I was just sent this link
https://hollisfuneralhome.fune...y.html#tribute-start
which provides a funeral home obituary for a 170 year old landmark home that fell into disrepair under the ownership of what has been termed "NY City exploiters." Gutted, abandoned, and with delinquent taxes, ultimately the City of Syracuse's Land Bank took control. Renovation costs were astronomical so no one bought it to take on the challenge. And finally deterioration got to the point where such was no longer viable. So it is being demolished.

My grandparents owned the home from 1936 to 1969. And yes, the baby and small tyke in the pictures is me from over 70 years ago having lived there for the first 3 years of my life.



Trying to find out who created it and inserted pictures from a Syracuse Historian's Instagram page that we shared the old family pictures with. Quite an unusual tribute.

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bald1,

Happier days there. Here with my aunt and grandmother.

...and yup: always with a hat! lolololololololol

The house served the large extended family as was much more common in those days.

Wouldn't it be cool to go back in time and see it all again as an adult? Sometimes nostalgia hurts a bit. My childhood home is gone too.

quote:

Originally posted by darthfuster:
Wouldn't it be cool to go back in time and see it all again as an adult? Sometimes nostalgia hurts a bit. My childhood home is gone too.

Absolutely!

Just in case it has not been said, Sorry for your Loss. May you hold on to the memories forever.

I feel ya.

I grew up on a small farm in central lower peninsula Michigan. Dad sold the place when he retired in 1975.

The next time I made it to Michigan I drove by the place. The only thing left was the house. All of the outbuildings and the barn had been torn down and they were farming right up to the kitchen window. Progress, I know, but it saddened me. I'd much rather live with the memories than the reality.

I know the feeling. I grew up in a wonderful old house in downtown Flint, Michigan. I have warm memories of my mother’s home cooking, and my brother and me playing in the house and yard while my dad listened to the Tiger games on his transistor radio. After the folks were gone I had to sell it due to the neighborhood going down hill. It’s still standing in the middle of the ghetto. But the trellises and morning glories are gone, as well as the rose garden and oak trees. Sad, but time marches on.

It's sad.

I was just in Detroit and there were many large houses (2 story, 5,000 sq feet +) like that all in huge disrepair and falling down. Some condemned, a few fixed up, but it was clearly now a bad neighborhood (just West of Detroit Yacht Club). Yet I went 15 minutes North to St. Clair shores and was in a small neighborhood and the houses were MUCH smaller, much smaller lots, but really well kept, and a nice neighborhood......you wonder how neighborhoods with big houses get like that.....

Sorry for your loss. I do hope the good memories will stay strong for you in long run.
Keep in mind, what made it great were the family, not the house.

I don't understand how anyone can let such a fine looking house get so bad

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
It's sad.

I was just in Detroit and there were many large houses (2 story, 5,000 sq feet +) like that all in huge disrepair and falling down. Some condemned, a few fixed up, but it was clearly now a bad neighborhood (just West of Detroit Yacht Club). Yet I went 15 minutes North to St. Clair shores and was in a small neighborhood and the houses were MUCH smaller, much smaller lots, but really well kept, and a nice neighborhood......you wonder how neighborhoods with big houses get like that.....

Are you talking about West Village, Gold Coast, what neighborhood?

sad to see a stately home destroyed, esp from neglect,


my grandparents managed a farm until my Grandfather passed in a boating accident,

Grandma moved to a home they owned down the road (after a renovation by my father/grandfather) and the farm was sold,

later sold again, and the new owner was told the 1835 vintage, updated in the 1880's and again in the 20's , large farmhouse was full of termites,

he never checked himself, just tore it down,


truck loads of heart pine flooring, banisters etc pushed in a pile and destroyed,


20 yrs prior a small rail owned country store was sold by the piece,
as in folks came in and bought the building, dismantled it and sold the wood,

they could have made a fortune if the owner did the same for that old farmhouse (and it had the original kitchen/butlers quarters next to it,)

They had an obit for a house in Iowa City , long ago.
it was about half that size.

It had been in the same family from 1829 to 1959
.,
it sat empty for ten years.
the obit had 8 paragraphs or so about what took place there and another 8 paragraphs about the property .

It started out with 40 acres and ended up with 1,5 acres. it had 5 out buildings ,early on and one new building prior to its sale to someone who wanted to totally restore it .

restoration fell through during the recession.

I will have to see if its still there when I get back that away .

