Saved or Razed?

The same week that preservationist made their report on proposed historic properties in Scarsdale, The Historic Preservation Committee of Scarsdale met to consider whether to preserve or permit the demolition of a list of local properties. Following the April 17 meeting, the Board cleared the way for the demolition of the following homes:

• 10 Ogden Road
• 9 Stonehouse Road
• 16 Cambridge Road
• 50 Brookby Road

They held over a decision on 9 Hamilton Road, (pictured at top) a home that was listed as a candidate for landmark designation status in the report. The house was built in in 1921 and originally owned by Ida F. Ruggiero. Why is it remarkable? According to the report, “Although relatively small in scale, 9 Hamilton Road is a picturesque and whimsical example of Mediterranean-inspired residential design with its stuccoed façade, Spanish-tile roof, and arched loggia. The massing is especially well conceived as different masses, each clad in Spanish tile, build up to a hip-roof tower-like level.”

Another home, 50 Brookby Road could not be saved, despite the sentiments of residents who live on the street. The current home on the site was sold in August, 2011 for $1,225,000 and developers are already advertising a rendering of a large colonial to replace it at, $3,675,000.

50 Brookby Will Be Torn Down

Here are excerpts from Munghia's comments about preserving 50 Brookby Road:

• Many of the older homes on Brookby and Quentin, including 50 and 54 Brookby Road, constitute a neighborhood representative of the earliest suburban development in Scarsdale.
• Both the Scarsdale Housing Committee and the Federal Housing Commission welcomed the new development of affordable housing to be built by Brookby, Inc. in what is now our neighborhood on Brookby Road and the surrounding streets. It is my belief based on documents at the Building Department and this article that 54 Brookby Road was the model home that visitors were encouraged to examine during the course of its building in 1935.
• This application is the first step in a larger plan by the current owners. Their application to demolish two lovely older homes which embody the
  

  A Rendering of a Proposed New Home at 50 Brookby Road
  history and architecture of our neighborhood is an effort to redraw the property lines and build three new houses where there are now two.
• The criteria articulated in Sections 182-5 of the Village Code are guidelines for determining the historical significance of a building. I maintain that the collective history of the buildings surrounding the building in question should be considered by the Committee as well. Our homes are the realization of a New Deal initiative—providing affordable homes to a nation of struggling young families in the newly built suburban developments throughout the country.

Overriding her objections, the Board voted to permit demolition of 50 Brookby Road. While Scarsdale Village Trustees mull over what can be done with the preservationists recommendations, and what code changes, if any, will be made, houses continue to disappear at a rapid pace.

54 Brookby Road  On the Market for $1,450,000