Pregled posta

Marketing

Grymes Hill, Staten Island, New York City, New York, United States

Summary

This large neo-Renaissance mansion with Arts and Crafts detailing is an excellent example of early-twentieth- century country house design. The house was built for Louis A. and Laura Stirn in 1908 to the plans of Kafka & Lindenmeyr. One of the few houses of its size and type surviving on Staten Island, it is prominently sited on Grymes Hill where it commands a spectacular view of New York Harbor. Grymes Hill was developed with large estates in the 1830s and 1840s and by the early 1900s, had become a fashionable residential neighborhood favored by wealthy German businessmen. Stirn, a German emigre, was a prominent silk commission merchant and owner of textile mills. His wife, the granddaughter of bridge builder John Roebling, was an expert on botany and horticulture. Modeled after an Italian Renaissance villa, the Stirn house is a two-and-one-half-story structure composed of a symmetrical center block and flanking dependencies. Clad with stucco and capped by red tile hipped roof with dormers and deep bracketed eaves, it has Ionic porticos on the front and rear facades and a gabled porch at the entrance to the kitchen wing. Arts and Crafts details include the polychrome terra-cotta frieze, iron balconies, and stained glass rondels. The building incorporated a number of technologically advanced features including glazed polychrome terra cotta, cast concrete, and Portland cement stucco facings.

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

Grymes Hill'

Located in northeastern Staten Island, where it commands a magnificent view of New York Harbor and the Verrazano Narrows, Grymes Hill is bounded on the northwest by Victory Boulevard, on the east by Richmond Road and Van Duzer Street, on the south by the Staten Island Expressway, and on the west by Clove Road. This land was part of the 5,100-acre manor which was granted to Governor Thomas Dongan (1634-1715) in 1687 and subsequently passed to his nephews and their heirs. In the 1830s, the hill began to be developed with estates. The neighborhood took its name from Madame Suzette Grymes, wife of the noted New Orleans lawyer John "Randolph Grymes. who began buying property near the present-day intersection of Howard Avenue and Grymes Hill Road in 1836, creating an estate known as Capo di Monte.

Other notable landowners included Orondates Mauran, who built a summer house in 1831 on property extending along the west side of Howard Avenue between Eddy Street and Ada Place, and Major George Howard, who purchased forty-two acres on Grymes Hill between 1830 and 1833, including all the land on Howard Avenue between Louis and Eddy Streets. Howard, a former soldier who served as boarding officer for the port of New York and later as keeper of the public stores on Staten Island, built a house for himself on the southwest corner of his land. The northern half of his property was divided into fifty-foot-wide lots which were sold at auction in August 1836. The property now occupied by the Stirn house was part of a larger group of lots purchased by real estate investor Caleb Tompkins Ward. In 1841 Ward sold his Grymes Hill lots to Harvey North, an importer, from New Orleans. In 1853, North moved to France, selling his property to Thomas Eakin of Nashville who built a house known as "East Over" to the designs of James Renwick. In 1879. Eakin's heirs sold a tract of land to the actor- journalist Henry Sedley, owner of the adjoining property at 37 Howard Avenue. In 1895, Henry Sedley sold his house on Grymes Hill to Eleanor Phelps Sedley. In June 1907 she sold the land acquired from on the Eakins family to Louis A. and Laura Stirn. The property had a frontage of about 275 feet on Howard Avenue and extended down the hillside about 600 feet to Sunset Terrace. (The lot now measures 274 feet by 200 feet.)

In 1907, when the Stirns bought their property, Grymes Hill was considered one of the most "attractive residential sections of Staten Island" featuring a mix of large estates, suburban houses, and institutions that complemented the residential character of the neighborhood. These included the Church of Our I^ady of Good Counsel (1899) at 44 Austin Place and Notre Dame Academy which was established in an old house (built c. 1850, enlarged 1903) at 21 Howard Avenue in 1904, and moved to its present quarters (built c. 1854- 57, enlarged 1920s, 1930s) at 76 Howard Avenue in 1906. Additions to the neighborhood also included two new enclaves of large developer-built suburban houses: Brighton Heights Park and Morningside (c. 1906). In addition to Louis Stirn, several businessmen were erecting large mansions for their private use. These included silk merchant C. Allan Blyth who built a Craftsman-inspired residence, designed by the noted architect Henry Atterbury Smith, at 103 Howard Avenue (1907-08) and brewer William Horrmann who erected an eccentric mansion modeled after a Bavarian castle at 189 Howar

