Sunnyside Gardens Park

48-21 39th Avenue | also 39 Avenue | Sunnyside

Open on the map3 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

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.

  1. 1926

    The City Housing Corporation gives Sunnyside a three-acre park of its own

    In 1926 the City Housing Corporation, developer of Sunnyside Gardens, donated a park of roughly three acres, with playground equipment and a community center, for the residents' children and adults. Deeded to the Community Trust for the neighborhood's continued use, it is described by the Landmarks Preservation Commission as the largest privately held park in New York City, and from the start it hosted community meetings, classes for children and adults, and a local nursery school.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1926

    A two-story brick community center rises in the park with an apartment upstairs for its director

    The park's two-story brick community center went up around 1926, paid for with money from the City Housing Corporation. Under an asphalt-shingled gable roof it holds restrooms, a meeting room and the park office, and its second floor was planned as living quarters for the park director, a use that was continuing when the Landmarks Preservation Commission described the building for the historic district.

    “The two-story, brick community center building, constructed c.1926 with funds donated by the CHC, ... The second floor was designed as an apartment for the park director…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 2007

    The landmarks report finds half of the park paved for tennis, basketball and a playground

    In its 2007 report on the historic district, the Landmarks Preservation Commission found about half of Sunnyside Gardens Park paved. It held a playground, three tennis courts, a basketball court, a little wading pool, a dirt-and-grass baseball field and a picnic lawn with tables and barbecues, entered by a gated path from 39th Avenue. Earlier the grounds had offered croquet and horseshoe pitches, volleyball and handball courts, two children's play courts and landscaped gardens.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Nearby

All 613 buildings with stories in Sunnyside