Woodbrook (Jonathan Goodhue House), Staten Island

Address: 304 Prospect Avenue
Constructed: 1841
LPC Action:  Public Hearing 9/13/1966
LPC Backlog Hearing: Removed from the calendar without prejudice

Fact Sheet | Research File

HDC Testimony 

Jonathan Goodhue, a wealthy New York merchant, built this house as a country estate in 1841 and called it "Woodbrook." In 1912, the property was donated to the Children's Aid Society and the 42-acre site remains in operation under the Children's Aid Society Goodhue Center.

LPC Statement of Significance:

This imposing Italianate style residence was constructed as the home of Jonathan Goodhue, founder of Goodhue & Company, a prosperous and prominent nineteenth-century commission firm serving international shipping companies. Originally known as “Woodbrook,” it may have been constructed as early as 1841, although its present size and appearance may result from subsequent nineteenth-century expansions and alterations. Among the oldest suburban residences in New Brighton, it dates from the neighborhood’s earliest years, when many fine, large freestanding residences were constructed there. With a cubical form typical of the Italianate structure, the house also features a projecting central bay on its main façade, bracketed window surrounds with molded lintel hoods, quoining, a historic molded main-entrance surround, and historic wood porch roof with bracketed cornice. Its paneled cornice, which wraps the entire roof, is one of the house’s finest features. The house continued to be known as Woodbrook into the early twentieth century. It remained in the Goodhue family until 1912 when it was donated to the Children’s Aid Society. Currently known as the Children’s Aid Society Goodhue Center, the building hosts a variety of after-school, summer, and sports and recreation programs for children, teenagers, and their families, as well as a mental health clinic.

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