SCOUTING
FIELD NOTES

The Saddest House In New York City

07/02/2012

This is the story of a little house in Queens that broke my heart.

A few years ago, I was working on a movie that sent me to Richmond Hill, Queens, to find a beautiful, one-of-a-kind house. If you’ve never visited, Richmond Hill has a number of gorgeous turn-of-the-century Victorians…

…and in fact, chances are you’ve seen at least one or two Richmond Hill houses before in a film or TV show. Productions are always in the neighborhood for this rare look that’s tough to find:

For this particular film, we were looking for something a bit smaller, and it didn’t take long before I stumbled on this gem, built in 1905.

The exterior was gorgeous, and looked to be in pristine condition…

…and I especially loved the two upper floors, with their wonderful ornamentation and two oval windows. It turned out the house was for sale, and I quickly made an appointment for a tour.

As we were walking around the interior, I was equally impressed by the quality and personal touch in each room. It was clear that whoever used to live here cherished this house.

Out of curiosity, I asked what the house’s background was, and was told that its former owner, Nancy Cataldi, a local preservationist, had recently passed away. And suddenly, it all made sense.

Nancy was a major advocate for historical preservation in Richmond Hill, and had worked tirelessly to preserve the neighborhood she called home. She served as the president of the Richmond Hill Historical Society for nearly a decade, and is a major reason why so much beauty can still be found in Richmond Hill today. In fact, the street we were on was given the co-name “Nancy Cataldi Way” following her death.

As we were walking around looking at what remained of her possessions, I suddenly got a very sad feeling in the pit of my stomach. Nancy was gone, but her soul was all around us – in the worn floorboards, the antique furniture, the intricate wallpaper…But it was like I could feel that soul fading.

Ultimately, we didn’t film in the house due to rewrites moving the characters into a Manhattan apartment. Still, I never forgot the place, and when I was asked to find a house a few weeks ago, I immediately headed out to Richmond Hill to see if it might still be an option.

But as I drove by, something was wrong…

Maybe I didn’t have the correct address? I pulled over and double-checked my notes.

And then I realized:

I was at the right address.

Despite all her efforts and the endless amounts of preservation work she did in Richmond Hill, Nancy was never able to get her own street protected; the Landmarks Preservation Commission rejected her proposal in 2001.

According to this 2010 Daily News article, the new homeowners claim they were forced to renovate due to an invasion of carpenter ants.

You know what? Words are kind of failing me, so I’ll just let my pictures speak for themselves.

We ALL benefit from people like Nancy Cataldi long after they pass, and while it’s cute to name streets after preservationists, it’s a lot more important to carry on their legacy. Hopefully, this is a reminder of that.

Rest in peace, Nancy.

-SCOUT

Many more posts in the archives!

Share this post via…

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Books

07/02/2012

What a beautiful house. It’s a same that it wasn’t preserved.

Reply
xOMars

07/02/2012

My family is from Richmond Hill and as residents, we cringe every time we pass by the latest disaster of a home renovation. Richmond Hill is a beautiful neighborhood but without Nancy, I’m afraid it might lose its lovely, historical Victorian homes. Thank you for sharing the story.

Reply
sam

07/02/2012

This kind of renovation, on a smaller, and often even less artful (if you can imagine) scale, goes on in Kensington, Brooklyn, constantly. It’s a source of never-ending disgust. It’s nauseating. They even brick over the chimneys.

Reply
Erik

07/02/2012

I can see why they put brick up. Carpenter ants don’t eat brick. However they do eat wood. What I would have like to have seen is the restoration. I would think that carpenter ants being carpenter ants they won’t stop at eating just the siding. They’d also eat the studs. This being said they should have had to restud the entire down stairs, not an easy process and if you’re going to go all that way, why oh why use brick for the exterior? There are a lot of non wood/non vinyl siding products out there that would be a lot better to use than brick!

I geuss they’ve never heard or Orkin.

Reply
Pam Parnham

07/02/2012

Beautiful house. It is a shame that it had to be renovated, but at the very least they kept the original shape, windows etc. I did notice and it may just be the trees, but in the 6th photo down in the window on the right – the shadows kind of look like a figure??

Reply
Countervail

07/02/2012

Come to the area of Forest Hills just north of Queens Boulevard for an array of these god-awful nouveau-immigrant styled McMansions. Makes me sick. This story makes my heart ache.

Reply
Dovetail

07/02/2012

The original house was so charming and obviously loved and had a wonderful aura about it. Then I found myself gasping, slack jawed, and in disbelief at the “renovation”. What a shame! What is wrong with people? There is no accounting for taste, as they say.

Reply
astami

07/02/2012

thank you for sharing this story. hopefully it will help keep the charm of nyc alive. mcmansions simply have no place here.

Reply
prufrock

07/02/2012

Did the new owners move from Jersey Shore? That would explain some of the unfortunate decisions, I guess.

