Archives

St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church, Staten Island

Address: 7558 Amboy Road;
Constructed: 1861;
LPC Action: Public Hearing 10/01/1991;
LPC Backlog Hearing: Removed from the calendar without prejudice;

St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church was completed in 1862 for a new congregation formed in 1856 in the growing village of Tottenville. This location at the corner of Amboy Road and Swinnerton Street was more convenient than that provided by its parent church, the venerable Bethel Methodist Church, established in Richmond Valley soon after Bishop Francis Asbury’s preaching mission there in 1806.

When dedicated, St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church was a building quite unlike the earlier Methodist churches on Staten Island because of its masonry construction and its relatively sophisticated design. Today the church remains a striking feature of Tottenville’s town center.

To learn more about the St. Paul’s Methodist Episcopal Church click here

Prince’s Bay Lighthouse & Keeper’s House, Staten Island

Address: Hylan Boulevard;
Architect: unknown;
Constructed: 1864;
LPC Action: LPC Public Hearing 9/13/1966;
LPC Backlog Hearing: Prioritized for designation;

Designated on June 28, 2016|

LPC- Fact Sheet | Research File

There has continuously been a lighthouse on this site since as early as 1826. For the past 150+ years, this lighthouse and keeper’s quarters have weathered the sea with grace, as the rusticated brownstone façades still read as crisp. Lighthouses are landmarks in every sense of the word: they withstand the test of time and harsh elements, and demarcate the relationship between town and sea. This lighthouse is now owned by New York State, and set within a public park known as the Mount Loretto Unique Area. The hike up to the lighthouse is a destination and a specific draw of the park, which commands beautiful views of Raritan Bay.

To learn more about the Prince’s Bay Lighthouse & Keeper’s House click here

Richmond County Country Club, Staten Island

Address: 135 Flagg Place;
LPC Action: Public Hearing 9/13/1966;
LPC Backlog Hearing: Removed from the calendar without prejudice

LPC-Fact Sheet | Research File

HDC Testimony

The Richmond County Country Club is one of the rare surviving antebellum mansions in Staten Island. Originally attributed to Agatha Mayer (or Meyer), the house dates to the 1840s or 1850s. Later, the residence was purchased by Junius Alexander, who, after several ventures in the South and Midwest, made a fortune on Wall Street and also had several railroad connections. Alexander named the house “Effingham” after his family origins in Virginia and lived with his family in this house from 1878 until his death in 1893. Shortly after his death, the Richmond County Country Club, formed in 1888, acquired the property and has used it continuously ever since. While the original 35 acres of the estate have been devoured by sprawl, the house survives as a noble testament to Staten Island’s early illustrious families.

To learn more about the Richmond County Country Club click here

St. Mary’s Church, Rectory & Parish Hall, Staten Island

Address: 347 Davis Avenue;
Constructed: 1905;
Architect: Frank Wills;
LPC Action: Public Hearing 9/13/1966; 9/9/1980;
LPC Backlog Hearing: Removed from the calendar without prejudice|

Fact Sheet | Research File

HDC Testimony

This complex of buildings, all built at separate times, is unified in style. The church building was built first, in 1853, at a time when there was architectural reform in the Episcopal Church. Designs were modified to reflect the English countryside, composed in Gothic forms. The architect of the church, Frank Wills, was considered the master of ecclesiastical architecture in this style. Together with his partner, Henry Dudley, the pair designed several churches across the country. This is the only church of its kind on Staten Island.

The complex of buildings forms a distinct sense of place on a grassy corner lot. The construction uses traditional methods such as buttresses and utilizes natural materials like wood and fieldstone, collectively lending a picturesque experience not found elsewhere in New York City.

To learn more about St. Mary’s Church, Rectory & Parish Hall click here

 

Times Square Theater Interior & Exterior, Manhattan

Address: 215 West 42nd Street;
Constructed: 1920;
Architect: Eugene De Rosa;
LPC Action: Public Hearing 6/14/182; 6/15/1982; 10/19/1982;
LPC Backlog Hearing: Removed from the calendar without prejudice|

The Times Square theater was opened by the Selwyn Brothers, who owned and operated two other theaters in Times Square, the Apollo and the Selwyn. In 1934 in the depths of the Depression, the theater was converted to a movie theater, and remained operating as such until 1990.

