From the NY Times:“George, you’ve always wanted this house,” said Mrs. Seguine, who by then was in her 90s and close to death. “Now you can have it. But you must promise me that you will save it.”
She didn’t have to ask twice.
Mr. Burke, now 80, promptly bought the house for $150,000 and spent the next five years restoring the premises to their former glory, largely with his own hands. Thanks to his efforts, the mansion looks much as it did when the Seguines roamed these generously proportioned, high-ceilinged rooms, and offers a vivid portrait of how people lived in an era characterized by both graciousness and a crowd of servants.
Mr. Burke presides over the mansion like a lord of the manor. But although he is part of a large extended family, he never married and has no children. From early on he worried about what would become of the house when he was not around to care for it.
And so in 1989 he transferred the house and its property to the Historic House Trust of New York City, which is operated in tandem with the city Parks Department. Under the terms of the arrangement, Mr. Burke can live in the house until his death, at which time the trust will take over the property. Because the building is a city landmark and listed on the state and federal registers of historic places, Mr. Burke is confident that what he calls “the last of the island’s great old plantation houses” will enjoy a long and happy life.
10 comments:
When a group of LIC Community Boathouse kayakers paddled a circumnavigation of Staten Island, George welcomed us to camp overnight on his lawn. Amazingly nice man!
(I should add, very old school. Women were invited into the house while men used the restroom in the barn!). ;)
Great story - your's too Erik.
Good man.
Crappy, I do wish when you post little snippets of articles that you'd include some more pertinent info so that those of us reading on the fly don't have to click through to the actual article. It would have been nice to learn from your condensed version that this house is in Staten Island.
Right. The point is that I want you to click through to the actual article.
Why? Are you getting a kickback from the Times for clickthroughs?
Would it have been that difficult to include that information in your summary? I often read your posts via a feed reader as I feed my kid in the morning and don't have time to click through for details. It's just some brief information that would be nice to include.
I don't make a dime off this site.
I want you to click through to read and educate yourself and not to just react to what's posted on the blog.
Good for him. So glad that he has made arrangements and this beautiful house won't be torn down so the developers can build crap.
I think Crappy's a cranky old man. You really go out of your way to be a jerk sometimes.
Hey, dickhead: "I don't care what you say about my client, just spell his name right." [a long-in-the-tooth press agent's saying]. Bravo. You spelled it right. The Crapman rules.
And he IS cranky. Look at his picture sitting on the terlet. So?
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