A historic look at Dorothy Valentine Smith House in Sunset Hill, Staten Island
Posted by Anthony Licciardello on
On Staten Island’s North Shore, you can find the neighborhood of Sunset Hill. This is a nice area that doesn’t have too much of the hustle and bustle of the city life. In this neighborhood, aside from the nice parks you can find, there are a few New York City Landmarks. One of these landmarks is the Dorothy Valentine Smith House.
The Dorothy Valentine Smith House is located at 1213 Clove Road, on a nice plot of land that actually holds two landmarks—the other one being the John King Vanderbilt House. The Dorothy Valentine Smith House wasn’t built until sometime between 1893 and 1895 by John Frederick Smith, the father of Dorothy Valentine Smith.
Prior to the home’s existence, this area had been used as farmland during the eighteenth century, much…
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Today, Historic Richmond Town is operated by both the Staten Island Historical Society and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. It has many historically-significant homes, stores, shops, ad objects from the past. Of these historically-significant buildings, some of them had been originally built here, while others had been moved here to preserve them. A good amount of these homes are New York City Landmarks, as well.Â
Historic Richmond Town was the first area on Staten Island to be used for a civic and county government center, being that it is right in the middle of Staten Island. It had its own courthouse, clerk’s office, stores, churches, hotel, residences, and more. Once Staten Island became a part of the City of New York in 1898, it’s civic and county center had moved to the North Shore of the borough, in St. George, to be closer to Manhattan. The courthouse, clerk’s office, and other county offices had been moved to St. George, since it was no longer a county-run government and it turned into a city-run government.
Before the City of New York was formed in 1898, Staten Island had been comprised of five townships: Northfield, Southfield, Westfield, Castleton, and Middletown. By 1866, however, some areas of Staten Island became their own incorporated villages, one of which was Edgewater. These new incorporated villages were no longer a part of the townships and had created their own local governments. The village of Edgewater was comprised of today’s Tompkinsville, Stapleton, and Clifton neighborhoods.
On maps from the early 1800s, various structures were shown as being on the property. In 1844, John Haggerty Austen purchased the home. Many repairs and renovations were made to the house, including the demolition of the structures not attached to the house. The years between 1844 and 1878 saw the addition of another room, a porch, and a projecting bay window.…
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.…