Grymes Hill, Staten Island, New York City, New York, United States

Summary

This large neo-Renaissance mansion with Arts and Crafts detailing is an excellent example of early-twentieth- century country house design. The house was built for Louis A. and Laura Stirn in 1908 to the plans of Kafka & Lindenmeyr. One of the few houses of its size and type surviving on Staten Island, it is prominently sited on Grymes Hill where it commands a spectacular view of New York Harbor. Grymes Hill was developed with large estates in the 1830s and 1840s and by the early 1900s, had become a fashionable residential neighborhood favored by wealthy German businessmen. Stirn, a German emigre, was a prominent silk commission merchant and owner of textile mills. His wife, the granddaughter of bridge builder John Roebling, was an expert on botany and horticulture. Modeled after an Italian Renaissance villa, the Stirn house is a two-and-one-half-story structure composed of a symmetrical center block and flanking dependencies. Clad with stucco and capped by red tile hipped roof with dormers and deep bracketed eaves, it has Ionic porticos on the front and rear facades and a gabled porch at the entrance to the kitchen wing. Arts and Crafts details include the polychrome terra-cotta frieze, iron balconies, and stained glass rondels. The building incorporated a number of technologically advanced features including glazed polychrome terra cotta, cast concrete, and Portland cement stucco facings.

DESCRIPTION AND ANALYSIS

Grymes Hill

Located in northeastern Staten Island, where it commands a magnificent view of New York Harbor and the Verrazano Narrows, Grymes Hill is bounded on the northwest by Victory Boulevard, on the east by Richmond Road and Van Duzer Street, on the south by the Staten Island Expressway, and on the west by Clove Road. This land was part of the 5,100-acre manor which was granted to Governor Thomas Dongan (1634-1715) in 1687 and subsequently passed to his nephews and their heirs. In the 1830s, the hill began to be developed with estates. The neighborhood took its name from Madame Suzette Grymes, wife of the noted New Orleans lawyer John "Randolph Grymes. who began buying property near the present-day intersection of Howard Avenue and Grymes Hill Road in 1836, creating an estate known as Capo di Monte.

Other notable landowners included Orondates Mauran, who built a summer house in 1831 on property extending along the west side of Howard Avenue between Eddy Street and Ada Place, and Major George Howard, who purchased forty-two acres on Grymes Hill between 1830 and 1833, including all the land on Howard Avenue between Louis and Eddy Streets. Howard, a former soldier who served as boarding officer for the port of New York and later as keeper of the public stores on Staten Island, built a house for himself on the southwest corner of his land. The northern half of his property was divided into fifty-foot-wide lots which were sold at auction in August 1836. The property now occupied by the Stirn house was part of a larger group of lots purchased by real estate investor Caleb Tompkins Ward. In 1841 Ward sold his Grymes Hill lots to Harvey North, an importer, from New Orleans. In 1853, North moved to France, selling his property to Thomas Eakin of Nashville who built a house known as "East Over" to the designs of James Renwick. In 1879. Eakin's heirs sold a tract of land to the actor- journalist Henry Sedley, owner of the adjoining property at 37 Howard Avenue. In 1895, Henry Sedley sold his house on Grymes Hill to Eleanor Phelps Sedley. In June 1907 she sold the land acquired from on the Eakins family to Louis A. and Laura Stirn. The property had a frontage of about 275 feet on Howard Avenue and extended down the hillside about 600 feet to Sunset Terrace. (The lot now measures 274 feet by 200 feet.)

In 1907, when the Stirns bought their property, Grymes Hill was considered one of the most "attractive residential sections of Staten Island" featuring a mix of large estates, suburban houses, and institutions that complemented the residential character of the neighborhood. These included the Church of Our I^ady of Good Counsel (1899) at 44 Austin Place and Notre Dame Academy which was established in an old house (built c. 1850, enlarged 1903) at 21 Howard Avenue in 1904, and moved to its present quarters (built c. 1854- 57, enlarged 1920s, 1930s) at 76 Howard Avenue in 1906. Additions to the neighborhood also included two new enclaves of large developer-built suburban houses: Brighton Heights Park and Morningside (c. 1906). In addition to Louis Stirn, several businessmen were erecting large mansions for their private use. These included silk merchant C. Allan Blyth who built a Craftsman-inspired residence, designed by the noted architect Henry Atterbury Smith, at 103 Howard Avenue (1907-08) and brewer William Horrmann who erected an eccentric mansion modeled after a Bavarian castle at 189 Howard