old timer FOR BREAKING NEWS VISIT www.qns.com SEPTEMBER 22, 2016 • TIMES 31 HEATING UP RIDGEWOOD’S ‘COLD WATER FLATS’ Patriotic banners ew from the Mathews Flats apartment houses on Palmetto Street between Fairview and Forest avenues in this photo taken on July 4, 1917. The Myrtle Avenue streetscape in Ridgewood in 1950 If you have any memories and photos that you’d like to share about “Our Neighborhood: The Way it Was,” write to The Old Timer, c/o Ridgewood Times, 62-70 Fresh Pond Rd., Ridgewood, NY 11385, or send an email to [email protected]. All mailed pictures will be carefully returned upon request. Summer has just ended, and once the fi rst chilly night of autumn arrives in a few weeks, landlords around Our Neighborhood will need to turn the heat on. Many of the buildings in our area are heated through central systems powered by an oil or gas burner. Heating isn’t merely an option, but rather a requirement for those in apartment buildings; city law requires that heating systems be activated once the outdoor temperature dips below 58 degrees. Decades ago, however, when the Mathews fl ats and other six-family homes were developed in Ridgewood, there was no central heating or hot water systems. The develoopers mass-produced these homes at a cost of about $8,000 each, then turned them around and sold them to individuals for $11,000. Without a central heating system, each of these apartments had just one source of heat in the form of a coal stove in the kitchen with a gas range on top and a kerosene heater in the parlor. A gas heater in the kitchen provided the hot water to what became known as “cold water fl ats.” Throughout the fi rst half of the 20th century, most Ridgewood residents lived in these cold water fl ats. While often chilly in the winter and fall, they still proved to be better homes than the tenements of Manhattan. As Ridgewood was further developed, builders began adding central heating and hot water systems. However, these systems only became a requirement in November 1959, when the City of New York enacted legislation mandating that all landlords install these systems in every building, including cold water fl ats. The city allowed the landlords to increase their rents in order to offset the installation costs. The average price for these systems ranged between $3,200 to $4,200, depending on whether the landlord opted for steam heat or hot water, and the number of radiators placed throughout the building. The Ridgewood Times published a letter in its March 16, 2000 issue in which reader Arthur Schneider Jr. recalled living in a cold water fl at on Bleecker Street between Onderdonk and Woodward avenues. Before the heating and hot water systems were installed, he paid $28.75 per month in rent. Once the systems arrived and activated, however, his rent jumped to a whopping $52.50 per month. Such rates in today’s rental market in Ridgewood might afford one the right to sit on the stoop for a couple of hours. What’s in a name? Myrtle Avenue Myrtle Avenue is one of the most important roads in the entire city, running from Richmond Hill in Queens all the way to Downtown Brooklyn. It’s named for the myrtle tree, which is common in Mediterranean nations but was also present in the area when the road was fi rst developed. The street is believed to have been started as a plank road, lined with planks of wood in order to provide a relatively stable way for horse-drawn carriages to travel in all conditions. Over time, the plank road was removed to accommodate the Knickerbocker Stage Coach Line, one of the fi rst public transportation lines to serve the Ridgewood and Glendale areas. Myrtle Avenue was the primary road for Brooklyn and Manhattan residents traveling to the many picnic parks that sprang up in present-day Ridgewood and Glendale. When the parks were eventually developed into residential communities, much of Myrtle Avenue became the go-to commercial strip that it is today. Hundreds of businesses presently line Myrtle Avenue in Glendale and Ridgewood, including supermarkets, clothing stores, hardware shops, furniture dealers, fl orists and restaurants. The trolley lines are long gone, and the Q55 bus line serves as Myrtle Avenue’s primary public transportation route in Queens, running from Richmond Hill to the Ridgewood Intermodal Terminal on the Brooklyn/Queens border.
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