HomeMy WebLinkAboutPE-26 FOR OFFICE USE ONLY PE 26
BUILDING-STRUCTURE INVENTORY FORM
UNIQUE SITE NO. /157319, CTIOT'2
DIVISION FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION QUAD
NEW YORK STATE PARKS AND RECREATION SERIES
ALBANY,NEW YORK (518) 474-0479 NEG. NO.
YOUR NAME; wn f Southold SPLIA DATE: October_ 1986
YOUR ADDRESS: Town Hall,_ Main Road TELEPHONE;( 516)765-1892
Southold L. I. , N.Y. 11971
ORGANIZATION (if any): Southold Town Community Development Office
IDENTIFICATION
1. BUILDING NAMF.(S): Overton— 'Vail— Millman house d 31605
2. COUNTY: SuffolkT WN CITY: Southold VILLAGE: Peconic
3. STREET LOCATION: Route 8 �27 north side
4. OWNERSHIP: a. 9Rublic E] b. private 5J
5, PRESENT OWNER: �Mlillman_ ADDRESS: i# 31605 Route 48_
6. USI:: Original: Residen_ce Present: Residence
7, ACCESSIBILITY TO PUBLIC: Exterior visible from public road: Yes IN No
Interior accessible: Explain
DESCRIPTION
ti. BAIL DING a. clapboard ❑ b. stone ❑ c. brick ❑ d. board and batten ❑
MATF.RIAL: e. cobblestone ❑ f. shingles ❑ g. stucco ❑ other: asbestos
`). :STRUCTURAL, a. wood frame with interlocking joints
SYSTEM: b, woad frame with light members Pq
(if kn(wn) c. masonry load bearing walls❑
d. metal (explain)
e. other
10. CONDITION: a• excellent L8J b. good ❑ c. fair ❑ d. deteriorated ❑
11. INTEGRITY: a. original site X1 b. moved ❑ if so,when'
c. list major alterations and dates (if known):
House was originally clapboard. The old clapboards
remain under the modern cladding. Original porch removed.
PF-RSM III-2 From south
12. PHOTO:South Front fagade 13. MAP: N.Y.S. DOT Southold Quad
s
e..,T, 3.. l:
b
■ ■ . r R ip -�-U
rs
O 0 Z
a
a o b
a
PE-26
14. THREATS TO BUILDING: a.none known X b. zoning 0 c. roads El
d. developers ❑ e. deterioration
f. other:
15. RELATED OUTBUILDINGS AND PROPERTY:
a. barn® b. carriage house El c, garage El
d. privy Z]* e. shed El f, greenhouse 0
g. Shop El h. gardens El cottage (w. interlocking
j. landscape features: j oints/orig.plank
j. other: triple seated privy (d)* boards
^
16. SURROUNDINGS OF THE BUILDING (check more than one if necessary):
a.open land IN b. woodland El
c. scattered buildings 1Z
d.densely built-up 0 e. commercial D
f. industrial 1:1 g. residential F-1
h.other:
17. INTERRELATIONSHIP OF BUILDING AND SURROUNDINGS:
(Indicate if building or structure is in an historic district)
The house lies on Route 48 (27) . In the 19th century this
was the Middle Road, also as the North Road.
18. OTHER NOTABLE FEATURES OF BUILDING AND SITE (including interior features if known):
21-story, 5-bay, flat roof, Italianate house with paired
22
brackets under the eaves. Square cupola, also with flat
roof and paired brackets under the eaves.
SIGNIFICANCE
11). DA'1 I OF INITIAL CONSTRUCTION: x.862" Knocker says "Vail 1862"
ARCHITECT.
BUILDER:
'0. IiISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL IMPORTANCE:
This fine old house is fortunate in that it has apprecia-
tive owners who are interested in the history of the
house.
Vail in 1873. This is the Vail farm referred
Floyd in 1897. to in Up Lot Reveries in 1984.
Overton in 1909.
