History Mystery Homes

There's a mystery lurking around the Garden City Public Library! It's hiding in the archives room. Can you help solve the "history mystery?"

A volunteer at the library is digitizing the archives and has come across old real estate photos of homes from around 1925, but with no addresses listed. The photos can't be identified until the addresses are found.

How good are you at identifying homes in Garden City? Can you help?

Here are two photos from the collection of history mystery homes. The first one is archived as "hoest 08." A resident recognized the house as 139 Nassau Boulevard and contacted Joe and Beth Castronovo, the current owners. The home is as grand as ever, though it's now surrounded by more foliage. They were given a digital copy of the old photo.

Beth Castronovo remarked, " This house is a true gem ...! There are six gas fireplaces...and all the gas lighting (pendants and wall sconces) and fireplaces worked when we moved in too! I have the original blue prints for the house. The architect was G. Francis Leonard, 150 Nassau Street, New York, New York. But the plans are not dated. We suspect the house was completed in 1907-08-09. All the lighting was gas and electric and the stove and boiler were coal burning with an ash chute and pit in the basement. We even have a "provision room" in the basement. According to property records that we found, one of the previous owners was Montague (Monty) Burgess, whose wife Blanche taught at Stratford School. They lived here for many years and took painstaking care of the house."

The next old photo is "hoest 04." Do you recognize this home? Keep in mind that over the years, porches might have been removed, wings added and other changes may have been made to the original home. Please contact Suzie Alvey at 516-326-1720 or suziealvey@gmail.com. When identified, Alvey will take a current photo and the correct address will be revealed here.

Help us help history!