Richmond Hill

Understanding Richmond Hill

The Landmarks Preservation Commission describes Albon Platt Man and Oliver Fowler developing Richmond Hill as a planned suburb beside the Long Island Rail Road. Between 1868 and 1874, streets, a school and a church accompanied the division of about 250 acres into building lots. Landscape designer Edward Richmond helped shape the plan.

The 1908 club building housed a political club and a post office. Lectures, parades, picnics and dinners made it a community meeting place as well as a party institution. During the First World War it served as a retreat for armed-forces members.

QPL records Richmond Hill’s local library service beginning in the 1890s. Its surviving Carnegie-funded building is still a public library. The current branch provides a different way to encounter civic history from viewing the former club’s exterior.

Places to explore

• Former Richmond Hill Republican Club

  86-15 Lefferts Boulevard

  Architect Henry E. Haugaard designed this Colonial Revival building. LPC identifies its pediment, Roman brickwork and cornice among the characteristic details. View the exterior from the public street; interior visitor arrangements and current use have not been verified.

• Richmond Hill Library

  118-14 Hillside Avenue

  The operating Carnegie-era branch offers books, computers and public programs. QPL lists wheelchair access and accepts returns during opening hours only. A program from the current calendar gives a reason to go inside.

• Forest Park

  Separate parkland north of the residential area

  The woodland park grew from city acquisitions beginning in 1895. Choose a specific entrance and activity for a longer outdoor visit; it has a separate outline from Richmond Hill.

Planning a visit

Use the Lefferts Boulevard address for the former club and Hillside Avenue for the library. Choose a Forest Park entrance separately; no shortcut through other property is implied.

Confirm library hours before travel and check park notices separately.