Addisleigh Park Historic District

Centered on Murdoch Avenue and containing approximately 426 buildings, this district includes residential buildings constructed between 1910 and 1940, the St. Albans Congregational Church (1958-59, Willliam H. Heidtmann of Gibbons and Heidtmann) and the Robert Ross Johnson Family Life Center (1983-84, Gibbons, Heidtmann and Salvador), as well as St. Albans Park. Many of the houses are sited away from the street with large expanses of lawn. The structures are primarily in the English Tudor, Colonial and Mediterranean Revival styles, all popular forms in the first decades of the twentieth century.

The first houses in Addisleigh Park were constructed in the 1910s and 1920s, largely located near the Long Island Railroad stations and St. Albans golf course. The Colonial Revival style predominates here, with many houses featuring symmetrical designs, fanlights, and sidelights near entries and pediments. Speculative development commenced in 1926, and the Tudor Revival style became increasingly prevalent. These houses feature asymmetrical facades, stucco and brick cladding, with half-timbering and steeply pitched gables.

The area is also notable for its connection to the Civil Rights movement. Homeownership in Addisleigh Park development was initially limited to whites due to restrictive covenants that prohibited the sale of property to African Americans. However, this policy was overturned through a combination of individual action and court intervention. The U.S. Supreme Court ruled in the case of Shelley v. Kramer (1948) that states' enforcement of racially restrictive covenants was a violation of equal protection required under the Fourteenth Amendment. Following this decision, the racial makeup of the neighborhood became more diverse. By the 1950s, residents included actress and singer Lena Horne, composer and bandleader Count Basie, jazz bassist Milt Hinton, athletes Jackie Robinson and Roy Campanella, and renowned jazz singer Ella Fitzgerald. ©2014