Kreischer House
Kreischer House, also known as Kreischer Mansion, is a historic home located at Charleston, Staten Island, New York City. Built by German immigrant Balthasar Kreischer about 1885, it is a large, asymmetrically massed 2 1⁄2-story, wood-frame house in the American Queen Anne style. The rectangular house features spacious verandas, gables with jigsaw bargeboards, decorative railings, posts and brackets, tall chimneys, and a corner tower. It was one of two mansions built by Kreischer for his sons. The surviving house belonged to son Edward Kreischer; the other one had been his brother Charles's.[2] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[1]
Kreischer Mansion | |
Location | 4500 Arthur Kill Rd., Staten Island, New York |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°31′57″N 74°14′18″W |
Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
Built | ca. 1885 |
Architectural style | American Queen Anne |
NRHP reference No. | 82001199[1] |
NYCL No. | 0391 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | October 29, 1982 |
Designated NYCL | February 20, 1968 |
History
On June 8, 1894, Edward B. Kreischer committed suicide by shooting himself in the right temple near his place of business.[2][3] Since then, there have been claims that Kreischer has haunted the property.[2][4] Along with other local stories of the house's violent history, this has given the house a supernatural reputation, leading it to be used as a location on television shows including Boardwalk Empire.[2]
In 1998 the Kreischer Mansion was bought with the intention of restoration and eventual sale by Isaac Yomtovian.[2] In 2008, then caretaker Joe Black was revealed to be a hitman for the Bonnano crime family.[5] He was convicted of the murder of rival mob associate Robert McKelvey, committed three years earlier on the property.[5][6][7]
See also
- List of New York City Designated Landmarks in Staten Island
- National Register of Historic Places listings in Richmond County, New York
References
- "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- Lehto, Steve (February 3, 2015). American Murder Houses: A Coast-To-Coast Tour of the Most Notorious Houses of Homicide. Penguin. ISBN 9781101593011. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
- "With a Bullett in His Skull". New York Tribune. New York. June 9, 1894. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
- Schellmann, Hilke (October 24, 2012). "Spirits moving on S.I." The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
- Sietsema, Robert (December 3, 2010). "Killmeyer's and the Kreischer Mansion: Meat and Murder in Staten Island". The Village Voice. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
- "Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS)". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Archived from the original (Searchable database) on April 4, 2019. Retrieved April 1, 2016. Note: This includes Anne B. Covell (September 1982). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Kreischer House" (PDF). Retrieved April 1, 2016. and Accompanying three photographs
- William K. Rashbaum (May 12, 2006). "Grisly Mob Killing at S.I. Mansion Is Detailed". New York Times. New York. Retrieved April 9, 2016.