11116 76th Drive

Description

A particular quiet settles over the right kind of Forest Hills street. The trees arch over the road, the houses sit back from the sidewalk, and the noise of the city ends a few blocks behind you. 111-16 76th Drive sits on a street like that — a 1935 Colonial behind an electronic gate, on a 37.25' x 100' lot with a private driveway, a detached garage, and the carried presence of a home kept carefully for ninety years. You enter into a living room, original parquet hardwood, crown molding, recessed lighting, and a wood-burning fireplace framed in white brick. Its a room that hosts. The dining room beyond — chandelier, wainscoting, formal but never stiff — opens to a separate sitting room overlooking the Japanese Maple out front, where afternoons settle naturally into evenings. The kitchen has been renovated to feel current without losing the bones of the house: white flat-front cabinetry to the ceiling, Caesarstone quartz countertops, a full stainless steel appliance package, and a breakfast nook off the back with garden views and a side door out to the patio. A powder room sits just off the main hall. And throughout the floor, a detail most buyers won't notice until they live with it — the Mitsubishi central HVAC was installed with supply vents along the floor, so conditioned air rises evenly from below. No draft from above, no cold spot at the window, no whir from a register. The house simply stays comfortable. Upstairs, the primary suite is genuinely oversized at 19' x 12', with mirrored closets, hardwood floors, and French doors that open onto a private 185 sqft balcony shaded by mature trees. It functions as an outdoor room: wide enough for a small table, removed from the street, the kind of place where morning coffee becomes a habit. Two more bedrooms and a full bath complete the floor. A third level adds three further bedrooms in a fully private wing — for a home office that lives apart from the rest of the house. Below, the basement runs 21' x 28' as a finished recreation room, with new wood-look tile, freshly painted walls, good ceiling height, and a full bath, laundry, and pantry. And while the cosmetic work shows everywhere, the systems quietly tell you what kind of house this is: gas boiler under 15 years old, water heater 4 years old, upgraded electrical, central HVAC through the main floors, split-AC on the third. The next decade of ownership cost has already been absorbed. Outside, the lot reads as a small private compound. White frame construction, a covered porch, a Japanese maple at the threshold, evergreens at the perimeter, ivy-covered fencing, a patio, and a lawn deep enough for a grill and a table. The electronic gate spans the full frontage and slides open silently. The detached garage takes the car; the driveway takes the second, and third. The neighborhood is the other half of the home. Forest Hills is one of the most complete neighborhoods in New York City — Tudor and Colonial Revival blocks from the 1910s and 1920s, mature canopy on every street, the feel of a place built to last. Forest Hills Gardens, the landmark 1909 community designed by Grosvenor Atterbury with the Olmsted Brothers, sits a few blocks away. Forest Park begins just to the southwest with 538 acres of trails, equestrian paths, a carousel, and a golf course. Austin Street, the commercial spine, is lined with independent restaurants, coffee shops, wine bars, and bakeries. The E/F/M/R at Forest Hills–71st Avenue - 0.2 miles away - runs express to Midtown in under 25 minutes; the LIRR reaches Penn Station in roughly 15. Homes with this configuration — 6 true bedrooms, a finished basement, a private garage, a gated lot, modern systems on a 1935 frame — simply do not come up often in Forest Hills. Walk Score: 98. NYC School District 28.