This was posted awhile back on Joey in Astoria:Apparently, there’s an old mansion on 47th Street just south of the BQE. It was built in 1830, but suffered some damage in the 90s due to vandalism. It sits on landmarked land, so there’s less of a chance it’ll be razed. They got this from a Queens Gazette story.
Joey received a reply from someone claiming to be a nephew of the former owner who challenged their account:
"...the property wasn’t sold in 1996 it was sold last june so i don’t know where your getting your information from but it’s very wrong."
Outer B is authored by the same person who posts to Joey. You'd think someone who runs a real estate blog would have verified whether the property was landmarked and the year it was sold, two things fairly simple to look up, but both they and the Gazette reporter didn't do either. I'm proud to say that Queens Crap readers immediately knew this wasn't landmarked, and yours truly offered proof of that, which is more research than any of the previously mentioned members of the media apparently did. ACRIS shows the deed to the property changed hands last year.
Fact-checking is underrated these days.
17 comments:
Hey, I saw that you linked to us. Thanks! Yep, it's true - I reported what was published in the Queens Gazette. I can see now that going a step further would have been a good idea, though I didn't believe at the time that the Queens Gazette was publishing false information. I was also only a month into my blogging at OuterB and I sure was green over there! I was still learning - still am, actually, but I've gotten a lot better at checking multiple sources. I made a mistake and that's ok - it's the best way to learn. Hey, even the NY Times makes errors! I'm glad to know the truth about the landmark status, too.
If you or your readers know anything more about the house, feel free to comment on the OuterB post.
Just to clarify, I don't run the blog. I write for it, along with two other writers, so it's not all me. You can check the bottom of OuterB's front page for the info.
That house is considered a "mansion"?
I'd sooner trust Marvel Comics for factual info
than I'd trust a Queens weekly rag!
I dig that nude statue. Wonder if she's for sale?
There's no pleasure in reporting what you want to say if the report has to be restricted to only facts.
Besides, it's an effort to perform fundamental research to obtain or verify facts. Even spell check is a big pain.
That time is better spent watching TV cartoons or forming uncomplicated opinions.
"That time is better spent watching TV cartoons or forming uncomplicated opinions."
And then posting them on Astorians.
Looney Tunes, with Daffy Duck and Yosemite Sam, are worth watching, wouldn't you say?
The cartoons aren't at all profound but they do raise a person's spirits and get them laughing, which is an important thing, as demonstrated in the movie "Sullivan's Travels," staring Joel McCrea. Check it out some time.
"I'd sooner trust Marvel Comics for factual info
than I'd trust a Queens weekly rag!"
Some of the blogs are just as bad. I like when they claim to represent a community, then drool over real estate and discuss nothing of displacement.
Community board material, don't you think?
http://www.astorians.com/index.php?topic=7602.0
Cops are pigs a la Berkley, right megc? Actually one difference between ‘Astorians’ and Astorians is that in Astoria, the cops grew up and are our friends an neighbors – after all this is a blue collar community (well who didn’t go through their ‘pigs’ faze for a few years).
In ‘Astorians’, well, this was the blog that argued that was a fine thing to go picnicing in St Michaels cemetery on the graves of the Astorians.
(Hint kiddies, if daddy and mommy take you abroad and you want to act out like the Ugly American, that is your privilege – though it may be one of the reasons that most of the world hates us; but don’t try that bullshit here – it doesn’t get you very far and in a place like Astoria, well …. Let’s just say its plain stupid to leave chicken bones on mom’s grave ….)
Why doesn't the rest of the gang go through their site and pick nuggets for us to savor?
Hint: Astorians treatment of the blackout, urban deterioration and civic activism are places to start.
posted on astorians:
I've been in Astoria since the late 60's, grew up here, moved around and came back in the 1990's, only to find the area becoming more congested, Starbucks , those ugly, cluttering newspaper boxes you find in the City, graffiti everywhere and unfortunately encouraged by some as 'art', and people shoved in like cattle from basements to several floors in one family homes. I applaud your efforts and I have long complained at civic meetings and have had a local park cleaned up and renovated and children play there now, not the drug dealers and drunks I found when I came back to a beloved park I played as a child. It is possible to have a cleaner, family oriented community, but, not with hundreds of people who rent and sublet and move in and out like homes are hotel"
It got a thumbs down on the blog.
"I've been in Astoria since the late 60's, grew up here,"
Started off on the wrong foot with that crowd already.
Didn't you really mean community BORED material ?
What a sad and deserted statue, indeed. I might pick it up next week and put it in front of my McMansion in Bayside!
Actually the statue sort of looks like it's taking a dump, so maybe Queens Crap might adopt it as their new logo, in place of the Crap-o-Sphere.
I actually worked right across the street at 24-44 47st for about ten years. In all of those years I saw two old ladies come pick up their mail about four times. Then as quick as I saw them they put plywood all around the house. It was a very beautiful place for its time. Considering all the CRAP that's around it now it makes it seem creepy and out-of-place. Still a mystery to me and i am still very curious .
Me and my friends went inside and found old pictures, but felt bad. like we were taking away history from the people who lived there once. We put them back, thinking we could come back to visit any time... unfortunately. They knocked it down. Fuckers...
Does anyone know any history on the mansion? does anyone know anything on the people who lived there? the meaning of the man and woman statues? to the person who went inside did you see more, please do tell. Has anyone ever heard of the nephew? has he ever spoken to any media. the mystery has never been solved. this was an incredible mansion i found one photo of it from the 1980s with a giant wrought iron fence around it. it looks like it had soo much history but just became forgotten and then destroyed? was it land marked or not?..Can someone do a follow up on this story? thank you
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