Electchester, Residential cooperative in Pomonok, Queens, United States.
Electchester is a housing development in Queens with 38 buildings on about 103 acres containing over 2,400 apartments. The layout includes green spaces between the buildings and creates a residential neighborhood feel separate from the dense urban streets nearby.
The development was founded in 1949 by Local 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers on the former grounds of the Pomonok Country Club. This project marked an important effort to create housing for workers in an area that had not previously been used for residential purposes.
The central building contains a library and auditorium where residents gather for community events and meetings. These spaces reflect the site's connection to the electrical trades and its focus on serving the people who live here.
The area is well-connected by public transportation with several bus routes serving the neighborhood and connecting to other parts of Queens and Manhattan. Visitors should keep in mind this is a residential community, so public access to common areas is limited to certain times.
The project was created through collaboration between labor unions and business management, which was unusual for housing developments of that era. This partnership between workers and management showed a rare approach to solving housing problems in the postwar period.
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