RSS 2.0 FeedApril 14, 2011, Bellmore Life
Can this house be saved?
Groups seeks landmark status for home.
VERNACULAR-STYLE BUNGALOW: This architecturally sound bungalow on Bellmore Avenue is looking for a little TLC as residents try to help it avoid the developer’s wrecking ball by having landmark status bestowed upon it.
A third meeting of the Hempstead Landmarks Commission could finally decide the fate of a bungalow on Bellmore Avenue near the corner of Merrick Road whose architecture dates to the early 1920s and was owned by the Stevens family, a family of Bellmore boaters with historical connections to the community.
According to a report put out by Nancy Solomon of Long Island Traditions, the 20x40-foot bungalow was built in 1923 and is the one of the most well-preserved bungalows in the area built during that time period. LIT supports landmark status on the bungalow.
Bellmore resident Christine Keller, a professor of the history of philosophy at the State University of New York at Old Westbury, and a member of the Historical Society of the Bellmores, hopes the third meeting, unknown by press time, would bestow landmark status upon the structure to save it from developer’s wrecking ball.
“I spoke with Hempstead Town Clerk Mark Bonilla last week,” she said, and gained his support toward bestowing landmark status on the structure. “He told me he would write a letter of support,” she said.
In the architectural style of vernacular bungalow, with high architectural integrity, the 2-1/2-floor bungalow has stood without a tenant since the owner, Joan Stevens, died in 2010.
Rich history in estate books
Ms. Keller told Bellmore Life she had seen the bungalow, which stands across from the parking lot of the Kutting Kraze, and was worried it could be purchased by developers. “There was an estate sale and important books of the Stevens family and their links to the community were sold to a friend of mine,” she continued. “In those books is such a rich history of the family,” she said.
From there a grassroots movement was undertaken, which has lead to a third meeting at the Landmarks Commission office.
The house was built by Joan’s grandfather Charles and father Stan for him and wife Lucy, Joan’s mother. Stanley and Lucy worshipped at the Quaker Meeting House in Wantagh.
Grandfather Charles owned a Bellmore ferry service, which regularly ferried people to the community of High Hill Beach, now Jones Beach on the eastern flank of Zach’s Bay. His wife Pauline Anne managed The Breakers Hotel on High Hill Beach.
While Joan and her mother Lucy tended to beautiful gardens they built on the wide-open spaces of the property – which included flora native to Long Island’s South Shore Mr. Stevens got into the boating business by owning a tugboat company and, as records show, helped build Wantagh Parkway and the Jones Beach Water Tower using his tugboats to ferry supplies around the East Bay.
His tugs also helped dredge land that helped build south Bellmore, and helped carry steel that built the Fire Island Causeway.
Preserving the Bellmore legacy
The Bellmore Preservation Group, which has fought successfully against developers building on open land in Bellmore, and recently argued against White Castle coming into Bellmore, endorses the bungalow’s landmark status.
BPG President Matt Walden and Vice-President Eileen Casazza, in a prepared statement, said, “We feel the landmarking of The Stevens Home will continue the legacy of Bellmore Village as ‘A Walk Down Memory Lane.’
“The BPG’s views are clear in maintaining the nature and character of the Bellmores. Our thoughts are that if this home were not recognized as a landmark it too, as so many before, would fall prey to the wreaking ball.
“The BPG is firm in promoting smart growth that enhances our community. Do we have a community center, a learning center, a true historical center? No, we do not; could this be the future of the Stevens’ home?
“So many came before us to create the Bellmore we love. It is time to pay true respect to their legacy.”
Visit Bellmore Life’s website at www.bellmorelife.com to learn when the next meeting will be.
