New homes to rise on Queens waterfront.

Wild Flower Developers, Inc. has announced the commencement of the long-awaited development of Wildflower Estate, Arthur Hammerstein's abandoned neo-Tudor mansion in Beechhurst, Queens.

The unique residential waterfront complex is slated to open in the fall of 1998, and the total offering for the initial phase is $12 million. The historic Hammerstein mansion will be restored and converted into six unique side-by-side duplex units, and 26 new two- and three-story townhomes will be constructed in a sympathetic architectural style on the estate's land, which totals 98,000 square feet.

Wild Flower Developers, the project sponsor, expects that the first models will be constructed in three to four months, and already land has been cleared and extensive restorations on the mansion's facade are beginning. The community at large, in the area of northern Queens at the base of the Throgs Neck Bridge, welcomed the new plans because the neglected Hammerstein property had remained vacant for many years, and its deterioration brought about an onslaught of vandalism, including several incidents of arson.

Working with Landmarks Commission to Produce a Viable Project

Wildflower Estate had been designated a Historic Landmark by the Landmarks Preservation Commission in 1982. Other developers had watched the mansion's deterioration in hopes that the designation would be removed, allowing for new developments to be constructed without the Landmark restrictions. In contrast, however, Wild Flower Developers waded through a mass of regulations when planning out the new complex, in an effort to generate a plan that would preserve the mansion, gratify neighborhood groups, and anticipate the aesthetic and historic criteria that landmarks would impose.

Wild Flower Developers set a high priority for creating a suitable development plan for the site. Noted Faruk Yorgancioglu, collaborating design architect for the project, "The landmark building is the focal point of the development, and so working with Landmarks was crucial."

The segmenting of the 10,600 square foot mansion into the six separate homes was a natural process, because of the way the original building had evolved. However, issues such as adding doorways to the mansion, choosing an architectural style for the new townhomes, establishing road access to the estate, massing the new structures, and controlling views into and from the landmark building, as well as density, parking, and landscaping. were critical to address.

How Landmark Requirements Predicated the New Construction

The Landmarks Commission, as well as the local zoning ordinance, had jurisdiction over the density, scale and look of the new houses. For example, "Where the new buildings approach the mansion, they are scaled down to meet the scale and massing of the existing building. Hence the transition from three down to two stories at certain points," noted Beyhah Karahan, the architect of record for the restoration and new buildings. "By monitoring the scale in this way, the new buildings will complement the original structure while enhancing it as the focal point."

Similarly, the landscaping scheme, with clusters of North American Juneberry trees planted at each end of the mansion, will enhance this transition from the original structure to the new buildings. Wild Flower Developers had several meetings with the Landmarks Commission, and the proposal had to go through public hearings to resolve issues such as this.

Another issue was the Landmarks' requirement that the mansion be visible to the public from both the street and the bay. "This predicated the positioning of the new structures, as well as, ultimately, the density," observed Yorgancioglu. "Per the local zoning ordinance, Wild Flower Developers could have built 25 percent more new housing. Sacrifices were made in order to preserve the open vistas and to keep the Landmark building intact."

Restoring the Original, and Blending New with the Old

Wild Flower Developers searched all over the country to find a supplier who could match the terra-cotta roof tiles of the original mansion, and at the suggestion of the Landmarks Preservation Commission, the new roof tiles will be used in conjunction with the existing tiles. To maintain the style of the original mansion's windows, the new double pane windows will match the size and shape of the original openings. The stucco-like panelled surfaces of the new units will be a slightly lighter off-white color than the mansion, and as Beyhan Karahan noted, "Conceptually, the new buildings were meant to age gracefully next to the existing mansion, while retaining a pure, contemporary character."

Wild Flower Developers is also recreating the estate's original landscaping. A historic concrete sea-wall with a picturesque stone ledge will be restored to its original position, with the new addition of flowering beach plum bushes to separate the wall from the lawn. At the entrance to Wildflower Estate, a grouping of Shadblow-service berry trees will be planted to complement the existing mature pines.

Every unit is positioned to take advantage of the water views, and all of the patios, even the ones along Powells Cove Boulevard, offer spectacular water views.