R. C. Newell. Rose Rpmpmbprs. 1976. Page 69
Report by Joy Bear. Southold Town Landmark
Preservation Commission 3/26/1986
21. SOURCES: * Conversation with Saul and Janet Millman 7/1986
Beers, Comstock, Cline. Atlas of Long Island. 1873
R.C. Newell. A Rose of the Nineties. 1962.Map opp. P.l.
Interview Carl F. Vail. 11/13
22. THE AIF.
/86
Form prepared by Rosemary Skye Moritt, research
assistant.
p
r y
P7 26
HOME OF SAUL AND JANET MILLMAN
31605 North Road (Route 48 )
Pecan'c Y 11958
Analyzed by Ralph Williams & John Stack
Reported by Joy Bear
Southold Town Landmark Preservation Commission
March 26, 1986
The Millman home in Peconic is a large Italianate style farmhouse with
a square belvedere atop its very low-pitched (almost flat) roof and wide
overhanging eaves supported by paired ornamental brackets . A brass knocker
on the front door is enscribed 'Vail 1862, " which was probably the year the
house was built. The Italianate style was much admired at that time, and the
North Fork has many lovely Italianate style homes from the mid-19th Century.
However, the stunning surprise in this house lies in its basement,
which dates from a much earlier period - c . 1760. The present house was
built on the foundation of a previous house. No trace except the basement
remains from this earlier house .
The c . 1760 basement is lined with huge, dry-laid rocks . (Today they
are pointed with mortar. ) On top of the stone wall are courses of red bricks ..
varying from six to 10 bricks high. These indicate that the floor of the
1862 house was raised two feet above the floor of the c . 1760 house, whose
sills probably rested directly on the rock wall.
The width across the front (south elevation) of the early house appears
to be the same as that of the present house - approximately 36 feet outside .
The depth (south to north) was the depth of the old stone-lined cellar ,'-
about 271 feet. The first house may have been a "double Cape Cod" styli, witt
a central chimney stack - a style often seen on the North Fork in remaining
early 18th Century homes. The Italianate style house built on the old
foundation is much deeper south to north, with added rooms (see floorplan. )
BASEMENT
The east wall of the old basement contains the foundation of a centrall3
located fireplace . A huge beam - 12" x 13" - let into the wall testifies to
the size of oak trees on the North Fork in the 18th Century. The weight of
the first floor fireplace(s ) has caused the east rock wall of the 1760
basement to bulge into the cellar over the years . The fireplaces of the first
house may have opened back-to-back in both the east and the west first floor
rooms, and one of them must have been a cooking fireplace. The bulge, and a
pile of rubble, are all that remain,. of that chimney stack. Rock walls enclosE
the west, south and east walls . Rooks in the north wall have been dismantled .
to provide later access to the cellar under the kitchen in the north end of t
Italianate house .
-1-
MILLMAAN HOUSE page 2
PE 26
In the old cellar ceiling the joists in the front (south) half run
east and west; in the north half they run north and south. Some joists
still have their bark. Joists in the ceiling at the northeast corner of the
cellar, in front of the base of the chimney, are 36" apart. The rest of the
Joists are 24" apart. This 36" span may indicate the location of a stairway
in the c . 1760 house, possibly with a trapdoor at the first floor level.
In the ceiling of the basement can be aeen the early floorboards . They
have dust stops dadoed into the joists . The dust stops show that the floor-
boards here were random width, and may be the original floor. A completely
different floor lies over these floorboards, in the parlor above. There is
some indication that there are three layers of floorboards in the west parlor
Changes in the joists and dust stops have caused the reviewers to think
that there may have been an earlier house on the stone foundation, and that
it could have faced west, with a fireplace on the east wall, north of center.
PARLORS
The parlors originally each had a chimney, one on the east and the other
on the west wall. The chimneys were built inside the walls, and probably had
flues that served fireplaces in the two front chambers above them. The east
parlor fireplace survives today. Its mantel seems to be a later addition.
