5. Josiah Blackwell House, Astoria
Another grand mansion that once stood along the former Franklin Avenue in Astoria was the Josiah Blackwell House. Located around what is today 27th Ave and 8th Street, the home belonged to a decsenadnat of Robert Blackwell, owner of Blackwell’s Island, now Roosevelt Island. The image of the home above was captured in 1937 by photographer Berenice Abbott.
The lost Queens mansion in Astoria remained in the family until the early 1920s when it was sold and converted to a boarding house. It was demolished and replaced by the Astoria Houses in the 1940s.
