The mansion-like estate at 72 Hamilton Terrace has been under renovations for almost two years now and the scaffolding has finally come down in the past week or so. This address was
used as a church up until 2004 when a fired shut things down permanently and the remains of the landmark building was inactive until 2013 when the townhouse was sold to a local developer. We walked by the corner building roughly by 144th Street just east of Convent Avenue today and took the above photo which now shows a complete historic restoration. Even all of the cast iron cresting at the roof has been added back along with new slate shingles. Word of mouth has it the owner has done quite a few amazing restoration in the Heights over the years so we expect the interior of the single-family home to be pretty spectacular.
This is extraordinary. Can't wait to see the interior pictures! Thank you, developers, for restoring it rather than knocking it down to build yet another glass box.
ReplyDeleteI live across the street and you could see in when the scaffolding first came down on Tuesday. The renovation is white box modern and boring. They also got rid of a tree that used to be near the corner so it's a little stark outside. But it does make one of the nicest blocks in the city much nicer.
ReplyDeleteWhite, modern, and boring? Are you sure you live across the street? It looks restored to me...
DeleteMy 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.
ReplyDeleteSo interesting! Thanks for posting! This house is spectacular...
DeleteComments made by Anonymous at 11:33am are uniformed. The inside of the house is anything but white box, modern and boring. Knowing the owners, I also know that the interior is not finished and so these negative comments from a peeping neighbor are not very neighborly. I've been in the neighborhood a long time and can also say - with certainty - that the owners didn't cut any trees down. Again, uninformed comment.
ReplyDeleteThe last Halloween there was really great. I can't wait to see what they do this year.
ReplyDeleteI want to first start off by saying by turning this church back into a single family was brilliant. The average developer would have chopped up the building and turned it into condos or rental units. Speaking from a real estate agent /investor point of view the interior is amazing and the exterior was tastefully restored. The owner spared no expense on adding all top of the line materials from all over the world. I'm not going to giveaway to much detail however the kitchen and baths are state of the art, while still maintaining a classy and elegant period of time. Do not be surprised if you see this house on architectural digest. (Sorry jealous neighbors you will not find anything from home depot inside that property.)
ReplyDeleteOMG , amazing. please developers , like new buildings, but when you have historic properties, re-use and restore , its good business too!
ReplyDeletenot just when you HAVE to do with in a landmark district.
Thanks for the history lesson no the Goldsmith family's ownership of the mansion. Amazing. Who's the developer of the property? I look froward to seeing the finished product.
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