Each parlor has two windows with 6/6 glass panes on the front (south)
side, and one window on the remaining outer wall. in each room. Windows in
the parlor are not typical of the Italianate style in Southold Town, and may
indicate reuse of earlier sashes, or a selection by the owner of a window
style of his choice. Outside, the window frames show "ears" consistant with
mid-19th Century construction. Doors , wall trim, facings and baseboards in #
parlor carry moldings consistant with the 1860' s style.
As you enter the parlor you walk uphill. The east c7 de of the hou.ie hia- s
settled, indicating that the west foundation is older. There is a ridge in
the floor just as you enter. It reveals that the floor here lies over the alc
stone foundation.
CHIMNEYS
Below the hearth of the east parlor's fireplace is a large layer of
3" x 3" studs resting on two piers . The studs may have been re-used from
the earlier house . As a result of moisture in the basement these studs have
rotted and broken off at the point where they are supported by pilings in
the basement. The crushing load of the ciimnye is slowly compressing the
remaining wood, which must eventually shear the chimney away from the buildir
The west chimney has been removed, probably due to damage suffered by tt-
re-used studs which supported the first floor hearth and chimney. Brick
pilings that carried the studs remain in the cellar today. In the west
second floor chamber a shallow closet occupies the space that once held a
fireplace and chimney. The now-gone fireplace ' s location is easy to find, as
the pattern of the chamber' s floorboards changes as they approach the locatic
of the hearth.
There is a fireplace between the dining room and kitchen which is not
Landmark Pr¢sPrvation Commission 3/26/86
-2-
MILLMAN HOUSE, page 3 FE 26
from the early house. Supporting it are two brick piers in the basement
which rise from the floor to the joist level, where they carry two 8" x 6"
beams and approximately 16 to 18 old oak studs with tenons at the ends . The
hearth is built on these timbers.
The present fireplace is too small to Justify such elaborate underpinnint
so the assumption is that originally this was .., double fireplace, back-to-.
back, opening into both the kitchen and dining room (see dotted lines on
plan. ) The second floor roof shows where a large chimney suitable for a
double fireplace could have exited, but did not provide clear evidence of a
large exit area . It dtd show signs of having been rebuilt. No clear conclu-
sions were possible based on roof joists, rafters and roofers. A detailed
examination of the ceiling and floor of the kitchen might tell the story.
The kitchen fireplace may have been built for cooking, but shows little
sign of smoke . Perhaps it carried one of the then-newly-invented cast iron
cookstoves .
KITCHEN
Current restoration, using wainscotting on walls and cabinets, captures the
turn-of-the-century era . A stairway under construction leads to the second
floor. There is evidence of an older stairway leading straight up from the
kitchen.
ATTIC
The attic, over the kitchen, is one-and-a-half stories high, with early
random width roof boards . The attic roof is slightly hipped. It was built
at the same time as the rest of the Italianate house. Its exposed walls give
us the opportunity to examine the timbers - joists, rafters, roofers and
nailers . All indicate vertical saw cuts. This shows that the East End did not
convert to rotary saws until late in the 19th Century. The attic is being
converted into a combination bedroom and bath, with an access stairway.
There are maps that inform us about the highways of years past, and the
people who lived on them: - Beers, Comstock& Cline map of 1874 for example.,
or the Chafe map of 1858 . But of pre-19th Century roads, and the people who
built homes along them we know little.
Therefore it is interesting to find a house like the one examined here,
built around 1760 and rebuilt in 1862. From such data we can begin to plot
a map of the 18th Century roads. From the house: along these roads we can
begin to visualize somwthing of how people of that day lived . . . how they
heated their homes and cooked their meals . . . how advanced they were in
the building arts, and what materials and styles they preferred .
Landmark Prpservation Commission 3/26/86 -3-
PLAN MEASURED AND DRAWN BY SAUL MILL4AN -
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Carl Vail
F Cart Vail,$"•hr.Cnu s'�linr'cars lir Soudlanlrf in 1910'
t<
F A rlt'rnrairrf Ieit^rnn of World War 1, he and 16.4 wife.
