On the grounds at 1820 Flushing Avenue sits a boulder called Arbitration Rock. It once marked the border between Brooklyn and Queens. This fall the grounds are where everything happens, because the stone house is closed for restoration. The Greater Ridgewood Historical Society has moved its 2026 events into the Onderdonk backyard, and visitors come in through the Onderdonk Avenue gate.
The grounds will not stay in use all winter, though. The Society's events page says that in 2027, "all winter events will take place at other community locations." That leaves three dates on the Onderdonk lawn for the rest of this year: a walking tour this Sunday, St. Nicholas Day on December 6 and a solstice lantern parade on December 20. After that, the Society's winter programs leave the property until spring.
Why Everyone Is Using the Side Gate
QNS reported in June that the Society had announced an exterior restoration of the Vander Ende-Onderdonk House after a long planning period. Work was set to begin this summer and is expected to finish in 2027. The museum is closed to the public while the work goes on.
The exterior work includes:
- Clapboards on the frame addition
- Windows and wood trim on both the main stone house and the frame addition
- Pointing and structural repair of the main house's stone walls
- The wood plank floor on the first floor of the main house
- The historic cistern
This phase continues a longer effort. The gambrel roof was finished in 2014, and the Society began its push for an exterior restoration in 2017. Funding comes through the NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, using discretionary money from Queens Borough President Donovan J. Richards, Jr. and City Council Districts 34 and 30. The Department of Design and Construction is managing the construction.
The Society has saved this house once before. It was founded in 1975 to stop the house from being demolished. Fundraising took five years, a fire damaged the house along the way, and it reopened as a museum in 1980. The 1.5 acres around it were developed later: the John R. and Helen Ries Memorial Picnic Grove, a kitchen garden, a Peace Garden in memory of September 11, the restored cistern and Arbitration Rock. Those grounds are what make an outdoor season possible this year.
In July, Society president Arianna Stimpfl-Fernandez told QNS at a backyard screening of the 1939 "Gulliver's Travels": "We currently have some construction projects going on. So the house itself is closed, so we're getting a little creative on things to do outside." Since then the lawn has hosted movie nights, a garden party, a Harvest Festival with pumpkin picking and cider, and International Archeology Day, when visitors dug for artifacts.
Sunday, November 15: One Block, Two Avenues Away
The next event takes place mostly beyond the gate. On Sunday, November 15, the Society is leading a walking tour of Stockholm Street. The group meets at the Onderdonk Avenue gate at 1:30 p.m. The tour goes ahead rain or shine, but the Society will cancel for heavy rain, snow or extreme wind. If that happens, ticket holders get an email and a refund. Tickets are sold through Eventbrite, and members get a discount.
The Society calls Stockholm Street "NYC's smallest Historic District." The Landmarks Preservation Commission's 2000 designation report shows how small it is:
| Detail | What the LPC report records |
|---|---|
| Designated | November 28, 2000 |
| Boundaries | Both sides of Stockholm Street, between Woodward and Onderdonk avenues |
| Buildings | 36 houses, one former stable, two garages |
| Built | 35 of the houses between 1907 and 1910 |
| Architect | Louis Berger & Company |
| Builder | Joseph Weiss & Company |
| Brick | Kreischer Brick Manufacturing Company of Staten Island |
| Street surface | Ridgewood's only remaining brick pavement |
The report describes the block as "one of the most intact, harmonious, and architecturally-distinguished enclaves of working-class dwellings built in New York City during the early twentieth century." It points to the full-width wooden porches with columns, the projecting bays and the unbroken cornice lines. According to the report, the rows went up while Ridgewood was being developed by German-Americans and immigrants from Germany.
The tour also lines up two eras of Ridgewood within a short walk. The stone farmhouse behind the gate is a New York City landmark listed on the National Register of Historic Places. The brick rows on Stockholm Street came from the early-1900s building boom that turned the area's farmland into rowhouse streets. Since the farmhouse is behind scaffolding this season, the 1907 to 1910 rows are the part of that story visitors can see up close.
Woodward Avenue forms one edge of the district. Il Gigante, at 8-80 Woodward Ave., is on that avenue. QNS covered its opening in July 2025, with dinner daily and brunch on weekends. A few blocks away is Sieve Cafe at 7-57 Seneca Ave., which QNS profiled in September 2025.
December on the Lawn, and in the Tent
The last two events of the year are both on the grounds, and both are outdoors.
Sunday, December 6: St. Nicholas Day and Holiday Market. Noon to 4 p.m. General admission is $5. Children and members get in free. The program includes visits with St. Nicholas, a free goody bag, singing, a tree lighting, and the story of the St. Nicholas legend that Clement Moore made famous. Mulled cider and holiday treats will be available. There is also a toy drive for local families, so bring an unwrapped gift. The Society describes it as "an outdoor event & in the tent" and asks visitors to dress for the weather.
Sunday, December 20: Winter Solstice. Starts at 5 p.m. It is free, but the Society asks everyone to reserve a ticket so it has enough supplies. Bring a lantern, a flashlight or a phone for a parade around the Onderdonk grounds that ends with hot chocolate.
How much time is left for each:
- Stockholm Street tour. Three days after this post goes up.
- St. Nicholas Day. Three and a half weeks out, on the first Sunday in December.
- Winter Solstice. Just under six weeks out, and the last event on the grounds in 2026.
The solstice parade is the event the restoration shapes most. Its route circles the grounds around the closed house, at 5 p.m. on one of the shortest days of the year, and the light comes from whatever lanterns and phones people bring.
After December 20
Because of the museum construction, winter events will be held at other community locations, and the Society plans to post details later. In July, QNS reported that the house was expected to reopen in 2027.
The lawn comes back into use in spring. The Eggstravaganza is listed for March 27, 2027, at the Onderdonk House, with two sessions: noon to 2 p.m. and 2:30 to 4:30 p.m. It includes an egg hunt, natural egg dyeing, photos with Adrian the Bunny and an appearance by 18th-century living historian Dawn Elliott. It will be held outdoors, under the tent and on the great lawn. The June announcement also said the Society plans more tent events through spring 2027.
Between the solstice and that March Saturday, the Society's winter programs will be held off the grounds. If you want to support the restoration, the Society takes checks made out to "Greater Ridgewood Historical Society" at 1820 Flushing Avenue, Ridgewood, NY 11385, and also accepts donations through onderdonkhouse.org.
The porches, bays and Kreischer brick on Stockholm Street are the kind of details our advisors talk through with clients who are thinking about prewar row houses in landmarked blocks. If Sunday's tour leaves you curious about what owning a piece of Ridgewood's 1907-to-1910 building boom involves, Howard Hanna NYC is glad to walk you through it. Schedule a Call.
