Kreischer House
Kreischer House, also known as Kreischer Mansion, is a historic home located at Charleston, Staten Island, New York City. Built by German immigrant Balthasar Kreischer about 1885, it is a large, asymmetrically massed 2+1⁄2-story, wood-frame house in the American Queen Anne style. The rectangular house features spacious verandas, gables with jigsaw bargeboards, decorative railings, posts and brackets, tall chimneys, and a corner tower. It was one of two mansions built by Kreischer for his sons. The surviving house belonged to son Edward Kreischer; the other one had been his brother Charles's.[2] It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[1]
Kreischer Mansion | |
Location | 4500 Arthur Kill Rd., Staten Island, New York |
---|---|
Coordinates | 40°31′57″N 74°14′18″W |
Area | 1 acre (0.40 ha) |
Built | ca. 1885 |
Architectural style | American Queen Anne |
NRHP reference No. | 82001199[1] |
NYCL No. | 0391 |
Significant dates | |
Added to NRHP | October 29, 1982 |
Designated NYCL | February 20, 1968 |
History
On June 8, 1894, Edward B. Kreischer allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself in the right temple near his place of business. He shot himself because of the affair happening between his wife, Frida and a doctor.[2][3] Since then, there have been claims that Kreischer has haunted the property.[2][4] Along with other local stories of the house's violent history, this has given the house a supernatural reputation, leading it to be used as a location on television shows including Boardwalk Empire.[2]
In 1998, the Kreischer Mansion was bought with the intention of restoration and eventual sale by Isaac Yomtovian.[2] In 2008, then caretaker Joseph "Joe Black" Young was revealed to be a hitman for the Bonanno crime family, more specifically serving under Bonanno Soldier Gino Galestro.[5] He was convicted of the murder of rival mob associate Robert McKelvey, committed three years earlier on the property.[5][6][7]
Reputed hauntings
The house is reputedly haunted. In 2019, paranormal investigators from American television series Paranormal Lockdown visited the house; the resulting investigations became an episode of the show's first season.
See also
References
- "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. March 13, 2009.
- Lehto, Steve (February 3, 2015). American Murder Houses: A Coast-To-Coast Tour of the Most Notorious Houses of Homicide. Penguin. ISBN 9781101593011. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
- "With a Bullett in His Skull". New York Tribune. New York. June 9, 1894. Retrieved April 9, 2016.
- Schellmann, Hilke (October 24, 2012). "Spirits moving on S.I." The Wall Street Journal. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
- Sietsema, Robert (December 3, 2010). "Killmeyer's and the Kreischer Mansion: Meat and Murder in Staten Island". The Village Voice. Retrieved February 28, 2017.
- "Cultural Resource Information System (CRIS)". New York State Office of Parks, Recreation and Historic Preservation. Archived from the original (Searchable database) on April 4, 2019. Retrieved April 1, 2016. Note: This includes Anne B. Covell (September 1982). "National Register of Historic Places Registration Form: Kreischer House" (PDF). Retrieved April 1, 2016. and Accompanying three photographs
- Rashbaum, William K. (May 12, 2006). "Grisly Mob Killing at S.I. Mansion Is Detailed". The New York Times. New York. Retrieved April 9, 2016.