LPC Deems Douglaston Hill House is A Landmark, despite owner's complaints
From the Queens Chronicle
City: House Can’t Opt Out Of Douglaston Hill District
by Liz Rhoades, Managing Editor
04/05/2007
In a unanimous vote, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission voted Tuesday afternoon to keep a disputed house in the Douglaston Hill landmarked district.
Kevin and Diana Mosley, both attorneys, who own the house at 41-45 240th St., wanted out of the district so that they could pursue renovations and expansions. They testified that they were unaware of the impending landmarking when they bought the house in 2005.
Although the couple took their case to the New York State Supreme Court and won — based on the disputed age of their home — the landmarks commission was allowed to review the court decision. A hearing was held on March 13.
Members of the Douglaston-Little Neck Historical Society denied that the Mosleys were not told about the landmark status and believed it would be a bad precedent for one house to opt out of the district. Bill Sievers, vice president of the group, said on Tuesday he was delighted the property was back in the district.
Lisi deBourbon, a spokeswoman for the landmarks commission, noted that all previous work on the house approved by the Department of Buildings is grandfathered. The Mosleys have installed a 1,500-square-foot addition, new roof and windows. The architecture now is called modern Colonial.
Landmarks Chairman Robert Tierney said prior to the vote that the house retains many attributes that make it worthy of inclusion in the historic district and that it sits on the only intact original lot from the district’s earliest development during the 19th century. Tierney added that the house was built in the 1920s, which he called “a significant period in the evolution of this neighborhood.”
From the Times-Ledger
Historic Doug home to remain in district
04/05/2007
DOUGLASTON – The Landmarks Preservation Commission unanimously agreed Tuesday to keep a home in the Douglaston Hill Historic District that the owner had sued to have removed from the jurisdiction.
Owner Kevin Mosely had contended in court that his home at 41-45 240th St. was unfairly targeted for historic district status. A judge ruled that the LPC had to reconsider the home with new evidence about the year it was built: the LPC originally thought it was built in the mid-1800s, but Mosely produced documents showing it was built in the 1920s.
“The commission unanimously agreed that this modified neo-Colonial style home retains many of the attributes that make it worthy of inclusion in the historic district, such as its architecture, massing, finishing, detailing and the fact that it sits on the only intact, original lot from the district’s earlies development period during the 19th century,” Landmarks Chairman Robert Tierney said in a statement.
Nine other homes from the 1920s are in the Douglaston Hill district, according to the commission.
by John Tozzi