Designated: February 1, 2011
Constructed between 1887 and 1898 as rental properties by Robert E. Mersereau, the small, frame houses at 565 and 569 Bloomingdale Road, traditionally known as the “baymen’s cottages,” are rare surviving buildings from the period when Sandy Ground was a prosperous African-American community on Staten Island. Typical examples of the small cottages erected in late 19th century and early 20th century to house workers in the rural areas of New York, these two houses were nearly identical: two story one-room deep, peaked-roofed frame structures with central chimneys and side hall entrances with shallow stoops and porches.
