Sunnyside Gardens Historic District

The designation report calls Sunnyside Gardens "the first attempt to create a Garden City in the United States," and records that the City Housing Corporation purchased 76.67 acres of land in 1924, most from the Long Island Rail Road with smaller amounts from other landowners. In 1974 the New York City Planning Commission designated the area a "Special Planned Community Preservation District," one of four in the city. The designated boundary runs easterly along the southern curbline of Barnett Avenue and southerly along the western curbline of 52nd Street, historically Dickson Street, to the southern curbline of 39th Avenue, historically Middleburg Avenue. The city's GIS boundary for the designated district measures about 54 acres.