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Kingsland Homestead

The late 18th century Kingsland Homestead stands in a small park in Flushing, in tire shade of the landmark Weeping Beech tree, planted in 1847. It is the headquarters of the Queens Historical Society. Kingsland is located steps away G-onr tire 17th century Bowne House (the place where Quakers were first permitted to meet in New Amsterdam). Charles Doughty, who built the homestead about 1785, was the son of Benjamin Doughty, a wealthy Quaker who purchased land on the old turnpike in Flushing. The name "Kingsland" derives from Doughty's son-in-law, British sea captain Joseph King, who bought the home in 1801. Tire two-and-a-Half story homestead has a gambrel roof, a crescent-shaped window in a side gable, and a Dutch-style front door split across the center. There is also an unusually wide hall arid a largely intact original chimney. In 1805 Captain King overlaid the original exterior with shingles on all but the west side of the house.

The first floor is used for exhibits depicting Queens history, drawing on the collection of the Queens Historical Society and community resources. A second floor parlor is decorated as if it belonged to a middle-class Victorian family Personal mementos such as lacework, diaries, notebooks and eyeglasses belonging to the Doughty and King families and later residents are _ displayed frorn time to time. 

In 1923 a proposed subway extension threatened to destroy the house, and it was moved to the site or a nearby stable that Captain King had built. more than a century before. When the house was endangered by new construction in 1968, tire three-year-old Kingsland Preservation Committee had it transferred to its present. location oil property that once belonged to Samuel Parsons, a Flushing Nurseryman. The move preserved a house typical of its time but rare today.

Business Hours: 9:30 AM.- 5:.00 PM, Monday to Friday
Museum Hours: 2:30 - 4:30 I'M, 'I'uesclay-Saturday-Sunday
Admission: $3 Adults - $2 Students/Seniors
Group Tours by appointment
Group Tour Admission: $3 Adults/Seniors - $2 Students
QHS Members FREE
Library Research fee- Free - without services of Researcher
Contribution - with services of Researcher
Photographic Reproduction - fee - varies upon size of reproduction
HANDICAP
ACCESSIBLE

BATTEN DOOR

The Federal period chimney piece in the back parlor is installed with an iron Franklin stove marked George Youle New York. The stove was installed in 1812 and cost $26'plus 25 for cartage. The Franklin stove was invented by Benjamin
Franklin in 1747. It came in many shapes but was always cast iron.

It has a built in cold air box and a flue designed to heat air in the chamber at the back of the fireplace, which in this case is the front parlor. Unlike the front fireplace, including the marble pieces which surround the stove and the stone hearth, visible to the left and right.

The back hall door, also a split "Dutch Door", is comparable in size and finish to the front door. It retains the fielded panel joiner and original hardware. An inoperable four light transom surmounts the doorway. The back door of the wing is of the batten type with a typical Suffolk latch.

The staircase is intact exoapt for the repair of the railing and balusters and the reconstruction of the bottom steps and landing. The steps and supporting carriage are of 18th century construction. They are intact in a straight run beneath the later lower landing. The panelling of the landing visible in the front hall suggests o mid 19th century date for this alteration. It retains an early whitewash finish within the closet area.

BALUSTRADE

by HEIDI FRIED
For the
QUEENS HISTORICAL SOCIETY

Due to its sale out of the family and its various stages of disrepair, KINGSLAND has not retained most of its' wellscaled example of the Long Island Half House which was popular during the late 18th and early 19th centuries. The Half House type employs space saving devices and compact features such as: a central chimney, a dependent kitchen wing, a central side hall and three front windows instead of the usual five.


KINGSLAND has a distinctive gambrel roof. The gambrel roof allowed houses to be both tall and wide, resulting in a fully useable attic space and a properly supported chimney.

It appears that KINGSLAND was originally sheathed with flush boarding and clapboards. The flush boarding is still visible on the main story of the front facade, whereas the original facing on the side and back are concealed beneath wood shingles placed by Captain Joseph King in 1808.

GAMBREL

"Dutch doors" were widely employed throughout Long Island, Connecticut and other parts of New England. The origin of the term remains obscure because the form was not limited to dwellings associated with Dutch craftsmen or ownership. The doors were utilitarian rather than decorative in nature; during the day the bottom remained shut. This allowed the sunlight in; kept the farm animals out and held the small children within the home.

The main hall occupies the left side of the first floor. It stretches from the front to the back and contains the staircase to the second story. The hall is unusually wide in proportion to its length. Front and back chambers flank the hall. The center chimney allows for fireplaces in each parlor. Built in cupboards allow access between the rooms.

The floors of the first two stories are intact but covered with a narrow gauge sawn fir flooring. The original floor is made of much larger and more uneven planes of wood.


The fireplace in the front parlor is a Federal period piece attributed to early King family ownership. The Federal style in American furniture was widely used in the late 18th and early 19th centuries. It is basically neoclassic and can be identified by its simple structure, linear decorative work, use of pediments and columns and a white or cream coloring. The fireplace wall incorporates paneling, applied cornice moulding and a chimney piece which is essentially intact from the original construction of the house. The shelf is supported on deep cove and smaller applied mouldings. The fireplace itself has been rebuilt and the hearth has been replaced with bricks placed in a herringbone pattern and laid in cement.

MOULDING

Cavetto or Cove "
r HERRINGBONE WORK

In 1808, KINGSLAND was renovated by Captain Joseph King. Among other things, he joined the two parlors with passageways. Formally, the only way to get from one parlor to the other was to walk through the main hall. Within the passageways, additional pantry space was constructed. The deeper of the two spaces, which lies closest to the boards, has been altered for use as display cabinets. The drawers themselves, which retain unpainted interiors and dovetailed fronts, were also modified at a later date as hinged storage spaces.