The Steinway Mansion (also the Benjamin Pike, Jr. House) is a home on a one-acre hilltop in the Astoria section of

Queens Queens is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Queens County, in the U.S. state of New York. Located on Long Island, it is the largest New York City borough by area. It is bordered by the borough of Brooklyn at the western tip of Long ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. It was built in 1858, originally on on the

Long Island Sound Long Island Sound is a marine sound and tidal estuary of the Atlantic Ocean. It lies predominantly between the U.S. state of Connecticut to the north and Long Island in New York to the south. From west to east, the sound stretches from the Eas ...

, by Benjamin Pike Jr., born in 1809, a noted manufacturer of scientific instruments located in

lower Manhattan Lower Manhattan (also known as Downtown Manhattan or Downtown New York) is the southernmost part of Manhattan, the central borough for business, culture, and government in New York City, which is the most populated city in the United States with ...

. After his death in 1864, his widow sold the mansion to William Steinway of

Steinway & Sons Steinway & Sons, also known as Steinway (), is a German-American piano company, founded in 1853 in Manhattan by German piano builder Heinrich Engelhard Steinweg (later known as Henry E. Steinway). The company's growth led to the opening of a ...

in 1870. Jack Halberian purchased the Mansion in 1926 and upon his death in 1976, his son Michael Halberian began an extensive restoration. The

New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission The New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC) is the New York City agency charged with administering the city's Landmarks Preservation Law. The LPC is responsible for protecting New York City's architecturally, historically, and cu ...

designated the building as a landmark in 1966, and it was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic ...

in 1983. The mansion was placed on sale after Michael Halberian's death in 2010. After years on the market and numerous price reductions the property was purchased by Sal Lucchese and Phil Loria in 2014 under the company The L Group. Parts of the surrounding land were then developed into commercial warehouses, leaving the mansion untouched on its remaining property. At this point being almost 150 years old, the mansion was deteriorating quickly, with parts of the home beginning to fall apart. The mansion's owners began a massive restoration to return the mansion to its original glory. After that the grand balcony that had collapsed nearly a century earlier was perfectly reconstructed using old images of the home. All interior molding was then repaired and repainted, along with the decaying floorboards and walls. Other general renovations have taken place over time that would return the mansion to its 19th-century style. To pay homage to the Pike family and the Steinways, the mansion was decorated with a grand Steinway piano and numerous original 19th-century scientific instruments manufactured by the Pike company.

Description

The Steinway Mansion is a large

Italianate The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian ...

Villa style dwelling. The architect is unknown. It is constructed of

granite Granite () is a coarse-grained ( phaneritic) intrusive igneous rock composed mostly of quartz, alkali feldspar, and plagioclase. It forms from magma with a high content of silica and alkali metal oxides that slowly cools and solidifies un ...

and

bluestone Bluestone is a cultural or commercial name for a number of dimension or building stone varieties, including: * basalt in Victoria, Australia, and in New Zealand * dolerites in Tasmania, Australia; and in Britain (including Stonehenge) * felds ...

with cast

iron Iron () is a chemical element with symbol Fe (from la, ferrum) and atomic number 26. It is a metal that belongs to the first transition series and group 8 of the periodic table. It is, by mass, the most common element on Earth, right in ...

ornamentation and has a two-story, T-shaped central section, with a

slate Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. It is the finest grained foliated metamorphic rock. ...

covered

gable roof A gable roof is a roof consisting of two sections whose upper horizontal edges meet to form its ridge. The most common roof shape in cold or temperate climates, it is constructed of rafters, roof trusses or purlins. The pitch of a gable roof ...

. It has a one-story library, that is now an office, with a wing with large bay windows. It features a four-story tower topped by a

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its c ...

and octagonal

cupola In architecture, a cupola () is a relatively small, most often dome-like, tall structure on top of a building. Often used to provide a lookout or to admit light and air, it usually crowns a larger roof or dome. The word derives, via Italian, f ...

. There are three porches supported by

cast iron Cast iron is a class of iron– carbon alloys with a carbon content more than 2%. Its usefulness derives from its relatively low melting temperature. The alloy constituents affect its color when fractured: white cast iron has carbide impuri ...

Corinthian order The Corinthian order ( Greek: Κορινθιακός ρυθμός, Latin: ''Ordo Corinthius'') is the last developed of the three principal classical orders of Ancient Greek architecture and Roman architecture. The other two are the Doric order ...

columns. There are five Italian marble fireplaces, pocket doors that hold original cut glass depicting many of Pike's 19th-century scientific instruments. The center main hall contains elaborate carved walnut balustrades, a two-story domed rotunda topped with a central

stained glass Stained glass is coloured glass as a material or works created from it. Throughout its thousand-year history, the term has been applied almost exclusively to the windows of churches and other significant religious buildings. Although tradition ...

skylight and ceilings throughout. There are three large underground cisterns designed to collect rain water from the roof for grounds irrigation and a 1000-gallon () copper tank in the attic to furnish the house with a pressurized water system for bath and kitchen use. In 2006, a documentary film titled ''The Steinway Mansion'' was produced and includes extensive interviews with Michael Halberian and Henry Steinway and many rare photos.

References

External links

* * * * * {{Authority control Houses completed in 1858 New York City Designated Landmarks in Queens, New York Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Queens, New York Italianate architecture in New York City Astoria, Queens

Description

See also

References

External links