City of Yes, Drop Dead

 

Queens Chronicle

A family feud over a notable property in Hollis has escalated into a community issue over protecting historical homes in Southeast Queens.

Marie Ashley, who was once the resident at the old Ketcham Farmhouse, a historical home that is at least 180 years old, was evicted from the residence, located at 190-21 Hollis Ave. on Wednesday.

Ashley told the Chronicle that when her parents retired in the 1990s she took responsibility for a home that her mother bought with her eldest sibling and has paid for everything from the mortgage to property taxes to landscaping, maintenance and repairs.

Since living in the home Ashley said she has helped out relatives and friends and friends of friends who faced homelessness and offered them a room at the historical house that her older sister Grace would later also assume responsibility for.

For the past few years she has been trying to landmark the property with its Italianate exterior, which is believed to be one of the two first homes to be built in Hollis. She held a rally to draw awareness about the property on Monday.

The NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission said that the David and Mary Oakley Ketcham House may merit consideration as an individual city landmark in a letter dated Oct. 2, 2023 to Ashley.

Despite her and her sister’s efforts, her family wants to demolish the home to build six two-family houses.

“You can’t replace this history,” said Ashley at the rally.

The Ketcham family was a prominent family in Queens that helped to develop much of the borough from the 17th to the 20th centuries, according to Ashley, who is also the head of the Hollis Preservation Association.

May Callahan Flores, the original “Gibson Girl” in artist Dana Gibson’s illustrations of the feminine ideal, and her husband, Frederic Flores, are believed to have also lived in the home as early as 1924, added Ashley, who believes the home may also have been a passage on the Underground Railroad.

Paul Graziano, a land preservation expert, said the house is the progenitor for the entire community.

“Architecturally, it is very important, historically it is very important,” said Graziano at the protest. “That it could be demolished tomorrow is extremely concerning.”

Community Board 12 also supports preserving the house, which Ashley says has brought business to the neighborhood via her efforts in working with location scouts who helped get the home featured in commercials, TV shows and movies.

“Community Board 12 ... absolutely supports the designation of the Ketcham Farmhouse,” Graziano said in a letter sent to LPC. “In the 60-year history of the commission, we have 18 individual landmarks and one historic district — Addisleigh Park.”

Members of the Queens County Farm Museum and the Bayside Historical Society were also at the rally.

Ashley told the Chronicle that a review of her and her sister’s financials shows they invested about $1.8 million in the home.

Ashley said she has been pushed out of the home because a different older brother and her father, who obtained a majority share in the house in the 2010s, took her to landlord tenant court over the property due to their desire to make money off it.

She said a developer, which created an LLC with her family members, would create the six two-family homes in exchange for one of the homes later being given to the developer.

Graziano said that under the City of Yes housing directive, the property could end up being a building for about 20 housing units because of the huge lot size and its falling within a transit-oriented development zone.

Ashley said she was not a tenant in the home, that her mother gave her power of attorney for any transactions regarding the home before passing in 2021 and she didn’t learn about the LLC until some time after the funeral when the family was still grieving.

Graziano said he looked into the property records of the home and it appears that Ashley’s father also refinanced the home about three times. He could not be reached.

Ashley said she and her sister were unaware of the refinancing and received no money from it.