From the Queens Chronicle:
Michael Halberian’s spirit remains in the mansion where he grew up. The walls are lined with his books; his dog, Blackie, plays in the yard.
The 25-room Astoria home still welcomes visitors, now greeted by John Halberian, 52, who moved from upstate New York to take care of the building after his father’s death.
Like Michael Halberian, John Halberian is friendly and easygoing. He invited me in for tea before grabbing a can of tuna to feed to a street cat who stopped by the property — something his father surely would have done.
However, the most important similarity between father and son is their shared desire to see the looming granite structure, so loved by their family, transferred into the right hands — preferably the community’s.
...all he wants is to fulfill his father’s last wish — to see the mansion put into the right hands.
When Michael Halberian died, he was attempting to sell his beloved home for $2.5 million, $4.5 for the total property.
He was meeting regularly with Councilman Peter Vallone (D-Astoria) to figure out how the property might be used by the community and most importantly, paid for. Vallone had written a letter to Mayor Bloomberg regarding the property and Parks Commissioner Adrian Benepe visited, but its fate remains up in the air.
Jack Halberian was to have met with Vallone on Thursday to continue the discussion.
“It seems to me with all the billionaires in New York City, there should just be someone out there who could buy it and give it to the city, and for something like that, the price is negotiable because it would mean so much to my sister and I to fulfill my father’s dream,” John Halberian said.
6 comments:
So, the City buys the property. What's it going to be then? A themed catering hall?
lol george i doubt anyone wants their party near the sewage plant and dumps. i believe they wanted the city to use it as a center hall to have meetings. the property is land marked, so unless the city unmark it the land is useless to anyone else. no one is going to live surrounded by commerical property and dumps!
Steinway Metropolitan Museum of Art. Honoring three families who owned the mansion. English tea, German beer, Turkish coffee will be served.
1. Pike
2. Steinway
3. Halberian
150 yrs old handmade architecture needs a special care.
I am not sure why we (the city ) should buy this prperty??
I am not sure why we (the city ) should buy this prperty??
If the city buys the property, will they become public heirs?
Maybe Congresswoman Maloney could get involved in this? Schumer or Gillibrand? A Federal case perhaps? . Making the Steinway Mansion part of the National Park Service? Let's get to it. It's not all the Grand Canyon-Yosemite-Smokey Mountains. Ever hear of Weir Farm National Historic Site? Nicodemus NHS? Grant-Kohrs Ranch NHS? Check out the famous and not-so-famous units that are administered by the National Park Service here.
A Steinway Family National Historic site encompassing the Mansion, the present day piano factory and, of course, venerable Steinway Street.
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