Since a fire gutted the corner building at 72 Hamilton Terrace (approximately West 144th, east of Convent), the limestone building with the crested mansard roof has become the haunted mansion of Hamilton Heights since at least 2004 (?). We found a Times article from 6 years ago that describes the state of the former Nazareth Deliverance Spiritual Church with the estimate that the property would have been worth $500K if it was on the market then:
LINK. At community board meetings, some have voiced concern over the building since it has not been offered to sell and the owners do not have funds to restore it. It's an official NYC landmark but demolition by neglect is a threat that many shells face if not properly maintained. Does anyone have any further insight on this property?
While I don't have any insight, I've always been intrigued by the building's architecture. Do we know what it was and who owned it before the Church owned it? Where is that Church located now? Any interior photo's?
ReplyDeletePlease read my entry below, under my screen name CPG3
DeleteRead my entry below under screenname CPG
DeleteI REALLY HOPE is is saved and restored ! SUCH a wonderful building !!
ReplyDeleteIm with both of you. Love to see more photos and information on this unique building.
ReplyDeleteWho doesn’t love a mansion? I can’t see one without fantasizing about living in it, swanning about, gliding up and down the grand staircase and overseeing a cadre of hot and cold running servants. Having the rector for sherry. A kitchen with an Aga.
Sanou's Mum, you're a poet, as always. I can only add: if that house ever comes in serious danger of the wrecking ball, I have this other day dream...
ReplyDeleteIt involves getting paid by some well-meaning and slightly daring person or persons (with a little money to spare) to fix the house up on their behalf--spending months lovingly restoring every detail until it's ready for the the new occupants, and living the simple life on their modest-but-not-too-modest fee. Basically I want to be a low-rent Bob Vila to some nice, community-minded buyer.
So, uh, why don't you buy it and hire me! I'll do the hammering, you can do the swanning. (Ah, but first we've got to get the church to sell...)
@WS--
ReplyDeleteI completely go along with your dream but in the end we murder the owners (humanely, of course), hide the bodies in the coal cellar and assume their identities, living in grand splendor.
Or
We could just squat. . .
what needs to happen is an African or Caribbean nation needs to turn it into their Embassy........
ReplyDeleteThe city needs to step in and wrestle this from the church. Many churches in Harlem purposely neglect building. Churches are one of the reasons Harlem has still a long way to go.
ReplyDeleteAgree with Harlem Reality regarding the city needing to do something about this house, and the neglect of many church buildings in Harlem. This kind of neglect would not be tolerated in other parts of the city, and shouldn't be tolerated here, either.
ReplyDeleteAs for the building, it is absolutely gorgeous. But I shudder to think of what it would cost to renovate, especially taking into account landmarks.
My Paternal grandfather owned and lived in this mansion before it became a church. I have no idea at this time how it fell out of the family's hands. However, It did so over 50 years ago. My father was born and grew up in the mansion. However, he never to my knowledge had anything to do with it's ownership. My grandfather's name was Charles Paul Goldsmith. My father was Charles Paul Goldsmith Jr. His brother, my uncle, changed his name from Goldsmith because of antisemitism in the music industry at the time, and became Bob Hilliard. Bog Hilliard was a song writer and is in the Song Writer's hall of fame. He also grew up in the house. Charles Paul Goldsmith Sr. was a jeweler, and also an inventor of items having to do with jewelry. The jewelry business he owned bore his own name "Charles P. Goldsmith" and was fairly well known. My Father, Charles Jr. was born in 1910 and I have a picture from about 1915 of him on a couch in the living room of the mansion. I also have a copy of an old picture of the front of the mansion, the original had been torn, and belonged to my half sister. Charles Jr. was Married to my mother in 1942 and I was born in 1943. The earliest I can date the ownership by the Goldsmith family is 1901, but I don't think that date has anything to do with its date of construction. I do know that the Paul Goldsmith Sr. still owned the mansion at the time of my birth and for several years after that. My father and mother divorced a short time after I was born, and due to a strange set of circumstances that I will not get into here, I was adopted away from the family. My name prior to my adoption was Charles Paul Goldsmith the third. I am out of time for now, but will try to add more later.
ReplyDeleteDear CPG,
DeleteThanks for sharing your family's history about 72 Hamilton Terrace. I was fascinated by this building when previously living in the neighborhood. It seems that the building is currently being rehabilitated by a real estate developer. If any one knows anything about the current development or the Nazareth Deliverance Spiritual Church that occupied the building until it was destroyed by fire in 2003, I'd love to know more. Peace.