Old Babylon Town Hall.
PHOTOCREDIT: BABYLON BY THE SEA,
IMAGES OF AMERICA SERIES, SR. ANNE FRANCIS PULLING,
ARCADIA PUBLISHING, CHARLESTON, SOUTH CAROLINA,
2000 |
Babylon
Local residents in Babylon have mounted a campaign to
save the Old Babylon Town Hall. Built in 1917, the former
town hall building, at 47 Main Street, was designed
by architect Lewis Inglee. This building, which is eligible
for the National and State Registers of Historic Places,
was featured in 1936 in Vernon Howe Bailey’s NY
Sun column, “Sketches of New York’s Suburbs,”
item #235.
15 East Main Street (Deer Park
Avenue) Store.
PHOTOCREDIT: LONG ISLAND LANDMARKS, METROPOLITAN
NEW YORK
DISTRICT OFFICEOFTHE STATE OFFICE OF PLANNING
COORDINATION,
EDWARD J. SMITS CONSULTANT, SPLIA, 1971 |
Another building of unusual significance
in the Village of Babylon, is the 2 1/2story mansard
roof commercial building at 15 East Main Street on the
northeast corner of Main Street and Deer Park Avenue.
The storefronts on the first floor have been modernized,
but the upper floors retain a high degree of integrity
and represent one of the very few surviving examples
of a building type that was once not uncommon in Long
Island’s turn-of-the-century business districts.
The structure with commercial space on the ground floor
and housing above, was illustrated and selected as “of
particular interest” in Long Island Landmarks
first published in 1969 by the Metropolitan New York
District Office of the State Office of Planning Coordination
where it was rated as of “County and Town significance”
as a major structure and an outstanding example of special
interest.
Both structures—the old Town Hall
and the mansard roof commercial building at 15 East
Main Street—are shown on page 86 of Suffolk County’s
Ten Great Townships of Long Island, published in 1939
by Suffolk County Board of Supervisors.
Second Avenue Firehouse, Bay Shore,
after restoration.
PHOTOCREDIT: GENE LESSERON |
Bay Shore Second Avenue Firehouse The
South Shore Restoration Group Inc. has meticulously
restored Bay
Shore’s Second Avenue ca. 1897 firehouse,
with support from local banks, private donors, the Suffolk
County Legislature and a member grant from State Senator
Owen Johnson. Known historically as the Bay Shore Hose
Company No.1 building, the building had lost its hose-drying
tower and its belfry, but old photographs from the Bay
Shore Historical Society and Bay Shore Fire Department
made replacement possible. The restoration architect,
Anthony Szekalski, who directed the project, won for
his firm the year 2000 historic restoration/reuse award
from the New York chapter of the American Institute
of Architects. The firehouse was rededicated on June
11, 2000.
North Elevation showing detail
of restored hose-drying tower.
ELEVATION CREDIT: ANTHONY SZEKALSKI, AIA, BAY
SHORE |
Recognizing the building’s Stick
Style architecture, cultural interest, and remarkable
survival, the Department of the Interior listed it on
the National Register of Historic Places on August 15,
2001. The building is a rehabilitation success story.
Although it had outlived its original function, it lives
again as a studio and home for husband and wife artists-in-residence,
who, in exchange for a lower rent donate their talents
to various community projects. This project makes an
inspiring contribution to the ongoing efforts to up-grade
Bay Shore’s historic business district—where
a 1905 Queen Anne Style commercial building, owned by
Marilyn Schulman of Bay Shore Lighting, received an
elaborate facade restoration by architects Smiros and
Smiros using original photographs.
Adding to the historic preservation ferment,
the United Methodist Church of Bay Shore, located on
the northwest corner of Second Avenue and East Main
Street, was listed on the State and National Registers
in 2001. It is a large handsome Romanesque Revival Style
building with an auditorium in the so-called “Akron
Plan.” Although the architect has not been identified,
it is said to be similar to work by George F. Skidmore,
a prominent Riverhead architect. The First Congregational
Church of Bay Shore, built in 1891 has also been listed
on the State Register and nominated to the National
Register of Historic Places in 2001. Krueger, Anne
”Second Acts” This Old House, December,
2000
World War Veterans Club.
PHOTOCREDIT: EVELYN ELLIS,
VILLAGE HISTORIAN |
Lindenhurst World War Veterans Club
First formed in 1919, the World War Veterans Club, after
meeting initially in fire district headquarters on West
John Street and later in other rented headquarters,
determined to construct a clubhouse of their own. The
members purchased two lots in 1924 on the corner of
West John Street and North Broadway for $500 dollars.
Architectural plans were drawn by Harry Wichman. In
October, 1926 a contract was signed with George Weierter
for $5,160 to construct the building. The outside walls
of the clubhouse were of magnesite stucco, with a watch
tower and crenellated parapet.
Due to declining membership, the club can no longer
support the building. Members’ strong concern
that the structure be preserved has led them to initiate
a purchase for $50,000 by Suffolk County, which is intending
to turn it over to the Town of Babylon for use as a
veterans museum. Suffolk County Legislator David Bishop
of the 14th Legislative District, which includes Lindenhurst,
and Councilman Steve Bellone of the Town of Babylon,
have facilitated the purchase and prospective transfer.
The signing of the contract is pending a resolution
by Suffolk County, stipulating its future use be restricted
to use by the World War Veterans Club of Lindenhurst,
Inc. as long as it may continue to exist. A resolution
has been passed by the Town of Babylon Town Board authorizing
the acceptance of the building. Office of David
Bishop, Suffolk County Legislator, 14th Legislative
District—Evelyn M. Ellis, Lindenhurst Village
Historian
Chandlery, Bayles Shipyard, Port
Jefferson.
PHOTOCREDIT: THE SEVEN HILLS OF PORT,
PATRICIA HANSELL SISLERAND
ROBERT SISLER,
RMP PUBLICATION SERVICES |
Port Jefferson
The Bayles Shipyard at 101 East Broadway in Port Jefferson
has been nominated to the National Register of Historic
Places. This is a five-acre waterfront property which
has three buildings port. These are the 1897 Bayles
Chandlery (from 1953 to 1986 the office of Tuthill &
Young Oil Co.), the 1917 Machine Shop and Mould Loft,
and the 1917 Compressor House. By 1917 the wooden shipbuilding
era was over and new owners leased the shipyard to the
Emergency Fleet Corporation of the United States Shipping
Board. All the old structures except the Bayles handlery
were demolished and the yard was adapted to the construction
of large steel vessels. From remaining from the days
when Port Jefferson was Long Island’s major shipbuilding
1917 to 1921 the Bayles Shipyard Inc. had a workforce
of about 1000 men and constructed nine steel-hulled
freighters, barges, tugboats, and tankers. The last
vessel was launched in 1921. In order to house the supervisory
personnel the Emergency Fleet Corporation built a row
of small houses on nearby Liberty Avenue with Sir Alfred
C. Bossom as architect. Alfred C. Bossom, who was London-born
and trained, came to America in 1904 as an associate
of architect George A. Crawley on the John L. Phipps
estate in Old Westbury. He designed two country homes
on Long Island, in 1914 and in 1918, but his main thrust
was a variety of major commercial and industrial commissions
including two company towns and, toward the close of
World War I, “the housing development for Bayles
Shipyard Inc. in Port Jefferson undertaken by the Emergency
Fleet Corporation for the U.S. Shipping Board.”
This information is from Long Island Country Houses
and Their Architects 1860- 1940 published by SPLIA in
1997.
|
