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Neighborhood · Queens

Kew Gardens

Kew Gardens is in central Queens, east of Forest Park, south of Union Turnpike and the Jackie Robinson Parkway, and west of the Van Wyck Expressway. It was one of seven planned garden communities built in Queens between the late 1800s and 1950. Today it is mostly apartment buildings: about 59% of its roughly 11,100 homes are in elevator buildings, though half of residential lots still hold one-family houses. The E and F stop at Kew Gardens–Union Tpke on the northern edge and at Briarwood, the E stops at Jamaica–Van Wyck, and the LIRR has a Kew Gardens station. Its commercial center is Lefferts Boulevard between Austin Street and Metropolitan Avenue. The Ralph Bunche House is a National Historic Landmark, and Maple Grove Cemetery opened in 1875.

Kew Gardens has 4,777 open HPD housing violations, 930 of them Class C (immediately hazardous). Inspectors issued 2,022 new violations here in the last 12 months. That's the 36th most open violations of 60 neighborhoods in Queens.

Check a building in Queens

Open HPD violations
4,777
930 Class C
New violations, last 12 months
2,022
634 Class C · 17th in Queens
How serious are the open violations?
Open HPD violations by class
Class C930 · 19%Class B2,331 · 49%Class A1,516 · 32%Class A here includes a small number of Class I orders.

Source: NYC HPD Housing Maintenance Code Violations · data as of Oct 14, 2026

New violations in the last 12 months
By class
  • Class C · immediately hazardous634
  • Class B · hazardous758
  • Class A · non-hazardous537

Source: NYC HPD Housing Maintenance Code Violations · data as of Oct 14, 2026

Good to know

  • Subway: E, F at Kew Gardens–Union Tpke and Briarwood; E at Jamaica–Van Wyck
  • LIRR Kew Gardens station is inside the area
  • About 59% of residential units are in elevator buildings (PLUTO 26v2)
  • Ralph Bunche House, a National Historic Landmark
  • Forest Park borders the west side

Before you rent or buy here

Check the buildingLook up any address for violations, complaints and owner.Read the violation classesWhat A, B and C mean and how fast owners must fix them.Work out your budgetThe 40× income rule most NYC landlords use.

More neighborhoods in Queens

Astoria (Central)Astoria (East) & Woodside (North)Astoria North, Ditmars & SteinwayAuburndaleBaisley ParkBay Terrace & ClearviewBaysideBelleroseBreezy Point, Belle Harbor, Rockaway Park & Broad ChannelCambria HeightsCollege PointCoronaDouglaston & Little NeckEast ElmhurstEast FlushingElmhurstFar Rockaway & BayswaterFlushing & Willets PointFlushing Meadows–Corona ParkForest HillsFresh Meadows & UtopiaGlen Oaks, Floral Park & New Hyde ParkGlendaleHollisHoward Beach & LindenwoodJackson HeightsJamaicaJamaica Estates & HolliswoodJamaica Hills & BriarwoodKew Gardens HillsLaureltonLong Island City & Hunters PointMaspethMiddle VillageMurray Hill & Broadway–FlushingNorth CoronaOakland Gardens & Hollis HillsOld Astoria & Hallets PointOzone ParkOzone Park (North)
Fact-checked October 12, 2026

Fixed: shopping-street wording now matches Wikipedia (Lefferts Boulevard between Austin Street and Metropolitan Avenue); 'one of seven planned garden communities'. Verified: boundaries, Maple Grove Cemetery opened 1875, Ralph Bunche House is a National Historic Landmark; both addresses geocode inside the NTA. PLUTO 26v2: 59.1% of 11,124 units in elevator buildings; 50.1% of lots one-family. Briarwood and Jamaica–Van Wyck inside; Kew Gardens–Union Tpke about 15 m outside; LIRR Kew Gardens inside. Re-checked 2026-10-12: housing shares recomputed from PLUTO 26v2 (version confirmed via the API) by point-in-polygon against the 2020 NTA boundary (9nt8-h7nd); subway/LIRR stations re-placed from MTA station coordinates (39hk-dx4f, wxmd-5cpm); park names and acreage re-checked in NYC Parks Properties (enfh-gkve); history and boundary statements re-read in the cited Wikipedia articles; landmark addresses geocoded with NYC Planning GeoSearch.

Sources

  1. Kew Gardens, Queens (Wikipedia) · Wikipedia (accessed October 12, 2026)
  2. Primary Land Use Tax Lot Output (PLUTO), version 26v2 · NYC Department of City Planning (accessed October 12, 2026)
  3. MTA Subway Stations (station list with routes and coordinates) · Metropolitan Transportation Authority (accessed October 12, 2026)

General information, not legal, tax or financial advice. Rules change; confirm with the agency or a professional before you act.

“Open” counts every HPD violation not yet recorded as corrected, including old ones owners never certified, so totals can exceed the number of apartments. Statistics: NYC Open Data (HPD violations, 311 service requests, DCP PLUTO) and rent-stabilized counts from DOF tax bills (via JustFix), updated Oct 14, 2026. Heat season runs October 1 to May 31; season-to-date counts compare the same dates.