Photo Record
Images
Metadata
Title |
[House on Birmingham Estate] |
Object Name |
Stereoview |
Photographer |
Almstaedt, Isaac |
Date |
ca. 1880-1885 |
Collection |
Isaac Almstaedt Photograph Collection |
Description |
Original B&W stereoview on a cardboard mount; the mount is orange on the front and pink on the reverse. View of a Gothic Revival style house on the Birmingham Estate. There is a very small structure beside the house. Handwritten inscriptions on the reverse of mount (in two different handwritings): "Staten Island View" and "Then Birmingham Est. Now (1943) 'Shore / Acres'." (Keywords: New York) |
Print size |
3.625 x 6.625 |
Acquisition |
Collection of the Staten Island Historical Society |
Ownership and History |
This photo shows a house on the estate of Mark Birmingham (ca. 1827-1914) in the area of Staten Island now known as Shore Acres. Mark Birmingham (also spelled Brumagim) was born in Montgomery County, New York. In 1849, he sailed on the bark Linda to California, where he opened a bank, owned gold and silver mines, and became the president of the Pacific Pearl Company. He and his wife Charlotte E. (Rice) Birmingham had three children who survived to adulthood: David Walton, Lily White, and Linda Charlotte. By 1867, they had a home on Staten Island, and they owned the estate seen in this photograph by 1874. An article in The Sun, dated February 7, 1885, described their estate as "one of the finest on the island." By 1887, Birmingham had sold the estate. The entrance to the Birmingham Estate was on New York Avenue (now Bay Street) at or near what is now Sea Gate Road. The estate lay between what is now Harborview Road and Arthur Von Briesen Park, and extended to the waterfront of New York Harbor. The grounds included carriage drives, greenhouses, a house facing the waterfront, and Clifton Lake. The estate was subsequently owned by John Francis Emmons, and was later purchased by real estate developer Cornelius G. Kolff, who built the Shore Acres community on the site. |
Earliest Date |
1880 |
Latest Date |
1885 |
Subjects |
Houses Stereographs Estates |
Lexicon Sub-category |
Documentary Artifact |
Associated People |
Brumagim, Mark |
Catalog Number |
PH01.0994 |
Support Acknowledgment |
Online Collections Database record made possible by the Staten Island Historical Society, November 2015. |
Legal Status |
Items represented here are from the collections of the Staten Island Historical Society. Materials reproduced for personal non-commercial use must credit the Staten Island Historical Society. Commercial licensing is available. |