On City Island, two unassuming homes are NYC’s newest landmarks

Joining the ranks of New York City landmarks this week are two unassuming houses on City Island, in the Bronx. On Tuesday, the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission declared both the Samuel H. and Mary T. Booth House at 30 Center Street, and the Stafford House at 95 Pell Place, as NYC landmarks.

“The Commission is proud to designate the Booth and Stafford houses, which illustrate the history and development of City Island as a suburban community,” said LPC chair Meenakshi Srinivasan, in a statement. “These historic houses together represent the historical development of the island during the 19^th and 20^th centuries.”

The Booth House was built during a six-year period between 1887 and 1893 by prolific City Island contractor Samuel Booth. The house is a two-and-a-half-story wood frame structure with asymmetrical massing, wood clapboarding, a gabled roof, and a corner entrance porch, among other features, which were all typical of the Stick style of architecture. The Booths lived in the house until 1959. The subsequent owner carried out a renovation in the mid-1980s, but left the house’s Stick architecture largely intact.

The Stafford House was built about 40 years after the Booth House, in 1930, and is typical of a Sears “mail order” house. It’s an “Osborne” model, which was featured in the company’s catalogues between 1919 and 1929. The house was built for captain John H. Stafford, a well-know member of the Island’s maritime community. The Stafford family left the house in 1991, but its design has remained unchanged.

Via Christopher McBride/PropertyShark