Friday, November 16, 2007

Rosemont: "builders & developers delight"

Rosemont: Southern plantation style house. 200 ft. above 26th Ave. and midway between 14th and 18th St.

Smith, Stratton & Co. were varnish makers and removed their plant from Second Ave., N.Y. to here about 1830 and in 1856 to Hunter's Point. The house was converted into an apartment house in this century.
- Vincent Seyfried

"The Benner Mansion, occupied for many years by the late Robert Benner, a prominent New York lawyer, is another superb place. Mr. Benner was an enthusiast in floriculture and arboriculture. The beautiful gardens contain many specimens of rare trees and shrubs while the flower beds, chrysanthemums and rose houses have wide renown. The cultivation of these flowers was Mr. Benner's delight and he added many new specimens by propagation and cultivation to the world's knowledge. He named his house "Rosemont!" and the name was appropriate. Mrs. Benner resides in the old home, and as her love for flowers equals that of her late husband, the place is still superbly kept up. Mr. Benner's sons, Willis and Charles, are the law firm of Benner & Benner of Wall St. They both live in Astoria, the former in the old homestead and Charles in the former house of the late Joshua Lathrop, the old New York flour merchant." - New York Times, July 12, 1896

Coming Soon to Rosemont...Queens Crap!

15 comments:

Anonymous said...

Blondie from Berkeley is probably wet with anticipation of what will be built there. Astorians are breathless, too. Blog away!

Anonymous said...

Let's see if Mama Marshall
will support landmarking this gem.....
or continue to tap dance to developers' jumpy tunes !

Anonymous said...

Unfortunately, the house has already been brutalized and is in desperate need of restoration.

Anonymous said...

Lets see if the community will do anything about it, or just roll over and play dead:

http://www.astorians.com/index.php?topic=8644.0

Their reponse should speak volumes about local community pride and self-respect, if it exists.

Anonymous said...

Your are barking up the wrong tree there - the politicans did not say its important, so they don't care.

The moved your post to the 'Rants' section.

That community is just waiting to be run over.

Anonymous said...

Hey, if you read Astorian.com you would think the biggest problem in Astoria is all the 'yuppies' moving in.

Just walk down Broadway and see all those 'yuppie' faces, or try to buy something useful on all those 99 cent stores inspired by the 'yuppies' shopping on Steinway Street.

Where do these 'yuppies' come from? ---- are they pushed out of Elmhurst from all those high rents?

How long do you think it will take the bright lights on Ditmars to wake up? How about when the 'yuppies' get up there in say, three or four years.

Then they will figure out why Pistilli puts closets big enough for six people in his buildings.

Lets read what Blondie from Berkley has to say on Outer B.

Anonymous said...

I was going to link to this post from another page, especially to contrast the older picture with the current one I took. Then I read these snide little comments about another blogger - not a developer, not a politician - but someone who does care about Queens and shares information under her *own name.* I don't really want my own work to be associated with this constant picking apart of anyone who dares to show their face in public.

Deborah (who, by the way, sent the link to this ad to GAHS)

Anonymous said...

Queens Crap edited out. How nice.

http://www.flickr.com/photos/hexadecibel/sets/72157603232055530/

Anonymous said...

Why is it when the people of Astoria love their homes they don't lift a finger to save them.

Other people love their homes (think Sunnyside Gardens) and hear the same BS from their community board and politicians.

They seem to have figured it out.

Either people in Astoria are stupid, or they are bullshitting us.

Anonymous said...

No, they are not stupid. The preservation community just doesn't make the effort at public education. They just hope that it will go quietly.

Fortunately, there are some in the community that are dragging everyones face in this mess.

Good for them.

Anonymous said...

Blondie's reply

She's staying neutral. Looks like she really cares about her community.

Anonymous said...

Seems like Blondie really cares about real estate though. Never gets tongue tied there. It might take a few years to understand and appreciate a community, but hell, when it comes to merchandising you can be an overnight maven.

After her cruel dig about St Saviours, a site that every major preservation group in NY has gone on record to save, what do we expect?

We hope that new people can show that they appreciate a community, not be sell outs. That they can tell the difference between a real community like Astoria, and a bogus one like what is going up in Hunters Point.

Sad, really sad.

Anonymous said...

I just want to say that this really pisses me off what they are doing to Astoria. I grew up in this house most of my life until my family sold it to the current owner/brutalizer. If I had the money I would buy the house back and bring it back to its original condition but since I dont I plan on making a big deal to save it.

Anonymous said...

My Brother said it best, we lived in that house from the time I was 6 years old till 17 years old, and the neighborhood hasnt changed much except to go downhill. While I to would love to purchaes this house and restore it to it's previous glory, it would be hard in this economy and since the current owners that bought it from my great grandmother cut down the huge oak tree in the front, there would have to be alot of work done to improve the site. Every time i come home to New York I walk through the old neighborhood and visit with friends that still live there, the only difference is that it seems much more of the astoria projects element has moved into the neighborhood along with all the muslims that took over fishbeins store. After serving in Iraq I definately would rather not live in an area that has a mosque 3 blocks away.
Justin W.

Anonymous said...

It's about time that we voted Mama Marshall out of office. She has consistently caved to Pataki's brutalization of Vernon / Jackson to the it's now disgusting "Nanny-Ville" status and she has notoriously kissed the hands of every millionaire with ties to the concrete and illegal alien worker industry so as to systematically rape each and every neighborhood in Queens. 11-24 31st Avenue (which by the way, has NO information posted in public about this mysterious tower) and it's pink brick companions are the latest pieces of garbage invading a neighborhood of 2 family homes, so more hard-working middle class people can leave New York in a BIG WAY and make way for Reagan's spawn from out of state.