AS, 1 t7 Inez, fiare Fhrrr djililrru, rixlrt grnurfrlriPdrru. +Tnd
�� i, rlrnrn�ren1•grnudelriLiretr. I'�
was born on a Farm i��Loffto&llic
n Aug. 12,
4
legs.My parents had en,but one I
* of them died in infancy. i was the youngest li
boy and I had two younger sisters.My father
1� c was a combination Farmer and salesman. He was the
+ first salesman to travel Long island in a car a 1905
Pierce Arrow Motoretm He represented a hardware I
! ,l firm,and I don't know if having a car helped his sales,
but it sure helped him get around.It was better than a
w. y horse and wagon, even if it did only have none-
I cylinder,eight-horse wer engine.
When my 50th anniversary in the automobile
business came up, I had so many franchises that I
Maria Parsons. t
UP-Lot RPveriPS. 1984
I
car and my sister, who had the assignment of turning
couldn't pick any one to put on my anniversary plaque, ; off the switch, failed to do so soon enough and we all
so I chose the old Pierce Arrow. I even had a cut of it went sailing right in through the open front doors of
engraved on our gravestones in the old cemetery in the cauliflower barn and out the back, which was
Cutchogue. closed!
I learned to drive on that car in 1908 when I was 13 Then the darn thing had a habit of when you got it
years old. We had gone up to west Mattituck. There up to about 35 miles an hour somewhere along the line
was a school on the dip on the hill and that's where we a spring would lock the steerin'arm and it would take
were standing when the last Vanderbilt Cup Rete 4 you right off the road . . . That car didn't stay in the
came through Mattituck. The car that was favored to I family too long.
win, an Apperson Jackrabbit, hit a patch of sand right ; The next car we got was a T914 four cylinder Buick
in front of us and overturned into a ditch. The driver sedan and that was a good car. After that, we got a
survived but his mechanic was killed. The sight and Franklin air-cooled and that was a great car . . . I guess
shock of that smash-up was unforgettable. I've been it's true, I do have a tendency to remember things in
preaching and practicing highway safety ever since. terms of cars.
Anyway, on the way home my father let me drive I was runnin' the farm fairly successfully, just
the car. Was I scared? Well, there was no traffic and before World War I broke out. I had 3,000 chickens
the car was very simple, its top speed was only about and several cows. Then the war came along and I
25 miles an hour — fast for those days, but not fast figured I owed it to my country to get into the service.
enough for us kids. My older sister, Alicia, had a I tried to get into the Navy because I like the water, but
boyfriend with a really fast trottin' horse and it could the only opening they had was for a ship's cook. So
go right past us? That didn't go over too good and we they gave me an examination for that job, and due to
hoped that when father got another car it would at the fact that we had a steam canner at home, I just
least beat Sister's boyfriend's horse, and it did• guessed the time to cook meats and so forth in a
He got a Haynes-Apperson. That car had a two- pressure cooker and they said, OK, you can go in as a
cylinder engine, a. very short wheel base and lots of cook. But I didn't really want to be a cook, so I said no
habits. It hada planetary transmission, like the old and notified the draft board to forget my agricultural
bad h
Fords had, and sometimes when you got it in gear it I exemption and put me in the Army.
stuck. When father would take us for a ride, one of us I went to Camp Union on Dec. 5, 1917 — the coldest
kids would be delegated to threw the switch in order winter in my memory. It was down to 17 below zero
to cut the motor if he couldn't get it out of gear . . . and they didn't have anything but campaign hats for
We had a cauliflower barn at our home, and of us and no shoes to fit me. You know, when it's really
o n, you coul rive a team of cold Like that you don't like to talk, so the officers
horses right through it. There were big doors on each would say, "Now, when we go out to drill if you get
end of the thing. So one day we was out riding in the An Oral History of the North Fork
Up-Lot Reveries
11Ma.ria Parsons, �
rn
Up-Lot RP-VPries- 1984
Nobody knew where it was, but each main city had an '
if you et American dispatch office and I had open travel orders,
one pat on the back your ears are freezing. y g � ,, et back to the 77th
two pats you're excused to go back to the barracks to
so I'd walk in and sayI want to g
thaw out." That darn barracks was built by a lot of Division,"and Ice the name of IWelcity and get on the s next
make-shift carpenters and when at snowed, why it had transportation.
