21-42 45th Avenue

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.

1861
Union College trustees buy the Van Alst farm, land that later holds 45th Avenue
The land under the Hunters Point Historic District was once part of the Van Alst farm; two large plantations there were confirmed to George Van Alst on September 16, 1670. The family kept them for nearly two centuries until 1861, when Union College's trustees bought them to add to their Hunters Point holdings. Construction on East Twelfth Street, now 45th Avenue, got under way in the early 1870s.
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission
1889
Three brick apartment houses with angled bays rise at 21-42 to 21-46
No. 21-42 is one of three brick apartment houses, Nos. 21-42 through 21-46, built in 1889. Shallow three-sided bays, with a window in each face, run up all four stories and are capped by a sheetmetal cornice on long brackets. The Landmarks Preservation Commission called the group late examples of the Queen Anne style, noting their high narrow windows and stone-banded brickwork.
“The facades of these three brick apartment houses of 1889 have shallow, angular bays with sides which project obliquely from the wall.”
Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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