By the way, carpenter ants do not eat healthy wood– that is, wood that is unaffected by rot. I live in an old house in a historic district and have worked on homes, including my own. It’s not that hard, nor significantly more expensive to respect the integrity of the house’s design and intention.

This is just a crass lack of taste and respect.

Reply
frank

07/02/2012

This looks like every POS faux mansion in the Hasidic neighborhood in Brooklyn. Come down to Avenue I or J, you’ll see they’re a dime a dozen. Unfortunately, that house was perfect the way it was until they put up that Floridian mess.

Reply
Lisa

07/02/2012

This is nothing more than vile criminality, and the new owners should be prosecuted for foisting this abomination on an already-reeling city. I don’t care if this is your architectural heritage, if it’s that important to you stay in your own country and buy or build a tacky, tasteless house there. Don’t come to the US and destroy our history, we have enough Americans already willing to do – and doing – that.

20 years ago I was doing a major faux-paint job in a house in a NJ community of Arts & Crafts houses – the whole neighborhood had been built around the same time, all the houses were of generally the same shape and size, it was a charming glimpse into the past. The house next to the one I was working in – wraparound columned porch, central hallway with bifurcating staircase to the second floor, original woodwork and stained glass, etc. – had been sold, and the new owner planned to bulldoze it and the original carriage house and build a McMansion out to the lot lines. The woman whose place I was working in was thrilled, could not wait for the old, lovely, sheltering edifice next to her to be razed. Broke my heart, wish I could have bought it myself to preserve it. Still wonder what went up in its place; still wonder why the woman hated that house so much; wonder how she wound up liking her new neighbor.

Reply
Michelle

07/02/2012

Why? Why would someone destroy a house like that? Why??

Reply
Ivan Mrakovcic

07/02/2012

I met Nancy in 1996 and by 1998 we formed the Richmond Hill Historical Society – I was the Founding President and Nancy took the batton in about 2001. Together, with a team of dedicated Board Members, we promoted the Victorian gems and verdant allure of Richmond Hill. Nancy purchased her home at an auction and as it turned out; it was the home of Henry Haugaard’s mother – Henry was the Architect of some 900 homes in Richmond Hill, Woodhaven and vicinity. Nancy was a dynamo and her loss was much deeper than that house alone. Upon her loss we failed to have it Landmarked and the LPC was resistant every step of the way as we promoted a historic district in Richmond Hill. “Carpenter ants”? I think theire are isolated treatments for such problems: you don’t need to put the baby “to the sword” to kill a tick. Let’s face it: if you wanted to buy a house in Howard Beach in the New Howard Beach “style” of architectural mish-mash brought to you by Home Depot… perhaps you should have purchased a home in Howard Beach.

Reply
Peter

07/02/2012

Here in Queensland Australia we often see the same thing happening with our old high set wooden homes. They get gutted and clad, and the verandahs closed in to make more rooms and all their character is gone. My mum and dad have an original condition Queenslander (as they are called) and it’s a wonderful house. Unfortunately a previous owner cut all the trees down because he only liked lawn. Including the palm trees that were contemporary to the house from the original garden.

Reply
Gaby

07/02/2012

I lived in Richmond hill my whole life,25 years. Both houses you took pictures of I remember them as a child and in my teen years. I know exactly where both houses are. This is a sad sorry and I loved reading it.

Reply
Old Skool

07/02/2012

There is a web site called Queens Crap that deals with this issue. Also Kevin Walsh at forgotten-ny holds no truck for this form of BS.
In my youth I lived in a walkup in Long Island City and thus had no exposure to this type of architecture. i can only wonder what kind of Philistine would do something like this

Reply
Gary

07/02/2012

Why do so many people accept this cultural relativism bullshit? It behooves people from other countries to at least attempt to understand the culture they’re moving too. Yes, wood houses are for poor people in south asia. Brick is for the well-to-do. So we’ll just brick over a wood house in perfect repair! If they don’t like it they’re just jealous!

Reply
Rebecca

07/03/2012

This upsets me.

Reply
Brenda from Flatbush

07/03/2012

I was born in Richmond Hill (although into an “Archie Bunker house,” not one of the Victorian beauties), and this is just heartbreaking…maybe the owners, like some of those profiled in the New York Times awhile back, wanted to spare their family the terror of “diseases and worms”:
http://crazystable.squarespace.com/journal/2005/11/29/ticks-and-disease-and-worms-and-stuff.html

Reply
ML

07/03/2012

I like the old house and respect everyone else’s desire for landmark protection, but as new houses go I think the new one is perfectly fine too. I must be from a different planet or something.

Reply
1. Mara
  
  07/05/2012
  
  I’d suggest reading “The Geography of Nowhere.” It gives you a feel for what we are fast losing (the same feel this site gives you) and opens your eyes to the greater loss to the community and country as a whole when our culture and history are thrown away, piece by piece.
  
  Reply