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.
With Edgewater being an incorporated village, it needed a village hall. In 1867, a small plot of land was purchased to be used as a public space. This is where the Edgewater Village Hall had been constructed. By 1889, the Edgewater Village Hall finally opened. This building was designed by Paul Kuhne, an architect, and it was situated at 111 Canal Street. The public area was turned into a park when the City of New York was formed. At that time, it was known as Washington Square Park. Today, Staten Island’s residents know it as Tappen Park.
Prior to the city’s formation, the Edgewater Village Hall had been erected so that it may be used for civic events. It was also used for the municipal court and city magistrate’s court, until the new courthouses were built. The Edgewater Village Hall was one of the few village halls that had been constructed on Staten Island, and it is also one of the finest in the borough.
Edgewater Village Hall is a two-story building that has been made of red bricks with a stone trim around the bottom and top of the building. It was built in a Victorian style of architecture, with Romanesque Revival influences. The Edgewater Village Hall is a great example of this type of building and is one of the few buildings left like this in New York City and many metropolitan cities.
When Edgewater Village Hall was being planned out, the building was designed in a “T” shape. It has windows along all sides of the building’s first floor which each have a nice arch above them. The arches above the windows are also glass windows which have a circle and two half-circle designs. The arches are lined with red bricks and have a nice keystone design in the middle of the top of each arch.
The main entrance of the building sits on Canal Street and has a nice, arched doorway with a second arched doorway next to it. There is also an arched window above the main entrance and two flag poles that sit on each side of the steps to the entrance. At the end of the building is a square tower that extends out of the hipped roof. This also has an arched doorway with a grand, arched window above it.
The second floor windows extended outward from the roof and have stone trim, along with a pleasant square border design at the top of the building. The two side windows of the second floor which are on the “T” section of the building are the same as the first floor windows.
Edgewater Village Hall was designated as a New York City Landmark in 1968. It was also later added to the State and National Registers of Historic Places in 1980. Today, this building still sits inside Tappen Park, in the present neighborhood of Stapleton. It is now used as a space for offices of government agencies and has a Family Health Center, which is run by the New York City Health and Hospitals Corporation.
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