St. Mary’s R.C. Church & Rectory, Staten Island

Address: 1101 Bay Street
Constructed: 1857
Architect:
LPC Action: Public Hearing 9/13/1966
LPC Backlog Hearing: Removed from the calendar without prejudice

Fact Sheet | Research File

HDC Testimony

St. Mary’s sits prominently upon a hill, virtually intact since its construction in 1857, although its surroundings—suburban corporate infill encroaches upon it. It is the second oldest Roman Catholic Church on Staten Island. The church is an instant landmark in its red brick composition and tall central tower, its style elegantly rendered in a North Italian Romanesque style. Landmark status would preserve this 158 year old structure’s place on Bay Street in case this property is ever sold, as the continued subdivision of Staten Island and loss of its history unfortunately prevails.

To learn more about St. Mary’s R.C. Church & Rectory click here

William T. and Mary Marcellite Garner Mansion, Staten Island

Address: Castelton & Bard Avenues;
Architect: unknown;
Constructed:  1859-1960;
LPC Action: Two Public Hearings in 1966; Public Hearing 2010
LPC Backlog Hearing: Removed from the calendar without prejudice|

Fact Sheet | Research File

HDC Testimony

This Second Empire style, brownstone  mansion has had a number of uses in its lifetime.  One of the few freestanding pre-Civil War era mansions surviving in the city, it was built by Charles Taber, a prominent cotton broker and real estate developer, in 1859-60 and was purchased a decade later William T. Garner, owner of one of the largest textile mills in the nation. Legend has it that the Garner Mansion almost became the summer home of Ulysses S. Grant and his wife Julia. Although the president liked the house, when Mrs. Grant visited the grounds were swarming with mosquitoes and she refused to live there. In the 1880s it housed St. Austin’s Episcopal School for Boys and later St. Austin’s Military Academy.    In 1903 St. Vincent’s Hospital’s opened its first location on Staten Island in the building and soon after added a two-story Colonial Revival style wing to serve as a nurses training school.  The W. T. Garner House is now part of Richmond University Medical Center.

To learn more about the William T. and Mary Marcellite Garner Mansion click here

 

Sire Building, Manhattan

Address: 211 West 58th Street
Architect: unknown
Constructed: mid-19th century
LPC Action: Calendared 2009; Public Hearing 2010
LPC Backlog Hearing: Removed from the calendar without prejudice

LPC- Fact Sheet | Research File

This five-story flats building was constructed in 1884-85 to the designs of William Graul for owner Benjamin Sire.The building was designed in the high Victorian Gothic style with neo-Grec details. It is constructed of red brick and has stone trim and details. Windows at the second floor have Gothic arch-headed lintels supported by slender columns with floral capitals. Continuous lintels and sills with banding are found at the third through fifth floors, with neo-Grec style incising in the lintels at the third and fifth floors. Stone and brick pilasters running vertically at the outer and inner piers are terminated at the second floors by slender columns with floral capitals.

To learn more about the Sire Building click here

Victory Theater Interior & Exterior, Manhattan

Address: 207 West 42nd Street;
LPC Action: Public Hearings 6/14/1982; 6/15/1982; 10/19/1982;
LPC Backlog Hearing: Removed from the calendar without prejudice|

The Victory Theater opened in 1900 to the design of architect Albert Westover. It was originally called the Theatre Republic and was patriotically renamed The Victory in 1942 during wartime. After years of decline in the Times Square district, the Victory was taken over by New York State and was the first theater to be restored by a redevelopment agency. It remains the oldest operating theater in New York City, and features a spare Italianate façade with an unusual, grand double-stair on 42nd Street. The interior boasts a dome with surviving painted cherubs from 1900.

Selwyn Theater Interior, Manhattan

Address: 229 West 42nd Street;
Architect: George Keister;
Constructed: 1918;
LPC Action: Public Hearings 6/14/1982; 6/15/1982; 10/19/1982
LPC Backlog Hearing: Removed from the calendar without prejudice

LPC- Fact Sheet | Research File

The Selwyn Theatre was designed for Archibald and Edgar Selwyn by the architect George Keister. The brothers built two other theaters in New York, the Times Square and the Apollo. It was designed in the style of early Italian Renaissance with interiors of blue and gold, large scale murals, wreath mouldings, dentils, scrolled modillions and stone balusters.

The theater operated from 1918 until 1934, when it became a movie theater. The Selwyn’s interior was painstakingly restored and its interior remains intact today.