Jackie Robinson once lived in the neighborhood, and so did Ella Fitzgerald and W.E.B. DuBois.
The New York City Landmark Preservation Commission says it will hold a public hearing on a plan to designate Addisleigh Park in St. Albans, Queens as a historic district. Such a designation would protect the character and homes in the enclave.
The enclave was developed in the 1930s exclusively for white people with a race-restricted covenant prohibiting home ownership by blacks. But by the 1950s, social change and legal challenges helped open it up.
Jazz pianist Fats Waller was among the first black residents to live there. Count Basie lived there, too.
The proposed historic district would include 426 houses in Tudor, Colonial and Mediterranean Revival styles.
The public hearing on the plan is scheduled for March 23.
