Developer demolishes historic Elmhurst home
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Construction workers at the former site of the Janta House, which was the subject of a failed public campaign for landmark status. Eagle photo by Jacob Kaye
By Jacob Kaye
Last month, Jennifer Ochoa was honored by the Consulate General of the Republic of Poland for her and her neighbors’ work to attempt to get an Elmhurst home landmarked by the city.
The next day, the house was razed to the ground.
The home, referred to by its admirers as the Janta House, was demolished over the course of a week in late April by developers who purchased the building from its former owner in the years before her death in 2020. The land will soon be home to an apartment building, according to the developer’s plans.
The house was built at the turn of the 20th Century and was the subject of a widely-supported public campaign for landmarking status that ultimately failed. Those behind the campaign, including a number of current and former lawmakers, say they were let down by the New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission, which, after two years of research, said it didn’t find cause for the dignified status.
The decision came during a final March 2022 push to get the home landmarked, which was prompted by a notification to the community from the developers outlining their plans to begin demolition.
“It took them over two years to basically say no,” Ochoa told the Eagle Wednesday. “With the pandemic, the community has lost so many members – friends, neighbors and family members, as well. The older generation of people were helping me with this, so it meant so much.”
Ochoa was one of three Elmhurst residents to start the campaign to petition the LPC to landmark the Janta House, inhabited for years by Ochoa’s neighbors Walentyna and Aleksander Janta-Połczyńska.
The Polish American couple lived in the home, located at 88-28 43rd Ave., for decades. They were known in the community for opening their door to artists, scholars and civic leaders who had come to New York after escaping the post-World War II Iron Curtain.
Prior to their immigration to Elmhurst, Walentyna Janta-Połczyńska served as a secretary to Poland’s prime minister during World War II, helping to translate key reports into English that revealed conditions inside Nazi-occupied Poland and exposed the Holocaust to the rest of the world.
In the months before her death, she was the last living member of the Polish government-in-exile during World War II.
Her husband, Aleksander, was a poet, writer and journalist who escaped Nazi imprisonment before meeting his wife in Buffalo and moving to Queens.
The Elmhurst home of Walentyna and Aleksander Janta-Połczyńska prior to its demolition in April 2022. Eagle file photo by David Brand
Despite what the campaign’s supporters said was sufficient evidence to support the landmarking status, the LPC, in a letter sent in March, said that the couple’s “significant contributions occurred before they moved to this house.”
“[W]hile they were important within their community, had a rare book business and welcomed many notable people to their house, this does not rise to the level of significance necessary for consideration as a landmark,” wrote Kate Lemos McHale, the director of research with the LPC.
The LPC is the sole arbiter of what is and isn’t deemed a landmark in New York City. Though it considers requests, there is no formal process or application for members of the public to submit with the commission.
The developer, New Da Hua Inc., initially filed a demolition application with the Department of Buildings on April 20, 2022. The application was accepted and work began the next day, according to a DOB spokesperson.
However, about a week later, the agency issued a partial stop work order to the developer after a DOB inspector found that the New Da Hua wasn’t keeping a safety logbook on site. The developer was additionally issued two violations, the DOB said.
A second inspection on May 5 found that the worksite was also missing a safety guard rail.
The partial stop work order only allows for construction of the guard rail and “housekeeping work.”
Several construction workers were at the site early Wednesday morning. Several workers appeared to be digging holes in the ground, which was covered in debris. Around 8:30 a.m., a truck driver pulled up to the site hauling an excavator, which he dropped off at the site.
While the Eagle was taking photos of the work site for this story, a member of the construction team briefly pointed their phone at the reporter as if taking a photo of their own.
Ochoa said that workers have done the same to her and others when they attempt to document the result of their years-long campaign for landmarking.
“The only thing I knew to do was just to document this,” Ochoa said. “I'm trying to inform the community and inform them of what's going on, what's happening, at least to have some kind of closure.”
On Wednesday afternoon, Ochoa, who lives down the block from the site, recorded a video that appeared to show the workers using the excavator delivered earlier that morning to clear the site of the debris left by the former home.
Construction workers allegedly used an excavator at the site of the demolished Janta House. The site is currently under a partial stop worker order though it’s unclear if the work is a violation of the order. Screenshot via the Elmhurst History & Cemeteries Preservation Society
The DOB spokesperson could not confirm if any of the work done Wednesday was in violation of the partial stop work order.
“Only a DOB inspection of the site can make that determination for the department,” the spokesperson said.
During a Thursday visit, a DOB inspector found no active construction and no violation of the partial stop work order, the DOB spokesperson said.
No violations were issued.
New Da Hua did not respond to request for comment.
