Tuesday, January 12, 2010

Look to the Hills

Perhaps you've noticed that the North Shore of my beloved Staten Island is littered with hills? Well it is.

Once they were all refuges for wealthier seeking insulation from the rest of us. Elevation lifted them away and above us. In that time great mansions covered many of those hills (see the Ben Braw pictures). Later, meaner times lead to the demolition of those manorial estates and the subdivision of their property as is seen in the differences between the map of the C. A. Low Estate and the photo of the same place twenty-five years later.

Pavillion Hill - 1933 - Taken from a vantage near the public restroom at Tompkinsville Square (where all the junkies hung about when I was younger).




View Larger Map

Map of Pavillion Hill - 1917 - Note the ownership by the Pavillion Hill Corp. and the subdivision of the property into the lots that exist to this day.




Ben Braw - 1935 - This magnificent house is one of the few remaining great estates from Staten Island's Gilded Age homes (I think I've ranted about this once or twice before). Today the view of it from Murray Hulbert Street is obscured by the elevated SI Rapid Transit tracks, buildings and three quarters of a century of plant growth.








Fort Hill Circle - 1933 - From York Avenue - The large brick building with the gables in the picture's center is on the corner of Crescent and Westervelt. The white apartments at the top left is the Ambassador and the first home of the luminous Mrs. V.



Map - Low Estate - 1917

5 comments:

CVB said...

I loved this article. Thank you. I can see the tower of my home in the Fort Hill Circle picture. The tower is directly behind and to the left of the tudor on the hill.

Anonymous said...

I've lived on Staten Island my entire life and never once heard of Pavilion Hill. Thanks so much for pointing it out. I think I'll be taking a ride up there in the morning.

The Wasp said...

I'm still amazed that people occasionally read this blog.

I grew up on Cebra between Ward and Rosewood and climbed up and down the stairs from Tompkins Circle to Victory all the time and I only discovered the name Pavillion Hill last year when working on this blog.

JP Kilcullen said...

Hello
Just discovered your blog...really love it...I'd love to speak with you regarding a colaborative project
Thanks
John Kilcullen
PLSI
917-886-4389

Anonymous said...

Staten Island is the highest point on the east coast.