Queens Tribune

Few people seemed to notice the old home on Bay 25th Street in Far Rockaway, a distinctive mid-19th century mansion fronted by large white columns and covered in stained wood shingles — an overlooked icon of an earlier, seemingly forgotten era on the peninsula.

Now no one will ever notice the house again.
The Mott House, as it was known, was believed to be the oldest remaining link to the history of the Rockaways. It was demolished last month, despite late intervention by historical preservationists from Queens and Long Island, who had filed an application with the city’s Landmarks Preservation Commission (LPC).

The stately mansion was brought to the ground after another city agency, the Department of Buildings, issued demolition permits before LPC officials could evaluate the site. A representative from Landmarks did not return phone calls for comment on the demolition.

Charla Bolton, an official with the Society for the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities, first learned of the Mott House last year, when a member of the family who had owned the mansion since the 1920s contacted her in an attempt to sell some of the furniture from the house.

“What I found was a building that was in completely good condition, even down to the paint not peeling. It looked like it had been well-maintained,” Bolton said. “I asked about land-marking, and [the owner] said absolutely not.”
The house seemed doomed in August, when Bolton discovered two pre-demolition filings for the site with the Department of Buildings. She surveyed the site on her own and submitted an evaluation request to LPC officials, who can impose landmark protections on historic structures even without the consent of property owners.

Her investigation turned up a unique and ancient estate built in the Greek Revival style with monumental columns and a third-story balcony with balustrade. The mansion first appeared on city maps in 1852, but Bolton estimated that the earliest parts of the house were built as much as a decade earlier.

The mansion, located at 12-13 Bay 25th St., was the home of Richard Mott, Sr., the son of a prominent family that was among the first to settle in the area, once owning huge portions of the Rockaways. Born Oct. 15, 1810, Mott was a farmer and lifelong bachelor who spent his entire life on the estate.

“He was, I guess, sort of a mover and shaker on the Rockaways,” Bolton said.

According to preservationist Paul Graziano, a partner in Associated Cultural Resources Consultants, the demolition of the mansion ruptured the strongest connection to the history of the Rockaways. “It was, in my opinion, the equivalent of the Bowne House for the Rockaway Peninsula,” he said.

He blamed Landmarks officials, who he said were notified of the demolition plans but took no steps to intervene. “We were promised that it would be quickly looked at, as time was of the essence,” Graziano said. “Had it been calendared…there is no doubt in my mind that the LPC would have found it worthy of landmark protection.”