.”
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- 21-43 45th Avenue2 entries
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- 21-47 45th Avenue1 entry
- 21-35 45th Avenue1 entry