Parkway Village

Parkway Village is a 35-acre residential complex in Queens, built in 1946-47 to house the international staff of the newly formed United Nations. Leonard Schultze & Associates designed it, drawing on experience with planned garden-apartment communities such as Parkfairfax in Virginia, and Clarence C. Combs created the landscape plan. Two internal roads, Charter Road and Village Road, link three main entrances, and buildings are grouped around courtyards and green spaces, with only 16 percent of the land covered by structures. The 109 buildings hold 685 mostly residential units. They are framed in concrete block, faced in red brick, and finished with clay tile roofs and neo-Georgian trim suggesting 18th-century colonial models. The buildings come in nine basic shapes with eighteen variants, mainly in entrance detailing. Five pairs of brick gateposts mark the entrances. Residents have included Ralph Bunche and Roy Wilkins. The plan, buildings and gateposts are the contributing elements of the district.