Mary Sendek’s House Over Time

A pictoral of twenty plus photos of the house that stood against the tide.

Mary Sendek bought a house in 1925 in Elmhurst. When the house was first built in the 1870’s the street it stood on was called Hoffman Boulevard. When the Queensboro Bridge was built in the early 1900’s the name was changed to Queens Boulevard, and the role of the street started to change.   

At the time in 1925 it was still somewhat peaceful. Sure it would grow, but that would take a while. Maybe when she moved there all Mrs. Sendek was looking for was a place to call home, a place she could spend the rest of her life and never have to move again. Maybe that’s all any of us are looking for. 

I have written about Mary Sendek before, matching up several photos of her house as it changed over time . But in the years since I last wrote about her I have come across many more pictures of her house, I worked on presenting them all in this piece. All in all it’s a 100 year photographic trip across time with the backdrop of the constant of her house.

This view is west from about 56th Avenue on what was then Hoffman Blvd, the Sendek house is mid way down on the right.

 

This is looking the other way as the above shot. East from Broadway down Hoffman, the house on the left. 

 

Hoffman Boulevard and Thomson Avenues in northwest Queens were combined to create Queens Boulevard. A small part of Thomson Avenue actually still exists in Long Island City. 

 

Trolley routes lined much of western Queens until the late 1930’s when they were replaced by buses. A trolley blocks the view of the house in this photo.

 

 

The church at the far left of the photo was the old Presbyterian built in 1796. In 1895 a new church was bult across the street which still stands today. The old church was being used as a nursery school and for other secondary roles when a fire destroyed it in 1928.

Modest residences still line the street in the 1920’s. 

 

In the mid 1920’s the west side of the road was cleared for subway construction and widening. The houses had to be moved back or be demolished. The Sendek house was on the east side and so was unaffected by the change directly. This photo offers a good clear shot of the house.

 

East along Queens Boulevard from Grand Aveue. This is a good shot to get a detail of the street from the church down to the Sendek house.

 

A period of upheaval, equipment is in the street for subway line work, utility poles standing out of place, and during it all the old Presbyterian church was destroyed by a fire. It was still standing but would have to be taken down.

 

One more sad view of the old church. It was torn down in May 1929. 

 

Subway is now below the newly widened street. Queens Boulevard looks very different from itself even ten years before, yet it is still mostly residences across both sides of the street, including the Sendek house.

 

If you look behind the Sendek house in the above photo you can see some of the space that will one day become part of Macy’s. 

 

I spliced two 1935 photos to make a little wider view of what the east side of Queens Boulevard looked like at the time.

 

 

The house in 1940. The Sendeks have only lived here for 15 years at the time.  (NYC Tax document collection) 

One of the  Sendeks neighbors to the west appears to actually be standing in the doorframe of the house when this tax records photo was taken. A new street, 55th Avenue is in the city plans to be created right where this house stands.  If the Sendek’s house was even a few feet to the west of where it stood it might have had to go with it. 

Blackman Plumbing Supply was the eastern neighbor of the Sendek family house for decades. The location is now that of the Citibank branch next to round Macy’s. 

Blackman’s Plumbing in Flushing has a sign listing the 87-07 Queens Boulevard location. So they mean that house right next to Mary Sendek’s 87-01 address. This location is still  in Flushing, the company still has a website and online catalog. 

 

Aerial of Queens Boulevard before 55th Avenue is built from Justice Avenue to Queens Blvd. 85-67 Queens Blvd house still standing.

 

Aerial in 1954 showing 55th Avenue completed, the 85-67 house next to Sendek house is no more. The aerial also makes it clear that there were only about 10 houses Macy’s needed to buy land from to clear the block, if only Sendek had agreed. 

 

The block has been cleared out for construction by Macy’s with one exception, the now holdout Sendek house.  

 

The air space of the Sendek backyard meant a small notch had to be cut into the round shape of Macy’s huge circle. 

With both Sendek and Macy’s resolved to their fates, construction is completing on Macy’s.  What Sendek may have felt about Macy’s impact on her life is hard to say. 

 

The Macy’s store in Elmhurst officially opened on October 11, 1965 and it was no small event in Queens. The community hoped to be getting a store the equal of everything that Macy’s in Manhattan had become.

 

The notch Macy’s had to cut in its round circle was just part of the story. Macy’s had hoped the entire corner would be an attraction to shoppers, instead they decided to downplay the corner, and try to cut it out of many promotional materials. 

 

In 1966 a round Citibank is opening where Blackman once stood. Mary Sendeks house on the corner remains. Her house is almost one hundred years older than the Citibank or the Macy’s. 

 

One thing to look at in respect to the original design is how different the entire landscaping and sidewalks that would have led people to the store. How much of an impact on the store did her house have? It’s hard to say. Within a few years the Queens Mall was built which would become a much more popular location. Macy’s itself would move there.

 

Mary Sendek behind her house in 1965 in what is the only known photo of her. 

 

Mayor Lindsay campaign, with first astronauts on the moon Buzz Aldrin, Michael Collins, and Neil Armstrong. The Sendek house is just behind Armstrong’s arm. (LaGuardia Archive)

 

One more of the first men on the Moon parade in 1969, in this shot the house is clearly visible on the right. (LaGuardia Archive)

 

Citibank photo and Macy’s behind it. The photo seems to be intentionally  leaving out the Sendek house literally trying to pretend its not there.

 

Sendek lived through the entire decade of the 1970’s in her house, both Citibank and Macy’s were her neighbors.

 

Queens Boulevard must have seemed very different to anyone who knew it back in the 1920’s. Another modern architecture savings bank was built and a White Castle on this stretch of Queens Boulevard.  

 

Probably the last photo of the house, a year after Mary Sendek passed away.  The yard has been neglected for some time.  (NY Times photo).

 

Macy’s moved to the Queens Center Mall but its parent company attemped to make the round building work as a Stern’s store during the decade.

 

Today the space of the former Sendek house and backyard is a bank and office building. The Citibank remains next to it, and the former Macy’s is now called Queens Place Mall . The land Sendek held onto will probably never be incorporated into the rest of the block. It will forever be separate and the big building will always have the notch.

Footnote: Wikipedia states incorrectly that the circular design was in response to Sendeks refusal to sell which is not the case, Macy’s always intended to make the store round.

Posted by Todd Berkun on April 7, 2019

https://placesnomore.wordpress.com/2019/04/07/sendekhouse/