House of the Day: 7543 Shore Road

The pic is misleading. The lawn and stone wall shown do not belong to the house, but to it's nieghbor, which is truly set back far from the Shore Road. This house is set back , but not exceedingly so, which allows for a larger backyard area given a 200 foot lot line. It has decent frontage , which is not evidenced in the photo. It is in fairly good condition with older finishings/ well maintained old type cloth awnings . In my opinion, it is not overdone and retains a fair degree of old Shore Road character. The stenciling referenced earlier is unlikely to be of unsightly grape leaves, but floral , likely done by a local artist. Not my taste , but probably favored by the elderly woman who once resided there. The home is overpriced, but this harbor facing home will probably fetch over three million. It also sits on the curve of the road that is fairly distant from the highway, which means less road noise.

Posted by: Crescent Hill at September 17, 2009 1:46 PM

Thanks for your post bkoriginal at September 17, 2009 2:27 PM, I chose not to respond to Poster Splenda's " Why Would Anyone" post due to it's condescending tone. (Similarly I would not respond directly to any post which espouses tired, ludicrous & needless ethnic & race related implications that attempt to portray an entire group and area negatively.) I agree with Splenda , in the sense that what a particular area has to offer a person is relative to the person or the lifestyle they desire. Granted this home is overpriced by, at a minimum , $1,000,0000. ..... This house is not a teardown. It will sell and will likely be subject to unfortunate updating and change. This seems to be the nature of the beast in Bay Ridge ( not bayridge, Splenda). Also, Bay Ridge's Shore Road never truly boasted " Waterfront" homes. Homes on the road were always road facing, beyond the road was rocky beach and piers. In the early 20th century the road was graded and most of it's hills were flattened. Before the grading it was literally a roller coaster landscape fronted by large homes. The character of the area was further eroded when Robert Moses ran the Belt Parkway around it, essentially cutting off the Shore Road from the Shoreline. We have lived on and around this road for the last 131 years, so I have become aware of some of these facts over my lifetime.

Posted by: Crescent Hill at September 17, 2009 3:12 PM

Splenda- I see some aspects of your point and please know that I am not offended. This is a little difficult to explain but there are those who live in these large homes on this old road who rarely set foot in Manhattan. In fact some rarely leave Bay Ridge, they have had their groceries delivered via telephone , long before Fresh Direct or the internet existed. They gossip about their cleaning ladies and fill their lives with friends and family. The definable culture that you and I so desire may not be all too important to some of them. You see a "culture" is all around them. All is relative.

I think you were eluding to another poster about the Westchester comments , but dear friends of mine live in Bronxville, I happen to like parts of Westchester county very much. As well as the golf courses.

Posted by: Crescent Hill at September 17, 2009 4:01 PM

"The idea that construction of the Belt somehow blighted this waterfront is ridiculous"

I presume thats tongue-in-cheek.

Posted by: dittoburg at September 18, 2009 10:08 AM

Thanks Dittoburg, I do too.
The land that the Belt Parkway and the Shore Road Promenade sit on is landfill. Trucked and Tugged in by the much despised Robert Moses and his wrecking crews in the late 1930' and early 1940's. The development of a three lane highway with an adjacent "man made" promenade and roadside forever changed the landcsape of the old Shore Road. Before the Belt Pkway- Shore Road was the original Promenade of Bay Ridge. When the automobile first became popular much of the road was paved and then widened at carefully chosen points to create the graceful curves that we still see today on it's length. One or two old dutch houses were sacrificed, even back then, to allow the road to become one of the most popular "motor car" destinations in all of the then newly formed 5 borough City of New York. As you may know Brooklyn was its own city until 1898 and it was after that merger that much of the road began to be updated and " modernized". The Bay water was much closer to the road and until the late 30's it was accessible at many points to the actual shore/beachline. Small piers/ some with ferry service dotted it's length and earlier large piling supported boathouses were on the road. All this may seem like ancient history now, however it is worthwhile to note. I have seen old photographs that are Pre-Belt Parkway and they support the fact that Automobile worshiping City planning forever changed the Old Shore Road.

Posted by: Crescent Hill at September 18, 2009 11:10 AM

I have not , but I am familiar with the home, it's history and it's well preserved grounds thanks to some great info found on the website Forgotten NY. That SI property has an incredible view of the bay. From my vantage point/my home, I see many container vessels on a daily basis as they pass or are tugged into Upper NY Bay toward the ports of NJ in most cases. I face Anchor Bay, which is in upper NY bay. Many ships wait around at this spot, hence Anchor bay. In all honesty ditto, I don't even look at the cargo ships anymore, but appreciate the sight of a daytime sail boat or nightlighted cruiseship much more. Granted, some of those container ships are actually larger than the smaller cruise line vessels that use the waterway.

Posted by: Crescent Hill at September 18, 2009 11:37 AM

Benson, Thanks, I too share an admiration for Moses in a broad context, but do recognize how & why many long gone Brooklynites , including those in my own family despised him. Moses was a member of "Our Crowd" and his generation and class and has to be taken in that context. As he grew older he was easier to hate and his eccentricities only fueled these fires. As you may know , he never drove a car . Moses was truly a cursed figure in much of 1950's Brooklyn but in reality his eminent domain practices of that era were for the most part an abomination.

Posted by: Crescent Hill at September 18, 2009 12:17 PM