Hamilton Park, Staten Island
Encyclopedia
This area is part of the officially recognized New Brighton neighborhood of Staten Island. This appears to be attempt at real estate advertising to differentiate between the two.

Hamilton Park in Staten Island
Staten Island
Staten Island is a borough of New York City, New York, United States, located in the southwest part of the city. Staten Island is separated from New Jersey by the Arthur Kill and the Kill Van Kull, and from the rest of New York by New York Bay...

, one of the five borough
Borough (New York City)
New York City, one of the largest cities in the world, is composed of five boroughs. Each borough now has the same boundaries as the county it is in. County governments were dissolved when the city consolidated in 1898, along with all city, town, and village governments within each county...

s of New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...

, is a neighborhood filled with homes from the 18th and 19th century, several of which are historic landmarks. Some of the street names include Harvard Ave, Franklin Ave, Park Pl, Highview Ave, and St. Mark's Pl. Hamilton Park is an old tight-knit community nestled in a sea of developments and low income housing projects. It sits on top of a hill known as "The Heights" and ranks with Todt Hill
Todt Hill
Todt Hill [elevation 410 ft ] is a hill formed of serpentine rock on Staten Island, New York. It is the highest natural point in the five boroughs of New York City and the highest elevation on the entire Atlantic Coastal Plain from Florida to Cape Cod., The summit of the ridge is largely covered...

 as one of the highest points on the eastern seaboard below Maine
Maine
Maine is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean to the east and south, New Hampshire to the west, and the Canadian provinces of Quebec to the northwest and New Brunswick to the northeast. Maine is both the northernmost and easternmost...

.

The hilly streets of the Hamilton Park neighborhood feature rows of gingerbread-trimmed Victorian mansions and shingle-style homes erected during the Civil War
American Civil War
The American Civil War was a civil war fought in the United States of America. In response to the election of Abraham Lincoln as President of the United States, 11 southern slave states declared their secession from the United States and formed the Confederate States of America ; the other 25...

 era. Hamilton Park Cottage, 105 Franklin Ave., New Brighton
New Brighton, Staten Island
New Brighton, formerly an independent village, is today a neighborhood located on the North Shore of Staten Island in New York City, USA. The neighborhood comprises an older industrial and residential harbor front area along the Kill Van Kull west of St. George.The village of New Brighton was...

 was part of one of the first suburban developments in the United States. This beautiful, Italianate brick building was built in 1859 by developer Charles Kennedy Hamilton, and was one of the first American
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

 commissions for the German
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...

 architect Carl Pfeiffer
Carl Pfeiffer (architect)
Carl Pfeiffer was a United States architect.-Biography:He came to the United States at age 16 and resided several years in the west...

.

Hamilton Park, laid out circa 1851-52 was probably the earliest suburban residential park on Staten Island and one of the first self-contained, limited access suburban subdivisions in the United States. Unconnected to the grid of surrounding streets until 1886, it is a large, elevated tract bounded by today's East Buchanan, Franklin, Prospect and York. Dwelling sites were set on curving drives amidst a naturalistic landscape. Hamilton Park's setting remains even today one of the Island's most romantic. Traces of the original carriage roads which wound through the wooded terrain are still visible.

Dubbed "cottages" at the time, a number of suburban country dwellings of 12 to 14 rooms survive. 66 Harvard Avenue, also known as the Pritchard House (c.1853) is believed to be the first speculatively built "cottage" and is the only intact survivor of Hamilton Park's original suburban residences. Hidden behind privet hedge, birch trees, and wisteria this grand, Italianate house of yellow stucco with gray stone trim features a notable wooden porch,balcony and projecting window hood. It was placed with its front entrance commanding the downhill view to the west—today its large backyard.

Among German-born architect Carl Pfeiffer's first American commissions in the early 1860s were 12 houses built for Hamilton, many of which survive today. Although somewhat simpler and less picturesque than the earlier Harvard Avenue house, the brick, Italianate "cottage" at 105 Franklin Avenue boasts a magnificent arcaded loggia.
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