HomeMy WebLinkAboutSD-129 r
FOR OFFICE USE ONLY
BUILDING-STRUCTURE INVENTORY FORM
UNIQUE SITE NO, fO310, 0-"Ss�y
DIVISION FOR HISTORIC PRESERVATION QUAD SD 129
NEW YORK STATE PARKS AND RECREATION SERIES
ALBANY,NEW YORK (5171)474-0474 NEG NO
YOUR NAME: Town of Southold/SPLIA DATE: April 1987
YOUR ADDRESS: Town Hall, Main Road LEPHONE:(516) 765-1892
Southold . . g
ORGANIZATION Of any): Southold Town Community Development Office
IDENTIFICATION
1. BUILDING NAME(S): Epstein. house
2. COUNTY_ Suff o lk TOWN/CITY: Southold VILLAGE: Southold
3. STREET LOCATION: Goose Creek Lane north side
4. OWNERSHIP: a. public ❑ b. private
S. PRESENT OWNER: Epstein ADDRESS:
G. USE: Original: residriCe_ Present: residence
7. ACCESSIBILITY TO PUBLIC. Exterior visible from public road: Yes ® No n
Interior accessible: Explain
DESCRIPTION
g. BUILDING a. clapboard Q b. stone ❑ c. brick ❑ d. board and batten ❑
MATERIAL: e. cobblestone ❑ f. shingles ® g. stucco ❑ other:
x). STRUCTURAL. a. wood frame with interlocking joints EX
SYSTEM: b. wood frame with light members ❑
(if kntwn) c. masonry load bearing walls ❑
d. metal (explain)
e. other stone cellar
10. CONDITION: a. excellent lj� b. good ❑ c. fair ❑ d. deteriorated ❑
11. INTEGRITY: a. original site ❑ b. moved ❑ if so,when?
c. list major alterations and dates (if known):
SD RSM XII-13
12. PIIOTO:From south west 13- MAP: N.Y.S. DOT Southold Quad
South (front) and west elevatio
4r Southo
Bay J7
V ;
• 11 q
yrs - NORTH ¢1
aK
n •j o Golf
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14: THREATS TO BUILDING: a. none known b. zoning❑ C. roads ❑
SD 129
d. developers ❑ e. deterioration ❑
f. other:
15. RELATED OUTBUILDINGS AND PROPERTY:
a. barn❑ h. carriage house ❑ c. garage ❑
d. privy ❑ e. shed ❑ f. greenhouse ❑
g. shop ❑ h. gardens ❑
i. landscape features:
!, other:
16. SURROUNDINGS OF THE BUILDING (check more than one if necessary):
a.open land X b. woodland X1
c.scattered buildings 191
d.densely built-up ❑ e. commercial ❑
f. industrial ❑ g. residential ❑
li.other: marshland-creek front
17. INTERRELATIONSHIP OF BUILDING AND SURROUNDINGS:
(Indicate if building or structure is in an historic district)
Goose Neck Lane is a low density unpaved, picturesque road
with a handful of houses fronting the creek.
It now dead-ends on a marshaled area.
18. OTHER NOTABLE FEATURES OF BUILDING AND SITE (including interior features if known):
21-story, gable roof house with heavy overhang �R
6/6 windows and original louvered wooded shutters.
Front entrance with transom and square stoop.
SIGNIFICANCE
11). DATE OF INITIAL CONSTRUCTION: circa 1780
ARCHITECT:
BUILDER: —
10. HISTORICAL AND ARCHITECTURAL IMPORTANCE:
An interesting old house. This may be the house that is
shown on the 1838 u.S. Coast Survey with a windmill adjacent( ?) .
The 1858 map shows a windmill on this site but does not
indicate a house .
A. Dunkel or H. Youngs on 1873 map.
Mrs. Gagan owned on 1909 map.
U.S. Coast Survey. T-68. 1838
21. SOURCES: Southold Town Landmark Preservation Commission.
.Tune 29, 1985.
Chace. Map of Suffolk County. 1858
Beers, Comstock, Cline. Atlas of Long Island. 1873
2-' '' H1 MF Form prepared byi
Rosemary Skye Moritt, research assistant.
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"Sam and Beryl Epstein y _.
