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NASSAU
New Hyde Park
The Schumacher House (also known as the Cornell-Van
Nostrand House) located in Clinton G. Martin Park, New
Hyde Park, can be said to have had several lives and,
in spite of its current condition, may be poised to
resume life once again, thanks to a group established
originally to save the former Sperry Gyroscope building
(Defense Plant Corporation, U.S. Government, 1941) in
Lake Success, the original site of the United Nations
Security Council (1946–1950). The Schumacher house
stood on the Sperry property, and a portion of it was
used as a nursery school from 1945–1951, for children
of United Nations personnel.
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| Schumacher (Cornell-Van Nostrand
) House with temporary protection, December, 2004.
CHARLA BOLTON |
The Schumacher house consists of three sections. Conjectured
dates place the oldest section in the mid 1700's, the
middle wing about 1800, a substantial remodeling and
enlargement about 1850, and a final addition about 1869,
by Van Nostrand. Originally owned by the Cornell family,
the Hicks, Bedell, Seaman, Van Nostrand and Kissam families
were succeeding owners, prior to its acquisition by
Sperry. After it was to be replaced by a parking lot,
it was purchased and moved by Frederick Schumacher,
who placed it on a new foundation, and provided landscaping
and brick terracing. About 1960, he sold it to the Town
of North Hempstead with surrounding acreage for parkland,
and by 1969, it had been furnished with antiques by
the North Hempstead Historical Society. In the 1970's,
the Town of North Hempstead Town Historian made use
of it, and in the 1980's, the Family Service League.
By 1990 it was vacant. The local friends group, the
Foundation to Preserve Long Island's International Heritage,
and the New Hyde Park Historical Society launched an
appeal to Town officials, and sought SPLIA's assistance,
in getting the Town to protect and stabilize the building
and commit funds to its restoration. As a first step,
temporary protection from weather and vandals is in
place, vegetation has been removed or pruned, and the
Town Board has held a hearing to landmark the house.
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