Fait Accompli? The Further Adventures of the Steinway Mansion.

Didn't you know it - Yes you really knew it.  You just felt it in your bones. - that this was going to happen?   Well, guess what?

  

         From the copy of the December 15 issue of the Queens Courier, page 33:

   The Queens Chamber of Commerce hosted their annual Building Awards dinner and networking event on Dec. 7 at Terrace on the Park in Flushing Meadows Corona Park.  Michael Stoler, president of New York Real Estate TV and managing director of Madison Realty Capital, delivered the keynote address.  Chamber President Mayra DiRico and Executive Director Tom Grech PRESENTED AWARDS TO INDIVIDUALS AND FIRMS WHOSE DEVELOPMENTS ACROSS QUEENS HAD A PROFOUND IMPACT ON THE BOROUGH.

Proudly beaming with ear-to-ear photo grins:  (left to right) Steinway Mansion "Park" architect Gerald Caliendo with Steinway Mansion "Park" owners Salvatore Lucchese and Philip Loria.

Then and now:  The Steinway Mansion was once visible from 42nd Street.

For this they get an award?

Boring-looking interior of one of the run-of-the-mill warehouse spaces.

The aesthetic vandalism continues to this day on the 41st Street side.

The movable toilet has more charm and character than the warehouse facades.

The Mansion cries out forlornly: "Get me outta here!"

The cramped front yard - the main entrance - to the Mansion.  Rumor has it that wedding photo shoots will take place here.   How romantic can you get with the surrounding warehouses and a power plant?  The area's permeating sewage smells make for a true romantic experience.   ("Kiss me, darling.   Be mine forever.")

A bird's-eye view of this artistic fiasco.

No future plantings of posies can ever mask the utter disgust of what has transpired here.

Separated at Birth?

Count Basie Lives! Orchestra to Play at Broadway and 58th Street.

Check out preview here:  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RKM9Q5nwTQw 

  

The Pink Turd. What? They Spent a Half Million Dollars on This Piece of Crap Which Now Befouls the Long Island City Landscape . . .

. . . whereas our beloved  "Triumph of Civic Virtue", for decades gracing Queens Boulevard by Borough Hall, was ignominiously removed to a cemetery in Brooklyn.

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Steinway Mansion Unanswered Questions: Who Owns This Piece of Land Et Cetera?

Where's the survey of this NYC historic landmark?

Photo 1.  Note green construction fencing entering from the left - then reaching the center and next shooting upward.  For 19 months - since April 2015 - this fencing continued  zig-zagging rightward ALONG THE TOP OF THE INCLINE.  Red arrow indicates area in question.  (See next photo.)

Photo 2.  The 2015 first image continues showing the zig-zagging nature of the fencing separating the Mansion front lawn (upper right) from the untamed foliage on the incline.   If this property belonged to the Mansion per se, why was the green construction fencing not continued along at street level as seen in Photo 1 above?

Photo 3.   Do the owners of the Steinway Mansion property have legal ownership of this incline whereon now terraced landscaping procedes?

Photo 4.   Another view of this area - looking north with 41st Street  at left.   Red arrow indicates the property issue in question.   WHO LEGALLY DOES THIS BELONG TO - THE MANSION OWNERS OR THE CITY OF NEW YORK?  (Also note this dangerous thoroughfare is a two-way street with absolutely no traffic control signage or device present.   It is a virtual bottleneck with only a 12 foot wide measurement at the hill top.   An accident waiting to happen?   Also, no sidewalks present at Mansion vicinity on either side of this street.  Does the freshly-laid black-top seen in this photo legally indicate the extent of the mansion property?)

Where's the survey of this NYC historic landmark?

Who owns the incline?

Who's in charge here?

What's going on?

EXCLUSIVE. Last of the Weeds and Wild Foliage Removed from East Side of 41st Street and the Mansion Incline. (November 2, 2016)

Photo 1.  Weeds, foliage, and undergrowth being removed from the incline.

Photo 2.  The newly denuded landscape.

Photo 3.  Warehouses at left and the apex of the 41st Street hill at right.

Photo 4.  Looking north on 41st Street and its 12 foot width - a two-way thoroughfare!

Photo 5.  Newly applied black top entrance to the original Mansion gate.

Photo 6.  Looking north along 41st Street to Berrian Boulevard.

Photo 7.  Looking south along 41st Street.

Photo 8.  Another view of the freshly black-topped driveway while looking south with heavy truck traffic passing by the Mansion.

Photo 9.   Looking north along the two-way 41st Street with an obstructed view of oncoming traffic.  No traffic control signage present.

Photo 10.   What further development for this incline?

Photo 11.  Warehouse, Mansion, bouldered  hill, and a tiny waxing crescent moon (above the orange lights).

EXCLUSIVE. Vest-Pocket Park or Immense Bioswale? Getting Its Rocks "On": Area Between the Warehouses and Steinway Mansion Gets Landscaped. (November 1, 2016)

Photo 1.  Mysterious space between the warehouses and the Mansion indicated by the arrow.

Photo 2.   For over fourteen months, this short wall confounded blog readers as to its purpose.

Photo 3.   The beginning of the construction of the short wall.

Photo 4.   Landscaping boulders begin their appearance on the incline.

Photo 5.  Additional boulders await their turn to appear on the incline held back by the short wall..

Photo 6.  In addition to the boulders, perhaps seasonal plantings?   Perhaps a running water fountain?

Photo 7.   Meanwhile the lawn in front of the main entrance seems to have been grassed over completely.

Photo 8.   Former owner Mike Halberian's book collection still on the shelves - as he left it when he died almost 6 years ago this December.

First Xmas Street Lighting Seen! (Astoria: 23rd Avenue and 33rd Street) The Day Before Halloween: October 30, 2016.

  

EXCLUSIVE. Onward and Upward (?) at the Steinway Mansion. Further Landscaping Development. (October 25, 2016)

Photo 1.  Mansion still hidden behind large group of trees in upper right quadrant.  View from 19th Avenue looking north up the two-way (!) 41st Street.   Note the bottle-necked roadway at the top of the hill.   Site for future accidents when the "Steinway Park" [sic] warehouses are occupied and put into use?

Photo 2.  The main entrance gate viewed from the extremely narrow 41st Street.

Photo 3.  View from the gate to the bottle-necked 41st Street.  Driveway broken up for possible surfacing with stacked-up blocks seen at far right in Photo 2?

Photo 4.  View over the gate with the three new warehouses in the distance.   Gravel surface in foreground for vehicle parking?

Photo 5.  Newly-planted grass surrounds the pathway pavers.

Photo 6.   View from Berrian Boulevard looking south along 41st Street.

Photo 7.  1858 (top) vs. 2016 (bottom).

Photo 8.  The construction of the warehouses continues.