Friday, March 6, 2009

Bayside house to be landmarked


From the Times Ledger:

City Councilman Tony Avella (D−Bayside) said a historic Bayside home he proposed for the city to preserve seven years ago will be up for landmark consideration later this month.

The Ahles House, at 39−24 213th St. in Bayside, was constructed in the early 1870s by Robert Bell, nephew of Bayside founder Abraham Bell, for his daughter, Lillie, and her husband, John William Ahles, as a wedding gift. Ahles was a prominent grain merchant and an officer of the New York Product Exchange.

Avella said most of the mansion’s original architectural features are still intact. The councilman first began advocating for the building to be landmarked in 2002 and made a formal proposal three years later.

“The building is one of the oldest in Bayside and must be protected from falling prey to future real estate development,” he said. “It’s a unique building, so I’m happy that after seven years something will be done.”

4 comments:

Anonymous said...

And it only took seven years! Wow!

Anonymous said...

Fantastic! Right up the block from the LIRR. I used to live near there, and worked around the corner. I always wondered about that house, since it was obviously so different from all the others in the area. I had no idea it was that old. A small victory.

Anonymous said...

Its a pretty house. It's a shame that an entire district of beautiful mansions was bulldozed in Astoria within the last 5 years and no one raised an eye.

Anonymous said...

Where was Peter Vallone for the astoria houses?
cb one the community board from HELL