Over 18 months ago I posted a piece about the defunct Swedish Nursing Home in Sunnyside and the Island's one remaining Vanderbilt family home that was part of that small establishment. Well it's no more. More precisely it's been no more for six months or so. I just missed it. (I apologize for my tardiness but I have no army of county wide informants sending me reports from the front).I was driving through the back streets of Sunnyside two weeks ago and realized something was significantly different. It took a minute or two to understand the enormity of the change and lost relic.
Last night I tooled around the SI Advance's site and learned about what brought about the mansion's demise. It's not an untypical tale and I understand the neighborhood peoples' decision to not fight the mansions demolition. The Preservation League put up a good fight and lost. It's all understandable and regrettable.
I AM disappointed at the inaction of the Landmarks Commission. They preserve all sorts of rubbish, take whole neighborhoods out from under their owners for the desires of a few fools and yet they express no interest in the last remaining vestige of the Vanderbilts' home on Staten Island. It's so typical of the disdain I always feel coming out of City Hall and its organs towards Staten Island.
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