This website was created by Virginia N. Sherry, a writer and native Staten Islander who grew up in the serpentine stone cottage at 1929 Richmond Road in Grant City. It was built in 1924 by architect Ernest Flagg and designated an official New York CIty landmark in 1987.

Photo credits: Virginia N. Sherry, unless otherwise noted.

The website is designed for current and former residents of Staten Island -- as well as tourists and other visitors -- interested in the borough's surviving historic architecture. 

Massive overdevelopment -- permitted under New York City zoning regulations -- has extracted a huge toll over recent decades, with distinctive historic homes and other buildings on Staten Island falling to the wrecking ball.

The streetscape image to the right was captured in 1937 by famed photographer Berenice Abbott, in front of 340 and 344 St. Mark's Place in St. George on Staten Island's North Shore. These late 19th century homes are no longer standing. (Photo courtesy of NYPL Digital Collection.)