Far Rockaway Firehouse, Police Station Become Landmarks

FAR ROCKAWAY -- Two early 20th-century buildings in Far Rockaway became the city's newest landmarks on Tuesday for the "period of significant growth" they represent in the neighborhood.

The Landmarks Preservation Commission awarded the designations to a historic firehouse at 16-15 Central Ave. and the city's first Rockaway police station at 16-12 Mott Ave., calling the landmarks "outstanding examples of early 2oth-century civic buildings."

In the decades after New York City's five borough's were consolidated, these two were among several government buildings designed by well-known architects the city hired to make its civic structures stand out from private ones, the LPC said.

"These impressive buildings reflect an era of architectural expression in municipal services buildings and foster civic pride," said LPC Chair Meenakshi Srinivasan.

The Far Rockaway Firehouse, also known as Engine Companies 264 & 328/Hook and Ladder 134, was one of only three firehouses designed by prominent architecture firm Hoppin & Koen. The three-story building was erected in 1912 with monumental columns, arched vehicle bays and rusticated limestone on the ground floor, according to the LPC.

The NYPD's former 53rd Precinct Police Station - now the 101st Precinct - was built in early 1929 by then-Police Department Superintendent of Buildings Thomas O'Brien. The three-story brick building combined Renaissance Revival and Colonial Revival architecture styles to make the city's first police station in the Rockaways.

Queens City Councilman Donovan Richards lauded the LPC for landmarking the two buildings, calling them neighborhood "staples" that have housed "some of our most precious civil servants" for around a decade.

"The landmark designation of these sites will carry on the character of the neighborhood that was set when our community was first being shaped," Richards said.

(Lead image: The NYPD's newly-landmarked 101st Precinct Police Station at 16-12 Mott Ave. Photo via Google Maps)