Demolition of Dulcken House on 31st Avenue (QueensPost)
March 7, 2018 By Tara Law
An Astoria home that dates to the 1870s is currently being bulldozed.
Contractors have started dismantling the 31-07 31st Street structure which is commonly referred to as the “Dulcken House,” after one of its past owners.
Ferdinand Quentin Dulcken, an English composer and pianist, lived in the house in the late 19th Century. He was deemed by some historians as having a major impact on classical music in New York.
The 2 ½ story house had fallen into disrepair over the years and was sold for $1.38 million in August 2015 to George Hrisikopoulos.
Hrisikopoulos filed an application with the Dept. of Buildings on March 6, 2017 to construct a 6-story mixed use building with 10 apartments and a restaurant on the first floor. He also filed for a demolition permit in July.
After learning of the building’s impending fate, neighborhood residents, including members of the Astoria Historic Society, mounted a campaign to save it. The organization launched a petition on Change.org to have the building protected on March 13, which was signed by nearly 500 people.
The society also submitted a Request for Evaluation to the Landmarks Preservation Commission.
The application was rejected in May. In a statement, the commission said that the building had been too substantially altered to warrant historic status. The property had been converted from a single-family home to a 14-room single room occupancy building.
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9 Comments
A building that old is probably full of asbestos and lead paint. Better to see it properly demolished and gone.
Who cares. Good for Mr george
Rather it be a new six story building than a 14 room boarding house/fire trap.
The destruction of historic buildings and the manufactured gentrification (hyper-gentrification on steroids) causing massive displacement of tenants and record numbers of closures of small businesses throughout the city are a direct result of REBNY’s (Real Estate Board of New York) rezoning policies. The Mayor, City Council Speaker(s), Economic Development Corporation and City Department of Planning are all schilling for the super-wealthy developers, property speculators and landlords. Learn more at stopREBNYbullies.org
A dilapidated dump is being torn down. Cry me a river. The attempt to give this old house significance by bringing up a largely forgotten composer of largely forgotten music is pathetic. The building is old, save for that it has no historical or architectural value. You cannot save everything just for the sake of nostalgia.
Terrible that people in Astoria are not protecting such historic and beautiful homes. Everything is about profit. , when are people going to realize it is great to preserve some historical homes look at the Latimer house in Flushing, now a museum where people and children gather and learn about the past.
Of course, they could had spared it and made it part of Astoria’s Landmark history!
Goodbye and good riddance to an obsolete outmoded eyesore.
Mediawatcher, the community no longer shares your opinion. There is a growing sense that this was caused by a caviler betrayal by long term movers and shakers of Astoria.
Things for them will never be the same. “All the king’s horses and all the king’s men couldn’t put Humpty together again.” Certainly hope that putting the interests of Hrisiko-who? over the community was worth it.
Enjoy your reward.