To historic preservationists, context is important. The setting of a historic building is an integral part of the building’s history. That is why moving historic buildings is frowned upon. But relocation is better than demolition. In the late twentieth century, three nineteenth century houses were moved from the Huntington Hospital campus to locations up Park Avenue. While they may have lost their context, they survive.
The story begins with parking—or rather the lack of parking. Huntington Hospital was in desperate need of more parking. To help alleviate the problem, the hospital purchased the property at 44 Maple Hill Road. On that property was a century old house, built around 1880, and the one-time home of John Connell, whose son Michael opened the namesake funeral home in Huntington Station in 1923. In September 1979, the hospital applied for a demolition permit to clear the land for parking. Town Historian Rufus Langhans inspected the house and found it to be structurally sound and that it still retained many of its original architectural features. He persuaded the hospital to give him time to find someone who would be interested in moving the house.
Press coverage of the availability of a free house attracted about 20 seriously interested prospects. Unfortunately, mortgage interest rates rose from 9 ½% to 12 ½% rendering the project unaffordable for the young couples that had expressed an interest. Langhans then suggested the Town of Huntington take on the cost of moving the house and then offer it for sale at its new location. He found a vacant one third acre plot on Park Avenue. He estimated the land could be purchased and the house moved and renovated for $51,000. A realtor told him similar renovated historic houses in the area sold for $70-75,000. The Town might even make a small profit on the project. Fortuitously, the State had in 1976 passed an act “authorizing the town board of Huntington, Suffolk County, to designate and sell historic edifices.” Langhans suggested using the revolving fund set up under this act to effectuate the house moving.
The hospital wanted the house moved by October 3, so they could pave their new parking lot before cold weather forced the closure of the asphalt plant. That deadline came and went with the house still on the property. In late January 1980, Langhans reported to Town Supervisor Kenneth Butterfield that he had found a serious buyer who would have the money to buy the house on March 1 when she closed on the sale of her current house. She agreed to bear the expense of moving the house.
At the same time that Langhans was working to save this house, he was also advocating the creation of the Old Huntington Green Historic District, which would protect the dozens of historic houses in Huntington’s “Old Town Spotte,” which ran along Park Avenue. The Town Board created the new historic district in November 1980.
Things were falling into place. The hospital owned another historic house at the corner of Park Avenue and Maple Hill Road. That house, which dated to about 1860, was also slated to be demolished to make room for parking. Gay Wagner, an independent preservation consultant who worked with Langhans on this project and in completing a survey of historic structures throughout the town, suggested that both houses be moved at the same time to save on the not inconsiderable expense of raising electrical and telephone wires along the route the houses would take up Park Avenue.
A recent 5-lot subdivision of a 1.84-acre property running from Park Avenue through to Harriett Lane, between Linda Lane and Leslie Place, was chosen as the site for the two houses. The lot on Park Avenue would receive the Connell House from 44 Maple Hill Road and the flag lot behind it would receive the Moses White House from 238 Park Avenue. The Town Board unanimously approved the purchase of the rear lot and authorized the move by resolution adopted on March 25, 1980. Two days later, the houses were moved one and a half miles to their new locations.
Langhans thanked no less than 39 Town officials, community leaders, vendors, lawyers and others for their support and assistance in moving the two houses. But much of the credit must go to Wagner and Langhans himself. To convince not only the hospital administration, but also the members of the Town Board that the houses were worth saving and to agree to the logistical complications of the one-and-a-half mile move and in less than six months was an astonishing feat.
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While the John Connell House was being renovated, the Moses White House sat vacant behind it for several months. Then in December 1980, the Town Board authorized the sale of the Moses White House at auction to be held on February 18. Langhans held an open house for prospective buyers on January 16. The house was moved without its front porch or kitchen, which would have to be rebuilt. Also missing was electricity, insulation, plumbing, heat, water and a septic system. The house was also in need of carpentry, masonry, roofing and flooring repairs. Langhans prepared a brochure to promote the auction. He estimated rebuilding the porch would cost $5,637. Interior renovations and repairs, including a new kitchen, were estimated to cost $19,652. Bidding for the house would start at $50,000 to cover the cost of the move. All of which adds up to a bit more than the estimated appraisal of $75,000 for a fully renovated house that Langhans had received before the house was moved.
On the appointed day, Langhans was ready for the auction. True to his character, Langhans said he would light a candle at the auction. “In colonial times, the bidding would end when the candle flickered out and the person who last bid would have the property,” he was quoted as saying. “In todays’ world the ‘lit’ candle will only represent a dying custom since we will allow the bidding to continue as long as necessary.” Langhans also planned to present the winning bidder with “turf and twig,” a nod to an ancient custom when transferring real property.
Leading up to the auction, Langhans had received dozens on inquiries. Interest seemed to be running high. When he lit his candle to start the auction, about a dozen potential bidders were on hand. The Town’s acting Comptroller John Zanfino asked for bids, starting at $50,000. Silence. He asked again; no response. He asked a third time. Still no bids. Langhans couldn’t believe it. He blamed high interest rates.
