8 Buildings on Staten Island Up For Landmark Consideration
From the Staten Island Advance
8 at one go for landmarking
Panel to take testimony next week on nominated houses, storefront and plant
Saturday, April 07, 2007
By KAREN O’SHEA
ADVANCE STAFF WRITER
STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. — Supporters and opponents of landmarking will get the chance Tuesday to weigh in on the potential designation of a half-dozen Staten Island houses, a tiny Folk Victorian storefront in Tottenville and a former varnish factory in Elm Park.
The city Landmarks Preservation Commission will take testimony during public hearings at its Manhattan headquarters on the unusual simultaneous nomination of eight borough buildings for landmarking. Designation prevents demolition and triggers approval from the commission when changes to the exterior of a building are made.
The clustered nominations signal a push by Landmarks to preserve buildings identified during a boroughwide survey. Landmarks launched the study in 2004, saying at the time that it wanted to be more proactive in protecting historic Island buildings from demolition.
Some critics have accused the commission of trying to landmark easy targets while avoiding more controversial sites where developers want to tear down historic buildings — a charge the commission has denied.
Buildings under consideration include an 1880s Second Empire house on Bayview Avenue, Prince’s Bay; an 1850s Gothic Revival-style home on Amboy Road, Pleasant Plains; an 1850s house on Arthur Kill Road, Tottenville; a 19th-century villa on Meisner Avenue, Lighthouse Hill; a mid-19th-century Greek Revival-style mansion, Todt Hill, and an 1840s farm house on Amboy Road in Great Kills. A small turn-of-the-century Victorian storefront on Main Street in Tottenville and a large factory on Richmond Terrace in Elm Park, the former Standard Varnish Works, complete the slate.
“They all carry with them sort of interesting stories … and are part of the richness of the history of Staten Island,” Robert Tierney, chairman of the Landmarks Commission, said of the buildings during an interview earlier this year.
Robert R. Wakeham, the owner of the house on Lighthouse Hill, told the Advance at the time that he was glad the commission was considering landmarking his home for posterity.
But Joseph Diamond, the owner of an 1840s house on Amboy Road in Great Kills, felt differently. Diamond said he was concerned that landmarking would make it more expensive and difficult to maintain his house.
Karen O’Shea covers real estate news for the Advance. She may be reached at [email protected] .
© 2007 Staten Island Advance
© 2007 SILive.com All Rights Reserved.