So I'd to
a ventilator that would fill up and then sod all the bunch of Senegaleseialne t trooay I ps t� you rknow tthos guys I
melted water down on the beds. In those days Anybody bunch of
who had any lousy coal to sell sold it to the was seven owie knlives in their teethand they used . Well, damn
government, so when you washed your socks and
lines with b
hung them up to dry around the stove, why they'd sure showed na edito that
outeright
fa want me with
g
freeze right fast . . . It was a great place. 1 was there em, an m g
shipped
from Dec. 5 until sometime in April when we I was finall Btrains f
reached my division,or five whchlnights five
was on its
off to France. before 1 y
England with a ease of way to
th my
1 was taken off the ship in Fngnhda tgweFrhedsIlOfl pounds musta kbefore ed a ll t 11d he
German measles and sent to a hospital. Then 1 got pack a g
over that and was on my way to Winchester when i captain,
"Gad, I can't go any further." So he says,
d I
him
came down with scarlet fever. Sol was sent to another "Wheremoubbckn in thle hospital.ast three `-0h,"'hnsays, Yo
hospital near Winchester and what a place that was. It flat an y
almost seemed that you had to get everything that had a nice rest."'
was going around there before you could get out.d had hillland the Germans rst night on the shelled he hell putt of! t and
acute Bright's disease there and bronchitis and they sideeBuried me alive_ my
finallycut my tonsils out.The doctor who operated cin Started before lsuffocated. I must
beenbuddies fast as asleep
me had accidentally Cut a fella's jugular vein the day me out
before. What's worse, the captain assigned to the when the shell struck. When they dug me out my
e banging
hospital was stealin' the ration money and we were knees wertogetherrd ndthought,lmyt
do anything
God, what a
starved. The nurses were even bringing us bread about it. I conte
crusts from their tables. If I'd have met the guy who hell of a soldier oand finally my knees
topped shakind
was in charge o€ that place, why, I d of been up for gritted my t Y
murder. Fortunately, 1 didn't meet up with him - • m afraid of anythingon I had a t�Butltheyedidn'pknowar not
1 was hospitalized from April until August and
being
when the Germans got pretty well near Paris they . ection been pretty well st up in the o o they made me ay I knew my
runner and
took everybody that didn't have a fever out of every guide.
p Y
hospital. I'd been in a bed, flat on my back for three puede. ne allWhen alwe e in a barrage, they sent me out
weeks and zip— 1 was headed for the front. it took me they generally 113
five days travelin' around France to find my division. An Oral History of the North Fork
112 Up-Lot Reveries
Maria Parsons,
Ula-LotRpvflrles. 1984 tv
t �
l i
a ,
b.
The first time I went out I didn't know which way the I says yes, so he asks me to let him read it. Then he
shells was going. I was literally blown from one shell comes back and he says, "My God, you not only
hole to another — and some of them damn shell holes deserve a Purple Heart, you did more than enough to
was 30 feet deep. But i got there and back without a rate a Congressional Medal of Honor," and he's been
scratch . . I'd made up my mind very early in my
experiences that if the Germans was ,going to get me working on it ever since.