The house sat vacant and un-repaired. In June 1982—more than two years since the move—the Town Attorney suggested that the house might be easier to sell if it was renovated by the Town. Nothing came of the suggestion as weeds grew to four feet high and birds nested in the cavities created where the porch had been removed.
One day in late 1982, Langhans walked down the block, as was his custom, to get a cup of coffee at Soviero’s Luncheonette (now Mundays). He saw a sign taped to the cash register. Fred Soviero (son of the luncheonette’s owner) and his wife Ronnie had posted the sign saying they were looking for a home for their young family. Langhans told Joe Soviero that he had a nice place nearby that was available. He gave them a skeleton key to the front door and invited them to check it out.
Fred and Joe saw lots of possibilities. When they came back with Ronnie later that same day, she cried thinking this was to be their new home. Tar paper flapped in the wind where the kitchen wing had been. There were no steps to the front door for her to climb to inspect the interior, just a wooden milk crate that was three feet short of the threshold. “It was not what I was expecting for my first house,” she recently said. Somehow, she was convinced to buy the house for $50,000.
In November 1982, the Town Board authorized a sale to Fred & Ronnie Soviero. It took about 18 months before the house was habitable. They hired professionals to install a septic system, a water line and electricity. But much of the work was done by Joe, who was a carpenter, and Fred. For his 30th birthday in 1984, Ronnie invited about 80 friends and relatives over to a surprise birthday party that was really a work party. The guests spent the day working inside and out, pulling down wallpaper, scraping paint, and other tasks needed to make the place habitable. Fred built the kitchen cabinets himself and their kitchen table was an unused booth from the luncheonette until they built an addition for an expanded kitchen and family room in 2000.
By the end of the decade, the Hospital was again looking to create even more space for parking. But this time things were different. In 1988, the hospital had acquired two more houses on Park Avenue. One was a 1920s bungalow. The other was the Adams House, which was dated to about 1830 (however, an 1850 deed seems to indicate that there was no house on the property at that time). Job Adams acquired the property in 1865. Job and his brother James were immigrants from England who worked as “practical gardeners.” Job was also sexton at St. John’s church for a number of years.
In the years since the Moses White and John Connell Houses were moved, the locally designated Old Huntington Green Historic District had been created, as noted above. And several properties, including the Adams House, had been listed on the National Register of Historic Places. Those developments seemed to have changed the neighborhood’s reaction to the hospital’s plans. The hospital met with the Town’s Historic Preservation Commission in August 1989. The hospital proposed demolishing the two houses. The Preservation Commission suggested a compromise: the 1920s bungalow could be demolished for parking, but the Adams House should remain with a 25’ deep backyard. The rest of the Adams House property could be used for parking.
The proposed compromise didn’t hold. Two-and-a-half years later, the hospital proposed moving the Adams House to the grounds of the Dr. Daniel Whitehead Kissam property, which was owned by the Huntington Historical Society. The house would serve as a caretaker’s cottage and provide a needed onsite presence to keep an eye on the historic museum property. The hospital would set aside $140,000 for the move, renovations, and initial maintenance.
The application to the Town to move the building was filed in September 1982. Neighbors were not happy. They formed a “Committee for the Preservation of #244 Park Ave.” The neighbors argued that the net gain of parking spaces by removing the house was only twenty spots. They were also concerned about how the house would fare during the move, especially the stone and cement rear wing, which a previous owner found himself repairing repeatedly. They lamented “the loss of a centerpiece of [the neighborhood’s] historic character and the resultant decline in property values.” The Preservation Commission also opposed the move as did the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities (now Preservation Long Island), and the Scudder Association. Neighbors suggested that if the hospital wished to be relieved of the burden of maintaining the Adams House, they could donate it to the Historical Society at its original location. The Society would then receive much needed income without compromising a centerpiece of the historic district.
The hospital argued that after the move, the Adams House would still remain within the historic district and that its new setting would be more appropriate than being surrounded by parking lots on three sides. The neighbors countered that the proposed site next to a small stream was too wet. They held a candlelight vigil two weeks before the Town Board hearing on the matter.
The National Parks Service weighed in because the building was listed on the National Register. The Parks Services noted that “properties listed in the National Register should be moved only when there is no feasible alternative for preservation.” After “strongly” urging the hospital and Town officials to consider alternatives, the Parks Services preliminary approved the move in September 1993. The Village Green Civic Association and the Historic Preservation Commission sued. But in January 1994, the court ruled in favor of the hospital and the Town Board. The house was moved in May 1994 to its current site on North Woodhull Street, where it was restored.
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Langhans, who was such a key player in the earlier move, was more or less absent from the Adams House saga, perhaps because he was battling cancer. He died in November 1994, just six months after the Adams House was moved.
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