Y p -• Sam as state director of the
live in their own world," - WPA Writer's Project] and
says one of their friends.To --— were writing in the evenings
anybody who believes that '— `' and weekends," says Beryl.
the civilized world ends �j �"� '_ "We saved up $2,000--a
lust east of Manhasset's Miracle - year's living then—to freelance.We
Mile, that's an understatement. decided that, if we couldn't earn a
Sam Epstein's directions to me onThe living by the end of the year, we'd
the day I was going to interview get regular jobs, But, we still had
him ("take the L.I.E. to the end,..") steins
our $2,000 so we quit our jobs." `
should have been a hin p Since then they've been together
Sam and Beryl's world Southold Q� 24 hours a day, working, "in the
you go far out on the Nor ork,
past Cutchogue an ituck, to same room—side by side, back to
���� back," as Sam says. In recent
d house on Goose
ear-o years they've been working in
=Creek Road. their 10-by-12 bedroom-turned
It is another world, one populated
Creole office overlooking Goose Creek by birds, swans, artists and, Joke Pond within sighting distance of
Pond
Southold Bay, Gardiner's Bay and
since 1938, they have "39 years
the Epsteins, writers. Married Montauk Ba We're surrounded
Bay.
BARBARA KLAUS by water," says Sam. "There's no
and about 125 books between dust and no through traffic."
us," said Sam (a corduroy- l
jacketed, turtle-necked version of children's books, "We can't tell The office, like the rest of the
Sir Lawrence Olivier)--or perhaps which section one begins and the house, is sparsely furnished. It
it was Beryl (a deadringer for other ends anymore." contains two wooden desks,
Imogene Coca). Their lives are so catty-corner to each other, two
intertwined, their conversations so The Epsteins say they haven't had manual typewriters, bookcases
sprinkled with "we" that it almost what they call a "regular" job and two posters—one, of Houdini,
doesn't matter which one said since Pearl Harbor. "We had hangs in tribute to the subject of
what. As Beryl puts it when daytime jobs [Beryl as assistant "the best selling book we ever
referring to their non-fiction editor for the American Scholar: did—in 1950."
48 Long Island Magazine AUGUST. 1978
Originally New York City residents there are definite work rules.
{wit a summer home in f "Officially, we're not supposed to
.MaRituck), Sam and Beryl moved We get then? l mo" speak to each other," says Beryl.
to Mattituck when their apartmentOccasionally we'll say, 'Are you
building was torn down. Their vies few and far going to cover this 4your chapter
present home, bought "more orbetween out here. three or shall I cover it?" We may
less furnished" is a far cry from say, 'May I speak to you?" Sam
New York. The cellar beams still There are no adds, "Sometimes we don't speak
have bark on them. to each other all day. There are
foreign pictures . . . long periods of dead silence in
Furnished in Early American this house, periods when you
comfortable (Windsor chairs, think, "If I had just not put that
scatter rugs, tufted sofa, cozy- sentence in the last chapter
sparse kitchen) the house looks day starts when most people are wouldn't be having this trouble
like one in which George having lunch—at noon," says now."
Washington (it he didn't actually Sam. "Nobody cares when we
sleep there) might have felt right work as long as we meet a They work individually, dividing a
at home. The house, a visual deadline. What time did we go to book into chapters, each tackling
expression of the Epstein's bed last night?" he asks Beryl, "1 specified portions. Lunch may not
lifestyle—basic, subdued, function- AM." be taken together and is eaten
al, work-oriented—is a reminder of '.whenever we're hungry." At
a simpler, stover, quieter time. The day proceeds with the pace about six o'clock they fix drinks
of one of the swans gliding across and dinner together. "We may go
A conversation with the Epsteins the water. When a book is in back to work after dinner, we may
is a remarkable change from the progress, after a light breakfast, work longer than eight hours a
suburban Long Island chatter of it's up to the twin desks, where day; we may not work for three
car-pooling, commuting, and trying
to make a living. The only sounds '`,-
at their home overlooking Goose
Neck Bay, are from an occasional
seagull. It's no surprise to learn
that the Epsteins rarely leave.
"In a way, Long Island is a kind of
blank to us," Beryl said. "We don't
really know the Island—what's in
the middle there." Adds Sam,
"Once in a while we go to
Riverhead and the Smithtown Mall
and to Huntington once or twice a `
year. That's almost in New York.
