Photo: Rafael Herrin-Ferri/Architectural League of New York
“Eclectic Row, Briarwood, NY” (2017), from the exhibit All the Queens Houses.
How much do you know about Queens, New York, a Big Apple borough located on Long Island? I think you’ll like this. A photographer, intrigued by the fiercely independent architectural self-expression of the borough’s denizens, recently showcased some of the quirkiest styles at the Architectural League of New York.
As Allison Meier reports at Hyperallergic, “In 2012, Rafael Herrin-Ferri began systematically photographing the houses of Queens, the New York City borough he calls home. The Spanish-born artist and architect lives in Sunnyside, one of the many neighborhoods which make up one of the world’s most ethnically diverse urban areas. Herrin-Ferri noticed that the architecture of Queens reflected this diversity. ,,,
“Over 270 of Herrin-Ferri’s photographs of 34 neighborhoods [were recently] installed at the Architectural League of New York in All the Queens Houses. … The ongoing photographic survey can be explored on his project website, also called All the Queens Houses. There viewers can explore by neighborhood, typologies (like detached houses and apartment buildings), and architectural details (including stoops and gardens). There’s a map of where he’s surveyed houses, with about a third of the borough covered in 5,000 photographs.
“ ‘I have always been interested in houses and was impressed by how idiosyncratic — and unorthodox — the low-rise housing stock is,’ Herrin-Ferri said. ‘They express the personal preferences and cultural backgrounds of their owners without much regard for what is “correct,” marketable, or fashionable. … I started this series of house portraits with the idea that it would reveal something about the urban vernacular in the “world’s borough.” ‘ …
“He believes that the community demographics inspire an ‘urbanism of tolerance’ for more extreme experiments in architecture. …
“ ‘[Most] residents of Queens … accept multiculturalism and embrace a laissez-faire attitude about building,’ Herrin-Ferri said. ‘Homeowners that I have talked to understand that people from different cultures have different ideas about what their houses should look like, and there is mutual respect.’ ”
See more photos at Hyperallergic, here.
Photo: Rafael Herrin-Ferri/Architectural League of New York
“Splayed Brick-and-Stone Rusticated Entry Porch, Maspeth, NY” (2015), from All the Queens Houses.
Suzanne's Mom's Blog 
Thanks for this post, Suzanne’s mom. This is a fascinating project. Rafael, by the way, is an architect by profession as well as a photographer. He’s originally from Ithaca NY–and, incidentally, grew up in the house in which my family and I now live!
What a small world! Thanks for letting us know.
Wonderful. I appreciate this post. Have sent it forward to an architect.
One could not have a better example of how the architecture of a home reflects the people who live in it.
Thank you for this lovely post. As you may remember, I spent most of my childhood summers living at my maternal grandmother’s small house at 47-39 197th Street on the border of Flushing/Bayside in Queens. I love seeing these houses — I still dream on a regular basis that I am returning to my grandmother’s house. Now I am going to explore Rafael’s web site and get more imagery for upcoming dream visits…
Thank you for reminding me. If I didn’t know before, I know now that people who grow up around creative architecture may become uniquely creative themselves.
That splayed entryway is amazing! New York is such a fascinating, strange city. There’s a great book, Island at the Center of the World, that focuses on the Dutch beginnings of Manhattan and the other boroughs, and posits that it was those Dutch roots that took hold and made the city the diverse, accepting, open-hearted place it still is today and different, in many ways, from other large American cities.
That is really interesting. I will look for that book.