Lent Homestead
78-03 19th Road | Steinway | built 1729
Open on the map4 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.
- 1729
Abraham Lent, grandson of Abraham Riker, builds a stone Dutch Colonial farmhouse
Abraham Lent, a grandson of Abraham Riker, built this farmhouse around 1729, according to the Landmarks Preservation Commission. It is made of stone gathered from the fields and rough-hewn timber, under a steep roof that overhangs front and back; the three front dormers were added later. The garden side faces the East River, and the property held a family burial ground with early Riker and Lent tombs.
“The farmhouse dates from about 1729 and was built by Abraham Lent, grandson of Abraham Riker.”
- 1955
Fire destroys the upper part of the Lent farmhouse
Around 1955 a fire destroyed the upper portion of the house. When the Landmarks Preservation Commission described the building about a decade later, it reported that repairs had since been made and the homestead restored, though other changes over the years, such as modern casement windows, had altered it.
- 1966
The Landmarks Preservation Commission designates the Lent Homestead a city landmark
The commission designated the house on March 15, 1966, after hearings in January and February at which the owner was among those speaking in favor and no one spoke against. It called the building a fine Dutch Colonial farmhouse with excellent stonework, and one of the last such farmhouses left anywhere in Queens County.
- 2010
Owner Michael Smith dies, and his widow Marion keeps showing visitors the homestead
The house stayed with descendants of Abraham Rycken Van Lent, known as Abraham Riker, into the 20th century, then passed to the family's secretary, William Gooth. Gooth's estate sold it to the tenant, Michael Smith, who died in 2010. His widow, Marion Smith, stayed on and occasionally led tours of the garden, the downstairs rooms and exhibits, and the family cemetery, which Atlas Obscura says has 132 headstones.
Source: atlasobscura.com
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