"There are people who live around
here who've never been to New {
r
York. There are kids who've never i
been on a train. They feel-why _ r
should they go to that big dirty
city." But the Epsteins do go into
the city—on business. "We go see
our agent, go to the theatre and
eat. We take the car because the `-
train is so bad." The city has one y ;•
major attraction for the Epsteins—
movies. "We get them few and far
between out here. There are no
foreign pictures. But, Sam adds,
"We go in and back in one day." - +
Their daily routine is a sharp *"^"a
contrast with the city's pace and 3
that of many Long Islanders ""Our
AUGUST,1978 Long Island Magazine 49
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days—it depends," says Sam. "things are different every day and
"°Wher we get a manuscript backwe're both careful to call it to the
r
and the editor says, 'Cut 3,000 Officially, we re not other's attention. He'll say, 'Come
words;. we can't plead lack of look at the sunset,' or 'Quick---the
creative ideas—we must get down supposed to speak kingfisher is sitting down on the
to business." Beryl adds, "If a to each other . . . dock"'
book is scheduled for fall
publication and they want it by There are long Judged by one standard, life on
early spring, we just have to do it." Goose Creek Pond may not
periods of silence appear very exciting.
When the tempo is easy they'll go
into toNn, say hello to people, and On the other hand, neither of the
shop. '-We get our mail in town," We get the books from the Epsteins find any need for Valium.
Sam says. "We have a post office Riverhead library—they get us any They might just have something,
box because the mail box here book. We also buy materials." after all, on Goose Creek Pond,E)
would have to be at the end of the Many books involve trips—
dirt road. Mail cannot be delivered Michigan, St. Fouls, England,
to the door and we'd have to walk
France, Japan, Mexico.
,, _ . • ' �,� . " .,:
anyway.
The Epsteins feEl their easyt .'
Normally placid people, both lifestyle is possible because as Q _
Epsteins become animated when Sam puts it, "out marriage has
discussing one subject—research. been spared a lot of the irritants
"We both research the entire of normal daily living. We don't •,
subject so there's a certain have children or pets so we might
amour-11 of duplication but that's have been spared the tensions of i
the fun of it," "
says Beryl, Neither
Y Y that. Also, at no time in our
wants to be cheated out of a marriage was either of us involved ` .r ` �4•
chance to learn everything there with a job we didn't like, so we
is to know." "Research is didn't have that 'kind of stress. We
wonderful," adds Sam. didn't have money problems
because there are only two of us."
Book ideas (ranging from pre-
historic animals, sports and Also, "We're very verbal people.
rockets to saving electricity) are We spend a gocd deal of time y
assigned. "We have to do talking to each other," says Sam.
research in the New York library And what do very verbal people
to see if we li4the subject and to down on Goose Creek Pond talk
see what kind of books we want. about? "On the creek," says Beryl,
50 hong Island Magazine AUGUST,1978
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SD 129
EPSTEIN HOUSE
Owners : Samuel and Beryl Epstein
Goose Creek Lane, Southold
House interpreted by Ralph 'Williams and William Peters
Report written by Joy Bear
Southold Town Landmark Preservation Commission
June 29, 1985
This is a Georgian style, two story house, with a room on each side of
the central entrance hall. An addition across the rear (north side)
enlarges the parlor on the west. There is a kitchen in the northeast
corner accessible through a side door.
The window and door arrangement (five windows upstairs and four
downstairs ) across the front of the house is not quite symmetrical,
leading to speculation enlarged upon below .
There are indications that this house was built c . 1780, and was
originally a central-chimney, Colonial style house, with one window on each
side of the front door, and only three windows upstairs . The house seems to
have been remodeled into a five window Georgian style home, perhaps as
early as 1830, when the central chimney stack and its fireplaces were
removed, and replaced by a hallway with a staircase . At this time a chimney
appears to have been added to each gable wall of the house (parlor and
dining room today) . Another window was placed on each side of the front
door, making the house five windows wide .
In a still later renovation, possibly in the early 1900's, the chimney
stack in the east gable was removed . Its matching chimney inside the west
gable (the parlor chimney) was taken down and relocated outside, against
the west gable wall, where it is today.
