1. 1661 - Bowne House (Flushing)
2. 1694 - Friends Quaker Meeting House (Flushing)
3. 1709 - Onderdonk House (Ridgewood)
4. 1729 - Riker-Lent Homestead (Jackson Heights)
5. 1730 - King Manor (Jamaica)
6. 1735 - Van Wyck House (Douglaston Manor)
7. 1750 - Creedmor/Adriance Farmhouse (Floral Park)
8. 1780 - Kingsland Homestead (Flushing )
9. 1848 - Allen-Beville (Douglaston)
10. 1855 - William Steinway Mansion (Astoria)
11. 1856 - St. Monica’s Church (Jamaica)
12. 1862 - Flushing Town Hall (Flushing)

Source: Queens Historical Society

This nine-bedroom home in Jamaica Estates has a personal theater and is worth $3 million.

Most Expensive Properties

They’re the kind of homes that would make Robin Leech gasp: palatial abodes steeped in luxury and extravagance. In Queens, places like these are not hard to find.

1) $4,000,000
78th Avenue in Forest Hills
This three-bedroom town house comes with radiation heat floors, a fully soundproofed home theater, housekeeping quarters, a sauna, private gym, billiard room and “an all wood relaxation room.”

2) $3,889,900
Whitestone
This four-bedroom Malba house has an unobstructed water and bridge view, use of a private park, an in-ground heated pool with a spa, and proudly reminds prospective buyers its just “10 miles to midtown.”

3) $3,000,000
Jamaica Estates
This nine-bedroom home in Jamaica Estates has 20 rooms, including a personal theater on the third floor, French doors that lead into the Chinese garden, plus “polished marble and bamboo” throughout the 13,520 square-foot home.

4) $2,900,000
28 Shore Rd., Douglaston Manor
“Just a few steps from Douglaston Bay,” is this 8-bedroom home, complete with wrap-around porch, original stain glass windows, and beach and mooring rights.

At just under $3 million, this country-style house in Douglaston Manor is one of Queens’ most expensive.

5) $2,750,000
Douglaston Manor
Fifteen minutes from Kennedy Airport is this yellow, country-style home, that offers a fire place in the living room, “hi-tech kitchen with center aisle,” and a spacious front lawn to bring back the old world feeling.

6) $1,995,000
Bayside Gables
Tucked between the Bay Terrace mall and Bell Boulevard, is the exclusive Bayside Gables, where this three-bedroom home is located, complete with a limestone fireplace, slate patio, stain glass windows and a “cozy breakfast nook.”

7) $1,995,000
Greenway Terrace, Forest Hills
Just shy of the $2,000,000 mark is this 6,500 square foot Greenway Terrace, Forest Hills Garden townhouse.

Source: Real estate postings as of Sept. 27, 2004

Largest Public Housing Developments

As one of the largest public housing developments in Queens, Pomonok Houses is home to more than 4,000 people.

Although Queens has the least number of public housing developments at 28, compared to Brooklyn’s 101 developments, it does have home of the highest individual housing complex’s in the city. Queensbridge Houses is the largest single development in all of New York City at 3,101 apartments.

Queensbridge Houses – 3,101
Queensbridge Houses is the City’s largest public housing development. It has 26, six-story buildings housing some 7,000 residents.

Ravenswood Houses – 2,167
Ravenswood Houses consists of 31 buildings, six and seven-stories tall housing an estimated 4,541 people.

Pomonok Houses – 2,070
Pomonok Houses has 35 buildings, three, seven and eight-stories high on 51.98-acres housing an estimated 4,204 people.

Ocean Bay – 1,813
Located at Beach Channel Drive and Almeda Avenue, Beach 51st Street and Beach 58th Street

Woodside Houses – 1,358
Woodside Houses has 20 six-story buildings housing an estimated 3,442 people. Completed December 30, 1949, the 22.3-acre complex is between 49th and 51st Streets, 31st Avenue and Newton Road.

Astoria Houses – 1,102
Astoria Houses consists of 22 buildings, some six and some seven-stories high. The development is home to some 3,135 people.

Beach 41st Street Houses – 712
Beach Channel Drive Houses are on the Rockaway peninsula. It consists of four 13-story buildings on 13.31-acres housing an estimated 1,733 people.

Hammel Houses – 712
Hammel Houses on the Rockaway peninsula consists of 14 buildings, six and seven-stories high housing some 1,994 residents. Completed April 30, 1955, the 14.16-acre complex is bordered by Beach 81st and Beach 86th Streets, Hammels and Rockaway Beach Boulevards.

Redfern Houses – 604
Redfern Houses in the Rockaways has nine buildings, six and seven-stories high housing some 1,780 people. Completed June 1, 1959, the 18.78-acre complex is bordered by Redfern Avenue, Beach Channel Drive, Hassock and Beach 12th Streets.

South Jamaica Houses – 598
South Jamaica Houses has 11 buildings, three and four-stories tall housing some 994 residents. Completed August 1, 1940, this 9.02-acre Queens complex is between 158th and 160th Streets, South Road and 109th Avenue.

Source: New York City Housing Authority

Top Five Cheapest Rents

Queens boasts some of the most affordable housing in the city. Here is a sampling of the cheapest ways to put a roof over your head.

- $675, Far Rockaway Studio. Live on the beach at 20-10 Seagirt Blvd., a gated-in community in Far Rockaway.
- $500 for a room in a two-bedroom apartment in hip Astoria is pretty easy to find, but size, condition and mental stability of roommates vary widely.
- $319 for a two-bedroom is the average gross rent in Public Housing in Queens, according to the New York City Housing Authority. Tenants who qualify for public housing pay 30 percent of the total rent.
- $300, Woodside – Found on Craigslist: “Live in our living room female only please. Share a one bedroom apt with mother and child. if u basically just need a place to sleep this may work out.” Indeed.
- $150 – If you happen to have a houseboat, or a yacht, you can rent a slip at the Whitestone Marina with full electrical and water hookup. Let the waves rock you to sleep and the seagulls wake you up.
- FREE – Bed in homeless shelter, such as the Saratoga Inn in Springfield Gardens, the city’s largest shelter for homeless families, or the Salvation Army Homeless Shelter in Kew Gardens. 9,094 families, 8,809 single adults and 16,371 children are now homeless in New York City.

Top Five Highest Rents

- $6,700+ for a duplex in the 43-story Citylights building in Long Island City, which includes whirlpool baths, balconies or terraces, fitness center and even a kindergarten to 5th grade school right inside the building.
- $6,500+ for a three bedroom at Avalon Riverview in, again, Long Island City, which includes full height windows or balconies with Manhattan views, ceramic tile kitchen floors and access to the half-acre landscaped roof garden with putting green, otherwise known as “essential luxuries.”

Outside of the new developments on the East River, higher rents are paid for exclusive neighborhoods and secure locations.

- $5,000 – Four-bedroom, four-bathroom house on Asquith Crescent Road that includes a fireplace and a bar in the basement.
- $4,000 – Four-bedroom, two-bathroom, two-fireplace house in Little Neck.
- $3,700 – Four-bedroom, three-bathroom Grand Tudor in Little Neck Hills, including a stone fireplace and stained glass windows.