I am just going to guess there is a four story apt. building there now

The interior, although gutted, still had the marble floors and the huge sliding doors that separated the front parlor from the expansive living room. Here is a shot of one of the pair taken to the Land Bank warehouse.



The double front doors, which measured 88" x 29", were also salvaged although one has a crack in the lower right corner of the beveled glass and the right side unit's bottom edge has some dry rot.

Haven't heard if any of the 4 fireplaces (two were marble) survived the gutting.

I grew up in a frame Victorian home in our small/medium size city. Thankfully it is still alive and kicking, but I'm always sad to see the "wrong" sorts of things done to it. Like the side folding carriage house doors replaced with an overhead garage door. Or the slate roof replaced with asphalt roofing.

quote:

Originally posted by snoris:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
It's sad.

I was just in Detroit and there were many large houses (2 story, 5,000 sq feet +) like that all in huge disrepair and falling down. Some condemned, a few fixed up, but it was clearly now a bad neighborhood (just West of Detroit Yacht Club). Yet I went 15 minutes North to St. Clair shores and was in a small neighborhood and the houses were MUCH smaller, much smaller lots, but really well kept, and a nice neighborhood......you wonder how neighborhoods with big houses get like that.....

Are you talking about West Village, Gold Coast, what neighborhood?

Just West of the Detroit Yacht Club (it's on that island where the zoo was located) off of Grand BLVD and the streets around jefferson ave there to highway 3. I don't know the official name of the neighborhood, but on mapquest looks like West Village and Island view if that makes sense.

Well it's been demolished.

That cupola up on the top of the house was a great place to view the northside of Syracuse. Enjoyed the heck out of it as a youngin'.

Here's a video on facebook showing it being done:
https://www.facebook.com/Syrac...os/3153965554656703/

This message has been edited. Last edited by: bald1,

Another...



The big industrial looking building in the background was home to Mayflower Moving in decades past. Currently it houses Brady Systems, an industrial and retail scale distributor.

In the Instagram thread (https://www.instagram.com/p/CEHNynqjAhe/?igshid=848uzchs2sod) about this house started by a Syracuse Historian, I mentioned remembering a large two story barn out in back that I explored as a kid. My 95 yo parents confirmed that it was torn down sometime in the late '70s - very early '80s by the then owner.

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by snoris:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
It's sad.

I was just in Detroit and there were many large houses (2 story, 5,000 sq feet +) like that all in huge disrepair and falling down. Some condemned, a few fixed up, but it was clearly now a bad neighborhood (just West of Detroit Yacht Club). Yet I went 15 minutes North to St. Clair shores and was in a small neighborhood and the houses were MUCH smaller, much smaller lots, but really well kept, and a nice neighborhood......you wonder how neighborhoods with big houses get like that.....

Are you talking about West Village, Gold Coast, what neighborhood?

Just West of the Detroit Yacht Club (it's on that island where the zoo was located) off of Grand BLVD and the streets around jefferson ave there to highway 3. I don't know the official name of the neighborhood, but on mapquest looks like West Village and Island view if that makes sense.

Maybe this would be some help:https://detroitography.com/2013/08/19/lovelands-detroit-neighborhoods-map/

quote:

Originally posted by shovelhead:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:

quote:

Originally posted by snoris:

quote:

Originally posted by jimmy123x:
It's sad.

I was just in Detroit and there were many large houses (2 story, 5,000 sq feet +) like that all in huge disrepair and falling down. Some condemned, a few fixed up, but it was clearly now a bad neighborhood (just West of Detroit Yacht Club). Yet I went 15 minutes North to St. Clair shores and was in a small neighborhood and the houses were MUCH smaller, much smaller lots, but really well kept, and a nice neighborhood......you wonder how neighborhoods with big houses get like that.....

Are you talking about West Village, Gold Coast, what neighborhood?

Just West of the Detroit Yacht Club (it's on that island where the zoo was located) off of Grand BLVD and the streets around jefferson ave there to highway 3. I don't know the official name of the neighborhood, but on mapquest looks like West Village and Island view if that makes sense.

Maybe this would be some help:https://detroitography.com/2013/08/19/lovelands-detroit-neighborhoods-map/

Thanks. The neighborhoods I'm talking about is Island view and Kettering. Very nice, big, old houses that were once a very impressive house, like Bald1's was when maintained.

OMG. There's thread "drift" and then there's thread "hijacking!"





... but I get it!