THE PARLOR
The parlor ceiling has two matching ceiling boxes suitable for enclosir
summer beams, and a box for a front girt . Upon being tapped, the south
summer beam and the girt both sound hollow - they appear to have been added
for symmetry in the 1830 remodeling. These ceiling boxes should be pierced
to discover the beams, if they are inside . The south summer beam joins the
west wall over the window . The lack of a supporting base for the box also
indicates that it is decorative rather than functional.
A fireplace probably was built into the west wall at this time . Perhaps
its handsome mantel was taken from the fireplace in the ori incl central
chimney stack ( across the room from this present fireplace. Since it is
a little wider and higher than the present fireplace calls for, the mantel
could have been used originally on the c . 1780 central chimney stack's
fireplace (across the room from the present fireplace ) , as that fireplace
appears to have been larger and wider. The evolution of the parlor fireplace
is also revealed in the attic (see "ATTIC" ) .
(1)
page 2, EPSTEIN HOUSE SD 129
When the central chimney stack was removed, the east wall of the
parlor was moved about two feet eastward, making the parlor wider and
narrowing the central hall. This accounts for the location of the front door
which today is a bit off-center when viewed from the inside . The molding, on
the parlor door to the front hall is typical of the 1830--40 period .
molding
THE FRONT ENTRANCE
The front door is on center when viewed from outside . The hall was
narrowed (see "PARLOR) but the front door remained in its original position.
The treatment of the door, and its molding, are consistent with the
hand-planed, hand-wrought style of the 1790-1830 era .
molding
PARTIAL CELLAR
The cellar is' lined with large rocks pointed up with cement. The
original wide stone steps have been covered with cement.
Eight-by-eight inch beams, from the earliest construction remain in
the ceiling. These seem to be the earlier hand-hewn sills . Many joists are
round, flattened only on top. Some have been replaced by later sawn beams,
even a few planed, 1920's beams are seen "in the ceiling. (This ceiling span:
three centuries ) .
In the oldest section (the south side ) the ceiling joists run east and
west . On the north side of the house the joists run north and south,
indicating it was an addition.
A chimney has been removed from the east wall, but its base is still
visible . It was a small chimney, perhaps servicing a Franklin stove . This
conflicts with the size requirement for a fireplace if it had been supporter
by a full masonry base .
MAIN STAIRWAY
The beading on the baseboard along the wall indicates that this is the
oldest part of the stairway - c . 1830. The risers are also from this period
The yellow pine treads, the balustrade and the newel post are later additio7
The turn of the outer base of the stairway is still visible at the second
floor level, indicating that an earlier staircase had been replaced .
SECOND FLOOR BEDROOMS
The patterns of the bedroom doors and their moldings are consistent
with the updating of the house c . 1830, and the form of the hinges seen on
all doors agrees . The original cast iron door locks left their marks, but
have been replaced . In the northwest bedroom an interesting batten door
from the mid-1800's has five decorative panels on the front, but only
three inside .
The top halves of the windows are stationary. The molding on these
windows dates to c . 1830' s , but the glass is newer, and was added later.
Southold Town Landmarks Preservation Commission 6/29/83 (2)
page 3 , EPSTEIN HOUSE
SD 129
THE ATTIC
The attic windows have early 1800' s molding . They are fitted and locked
with wooden pins in the window frames . The muntins are mortised at the top
and bottom.
On the west side of the attic are indications of an old chimney set
inside the west wall and emerging through the roof . At a later date this
chimney stack was removed and the present chimney was built on the west,
against the outside wall.
The boxed-in remains of a chimney are on the east wall. This and the
matching chimney still existing on the west wall are appropriate for the
Georgian style of the c . 1880 remodeling .
In the attic are exposed, fully mortised chestnut rafters and collar
beams . In the middle of the house the roofers are incomplete at the apex,
indicating a central chimney exit .
At the lower ends of the attic rafters are exposed tenons resting on
new beams . This indicates that the original Colonial house - c . 1780 - had
no overhanging eaves .
Southold Town Landmarks Preservation Commission 6/29/85
( 3)
y page , EPSTEIN HOUSE
SD 129
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Southold Town Landmarks Preservation Commission 9/29/1985
(4)
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