When I got back to the states from France I decided
they were going to have to get me on the run, not
to go back to Cornell and finish up my college lE
settin' still like a settin' duck. So anything that came education. So I went up there to make up third year r
up, I volunteered. I got all kinds of jobs. One of the German and, to and behold, I commenced to lose a
biggest things, you know, was that I couldn't bear to
gpound a day! So the Veterans Bureau called me in for
seemy buddies bleed to death, so 1 volunteered to .}
can examination and they says, You can't concentrate
carry the Front end of the stretcher anytime any of
after what you've been through — you have to quit."
them got wounded. I guess you could say that 1
Then they said 1 shouldn't do anything For three years.
recuperated From my hospital experiences very quickly
once I reached the Front, but I always had a tough Well, I couldn't stand that. I tried it, but Finally I said to
my Father, "Gee, my brother's a good mechanic and
constitution, I think. Back in Southold High School I you're a good salesman, let's go to New York and get
was a halfback on the Football team and a center on the an automobile franchise. Maybe I can ride around in
basketball team. I was a pretty rugged farmer in those an open car and get my health back." So we went to
days' New York and, of course, it was after the war and
I was ir► France fora year and then 1 went back to the nothing was available that was worth a darn. Then.,
states. I'll tellou, that Statue of Liberty was one
while we were driving back through Brooklyn we saw
a whole lot full of beautiful blue touring cars. Metz
Right now I'm strugglin'with reports of my activities Master-Sixes they were — war babies, made in
overseas because Congressman Carney has a good Waltham, Mass. We bought one of them outright and
share of my records and I'm being considered for a put down a '$500 deposit on two more. See, we was
Congressional Medal of Honor. I already got a Purple green as grass. It took one whole year to sell those
Heart — but I didn't get it until last year. That was three cars. We changed the name of'em at least in our
after I joined The World War i Barrracks, a veteran's minds, from Metz Master-Six to Metz Nasty-Six,
organization, about two years ago. There's a man ; because after they'd been run 2,000 miles the piston
there, Marian Pond's his name, and he's the adjutant would come up above the block and catch the rings and
L
f the barracks. Anyways, one day he says to us that break the top of the piston off. I just went to see Steve
his job was to get us all the medals we deserved. And Doroski in Southold the other day and his father-in-
he asks me, "What've you got?" And I tell him, law, Adam Zaveski, bought the first one of those cars
"Nothing."So he asks me,"Did you keep a diary?"and from me and I taught him how to drive it.`Course, we
114 UP-Lot Reveries .1984 An Oral History of the North Fork 115
Marr. Parsons. Up Lot Reveries. 1984
i
l
he
weren't making a very good livin', with those Metz So 1 feel that what I did, if anything, s vete save
et of
Masters, so we sold Fords for a man named H. E. East End of Long island fro
Campbell and he used to give$25 for each car we sold in-breedin.'
plus we had to teach the new owners how to drive. october 27, 19.'x.3
Then we sold Overlands for Fred Jennings in Southold,
and we sold so many of them in three months that we
saved enough to buy our own demonstrator.That was
my start in the automobile business.
In 1927, my brother Richard and I built the garage
and showroom where Wells Pontiac is now in Peconic.�✓�
As better franchises became available, well we a
such a good sales record that we could get them. Over
the years we had over 20 different ones,but we didn't
get General Motors until 1933. That's when we
opened Vail Motors in Riverhead. The Peconic place
was called Vail Brothers Inc., and we had a place in
Southampton called Sea Vail Motors.
But we started in sellin'cars house to house. I knew
every house and everybody from Baiting Hoilow to
Orient on the North Road, and 'most everybody on
the south. I knew their names and their wives' names i
and sometimes their kids. i worked nights and Sundays
and taught hundreds of people how to drive. I wore
out my knees chasin' prospects. To add a little humor
to my sales pitch, I'd say that I wore out my knees
chasin' women to sell them cars. But that's how 1 built
up the business.
Over the years I sold approximately 50,000 ca rs and
some of -ny friends tell me I'm partly responsible for
all the damn traffic around here. And l say, now, look.
Let's examine the other side of this thing. When I first
started sellin' cars I started down in Orient where
everybody was cousins and I had to teach them how to
drive and that permitted them to get out and circulate.
-Lot Reveries 117
116 U Rn Oral History of North Fork
Mama Parsons. Up—Lot Reveries. 198
1 rn