2. A Magnolia Grandiflora Tree

Yep, there is a living tree that is a designated New York City Landmark. The landmarked Magnolia Grandiflora can be found on Lafayette Avenue, between Marcy and Tompkins Avenues, in Bedford-Stuyvesant, Brooklyn. It is one of two trees that have been landmarked by the city. The second tree was a Weeping Beech located next to one of the oldest houses in Queens, the Bowne House. That tree sadly died in 1998 and no longer stands.

Brooklyn’s landmarked tree was planted in 1885 by William Lemken in front of his townhouse. Native to North Carolina, the evergreen blooms with white lemon-scented flowers. It is rare for this type of tree to survive north of Philadelphia. The tree was unanimously designated a landmark on February 3, 1970 due to “its inherent beauty as welI as for its rare hardiness” which made it “a neighborhood symbol and a focus of community pride.”