Landmark: Asbury Methodist Church in New Springville, Staten Island
Posted by Anthony Licciardello on
The Asbury Methodist Church is one of the many landmarks located on Staten Island. It was named after Francis Asbury, an Englishman who came to America in 1771. Francis Asbury was born in 1745 and had begun his profession as a Methodist preacher by the age of twenty-one. He had volunteered to come to America when John Wesley, the founder of Methodism, had asked his ministers for volunteers to travel to the Thirteen Colonies in 1771. Francis Asbury was a circuit rider, which means that he did not have one specific church at which he preached. Instead, he had travelled around the thirteen colonies, preaching to all those who wanted to listen.
During the American Revolutionary War, most of the Methodist preachers had left America. Francis Asbury, on the…
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Between the years of 1835 and 1987, dozens of buildings were constructed at the northern tip of Staten Island. Over the years, architectural styles changed and the buildings began to stand out due to their individuality. Having been well-kept over the years, a hearing was held by the Landmarks Preservation Commission to designate the buildings, as well as their boundaries, as a Historic District. On July 19, 1994, the historic district was established as the St. George/New Brighton Historic District.
The latter half of the nineteenth century saw the popularization of Colonial Revival architecture, which lasted half-way into the next century. In 1890, Edward A. Sargent constructed a Colonial Revival-style home, at 103 St. Marks Place, for broker Frederick L. Rodewald. A few years later, in 1894, the home that he had constructed in the Gothic Revival-style at 83 St. Marks Place was extended and altered much, where it became a Colonial Revival-style home. At the turn of the century, between 1905 and 1906, lumber merchant George W. Allen had four of these types of houses constructed. Samuel R. Brick, Jr. built the first three, which were located at 29, 31, and 35 St. Marks Place. The last was designed by Edward A. Sargent and was located at 27 St.…
From 1880 until the turn of the century, the Shingle Style had become increasingly popular. These houses were influenced by the English Colonial, which were common from the early seventeenth century up until the middle of the nineteenth century. From 1886 until 1907, one dozen Shingle Style houses were constructed within the St. George/New Brighton Historic District. The first of these houses, built in the first couple of years for the wealthy banker, Anson Phelps Stokes, were located at 48, 52, and 56 St. Marks Place. Three more houses were built for the same man in 1890 at 7-8, 9-10, and 11 Phelps Place. These houses were designed by architect Douglas Smyth.
Many houses are solely vernacular in architectural style. Four of these, which were built between the last half of the nineteenth century and the first quarter of the twentieth century, are located within the St. George/New Brighton Historic District. The first home to be built in the District using local resources was erected between 1853 and 1874. It is uncertain whether this home, which is located at 17 Carroll Place, was built for Henry P. Robertson, who owned the oldest house in the District, or James Wilkinson, who was part of Crabtree & Wilkinson silk dyeworks.
Between the years of 1919 and 1931, a handful of houses were built in many different architectural styles. Most of which were of the Arts & Crafts-style, though there were a few others. 131 Marion Avenue, a Colonial Revival-style house, was built in 1922 for Edward W. Thompson, using the designs of Otto Loeffler. That same year, Mediterranean Revival-style 173 St. Paul's Avenue was built for surgeon Dr. Charles L. Reigi, using the designs of James Whitford. In 1923, a house was constructed using the designs of architect A. Schoeler for Emma and Clarence E. Brady. This house was built in the Foursquare-style, with features of Mediterranean Revival-style architecture.
About ten years after Otto Loeffler's Neo-Colonial-style houses began to be built, another prominent Neo-Colonial architect, Henry G. Otto, had houses of his designs built. In 1910, the first of his houses, 151 Cebra Avenue, was constructed for Ernest Lindemann, a realtor and lawyer. That same year, 169 Cebra Avenue, a house of Neo-Colonial and Arts & Crafts-style architecture was built for a Mrs. C. Nordenholt. The following year, 155 Cebra Avenue was constructed for attorney Arnold J.B. Wedemeyer, who had served as a State Assemblyman for a few years and a municipal judge for a few decades. In 1919, the next of Otto's designed was constructed at 45 Pommer Avenue for Captain Ned Alexander Port. In 1921, 35 Marion Avenue and 37 Marion Avenue, two…
In 1887, a handful of houses were constructed in the Queen Anne architectural style. These were 18 Marion Avenue, which was built for George P. Savacool and sold the following year to Henry M. Cattermole, a ferry captain who had operated the ferry between Manhattan and Staten Island at the age of twenty; 387 St. Paul's Avenue, which was designed by Hugo Kafka, Sr, of the firm Kafka & Lindenmeyr, for brewery owner George Bechtel, who had it built for his daughter Anna and her husband Leonard Weiderer; 403 St. Paul's Avenue, which was built for merchant John C. Siemer; and 413 St. Paul's Avenue, another home built by Siemer, possibly for his daughter Margaretha.
Between 1845 and 1860, Italianate architecture became very popular on Staten Island. During this time, a sextet of altered Italianate houses was built in, what is now the Stapleton Heights Historic District. These are 417 St. Paul's Avenue, which was originally located elsewhere, but moved by John Siemer during the late 1880's; 210-212 St. Paul's Avenue, which has been built with Second Empire modifications for Israel Denyse; 364 St. Paul's Avenue, which had been sold by Albert Ward to maritime pilot John Martino; 168 Cebra Avenue, which had been sold to broker James Wood, also by Albert Ward; 356 St. Paul's Avenue, the home of Sandy Hook pilot Thomas H. Metcalfe, who had also purchased his land from Albert Ward; and 352 St. Paul's Avenue, home of…
In March of 2004, a public hearing was held by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in which twenty-one speakers testified in favor of making an area of Staten Island a Historic District. Their area of choice was located in Stapleton Heights, along a section of St. Paul's Avenue and portions of neighboring streets. These streets include Cebra Avenue, Dyson Street, Marion Avenue, Occident Avenue, Pommer Avenue, Taxter Place, and Trossach Road. In August of that same year, they addressed their proposal to the City Council. One month later, it was accepted.