Real Estate For Sale in Holliswood, NY

Holliswood is a neighborhood in North Eastern Queens, NY that is quite unique.

It is bound by Hillside Avenue to the South, 188th Street to the West, Grand Central Parkway to the North and Francis Lewis Boulevard to the East.

What makes Holliswood so unique is its unusual beginnings. It is said that in 1884 Frederick W. Dunton, nephew of the first president of the Long Island Rail Road, was traveling East to Long Island when he first laid eyes on the rolling hills of what is now known as Hollis and Holliswood.

He became so enchanted by the beauty of the land that he was inspired to purchase it and had visions of developing his own idea of what a Utopian neighborhood would be.

He bought 136 acres of farmland and divided it into lots for sale. However, unlike other nearby neighborhoods like Fresh Meadows, and Jamaica that have lot lines based on a grid system, Dunton opted instead to preserve the roll of the hills. He went on to carve out the streets and lots in mostly waved and circular patterns.

Dunton's vision didn't end there - he made the lots larger than normal and mostly irregularly shaped, he did not want sidewaks and he took an unusual approach to naming the streets.

Many of the street names have a Latin and Spanish influence, such as Marengo, Rio and Como. He even gave us clever clues with the names, i.e., all the streets that are circular or waved have the letter "O" in them, the few straight streets, such as McLaughlin Avenue do not.

Epson Course was built to be used as a trotting race course, and, many famous trotters were spotted on Epson Course back in the day!

For himself he reserved a big lot at the southern edge of Holliswood on Dunton Avenue and built a big and beautiful mansion called Hollis Hall with views all the way to the Atlantic ocean.

After Mr. Dunton’s death, Hollis Hall was sold and became a restaurant named Brown’s Chop House - which was reported to have been a speakeasy during prohibition.

When prohibition ended, Brown’s Chop House was torn down. The hill on which it stood was leveled, and the garden apartment complex called Holliswood Gardens was erected on the site in 1949.

Today, the residents of Holliswood love how different their neighborhood is from all the rest, and they've fought hard to preserve Dunton's vision by not allowing NYC to put in sidewalks and having the zoning changed to R1-2 (which doesn't allow for 2 family residences).

Homes in Holliswood range in price from $525K to $1.9M.

If you are interested in buying or selling a home in Holliswood, NY call Cristina and Karen today at 917-921-5397, or 516-428-5209.