Joseph Meyerrose House

66-79 Forest Avenue | Ridgewood | built 1906

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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. 1906

    Joseph Meyerrose replaces his family's farmhouse with a brick mansion

    Joseph Meyerrose, son of the early Ridgewood farmer Joachim Meyerrose, built this house in 1906 at the corner of Putnam Avenue because the family's old farmhouse was being torn down for development. Louis Berger & Company designed it. Meyerrose was prominent in Ridgewood and Queens politics for more than 35 years and had been elected Queens County sheriff in 1903. The house first stood on a 200-by-200-foot lot.

    “In 1906, Meyerrose built a large brick house at what is now 66-75 Forest Avenue (Illustration 1) at the corner of Putnam Avenue…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1922

    The Queens Labor Lyceum buys the Meyerrose house and adds a social hall

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    The Meyerrose family lived here until 1920. Two years later they sold the house to the Queens Labor Lyceum, a club serving the area's union members, many of whom worked in the local breweries. The Lyceum built an addition behind the original house as a hall for public lectures, concerts and civic events.

    “…sold it in 1922 to the Queens Labor Lyceum, a social club for the unionized residents of the area, many of whom worked at the local breweries…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1960

    Labor Lyceum membership falls as Ridgewood's factories decline

    The Queens Labor Lyceum served workers from nearby plants, breweries among them, with lectures, concerts and civic events, and later became a place for drinking, parties and catering. Its membership was highest from the 1930s through the years after World War II. In the 1960s, as manufacturing in the area declined, membership began to drop.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  4. 1975

    The former Meyerrose house becomes a knitting mill

    In 1975 the former Meyerrose house, owned by the Queens Labor Lyceum since 1922, was converted into a knitting mill. The mill occupied the site through the rest of the 1970s and into the 1980s.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  5. 2014

    A Romanian Orthodox church makes its home in the old Meyerrose mansion

    By the time the Landmarks Preservation Commission designated the Central Ridgewood Historic District in 2014, the house was home to the Descent of the Holy Spirit Romanian Orthodox Church, and a non-historic cross had been added to the pediment of its porch. A sprinkler system had also been run along the porch ceiling, and a freestanding sign of wood, metal and glass had been put up.

    “Today is home to Descent of the Holy Spirit Romanian Orthodox Church.”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Nearby

All 1,266 buildings with stories in Ridgewood