Tuesday, August 7, 2007

The little red lighthouse

It is the first lighthouse one encounters when entering the Sound from the East River.

The red-brick building, which looks like a miniature schoolhouse topped by a lantern, was built in the 1870s to mark the edge of a shallow reef between Queens and the Bronx. Viewed from the Throgs Neck Bridge, Stepping Stones looks as if it sprang from the skip of a stone flung across the Sound.


In Search of a Suitor

Despite its somewhat ramshackle condition, Stepping Stones is a gorgeous, if unusual, space. But the road to occupying it has been bumpy and complicated.

For one thing, adopting a historic site, especially one that may be packed with sea gull nests, is not cheap. The North Hempstead town supervisor, Jon Kaiman, who is leading the drive to adopt Stepping Stones, will seek state or federal grants and private donations to make needed improvements.

Walter Sedovic, a Westchester County architect who specializes in historic renovation and has worked on more than a dozen lighthouses, has estimated that it would cost $4 million to restore this one.


Photo from NY Times

5 comments:

Anonymous said...

Why not tear it down and replace it with a condo that only some rich asshole with a seaplane could get to. Then, when a tropical storm washes the shoddily constructed mess out to sea, the owner can apply for federal funds to rebuild it, and we can all chip in with our tax dollars.

Anonymous said...

Is it landmarked?
If not, will somebody put in an immediate
request for evaluation to the LPC.

Let's see what uni-brow Mary Beth Betts (and boss bumbling Bob Tierney) have to say about criteria regarding this gem!

Anonymous said...

According to the article, this lighthouse doesn't seem to be in New York City.

Anonymous said...

What an awesome little lighthouse!

Anonymous said...

It's at the approach of City Island (isn't it?)
which should be located within New York City.