Riverhead has many wonderful buildings whose rich histories help tell the story of our town’s past. With that in mind, RiverheadLOCAL is launching a series on historic buildings in town, starting with a few on East Second Street that are part of a proposed Second and Ostrander National Register Historic District.
The area is historically significant, according to the Riverhead Town Landmarks Preservation Commission, because it is a largely intact residential neighborhood built between 1840 and 1940 to support the nearby commercial district that grew up along Main Street during the same time period. The new district would complement the Main Street district that was placed on the National Register in 2012.
The oldest homes were generally built by the descendants of the area’s original Puritan families who first settled Riverhead in the early 18th century.
46 East Second Street
Price-Northridge House
This 1907 three-story cross-gable Victorian shingle house featuring a wraparound porch was designed by William Sidney Jones, Riverhead’s leading architect, for Augustus Price, a once-respected lawyer who was sent to Sing Sing prison for forging real estate documents.
The home has round and hipped turrets, original frieze work crowns and flared gable with brackets, a porte cochere, and a round pavilion at the turret side of porch. It also has a garage in the rear.
Sometime after 1880, Price married dressmaker Isabelle Edwards, the daughter of a Riverhead farmer.
The house was built in the center of two lots that Price had purchased, one from Capt. George Vail; another was called Stewart property.
By 1911, Price was chair of the local Democratic Club, a town auditor and a candidate for Suffolk district attorney (he lost), said Riverhead Landmarks Preservation Commission chairman Richard Wines.
Price was charged in February 1914 with grand larceny and forgery of real estate documents by a Kings County grand jury. He initially pleaded not guilty, but that March, The County Review reported that his wife signed over the title to the Second Street property to Frank H. Newcomb, who had posted a $10,000 bond for Price.
A month later, Price pleaded guilty to second-degree forgery. He was sentenced to two-and-a-half to five years.
In 1916, The County Review reported that Second Street property was sold under foreclosure proceedings to Mary K. Bagshaw, Isabelle Price’s sister, for $9,000.
Price died in 1933 and is buried in the Riverhead Cemetery next to his wife, who died in 1945.
In the 1940s, this house became the home and offices of Dr. John A. Northridge, a local pediatrician.
The property is now owned by Carmela Cannella.
43 East Second Street
This circa 1870 2½-story cross-gable Colonial Revival was once owned by William Sweezy, who was part of an old Riverhead family and ran a men’s clothing store. He also owned the largest ice house in town, which was capable of storing 6,000 tons of ice in 1906.
The home was later owned by John Bagshaw. Bagshaw was an insurance and real estate agent. In 1920, his son Kirk Bradshaw was a clerk in the county treasurer’s office.
49 East Second Street
This 1½-story front gable home with Greek Revival influence has an asymmetrical full front and side wraparound wood low porch with low-slope hipped roof and Tuscan columns. The rear one-story near flat-roof wing is from near the original era. At least one low-eave archetypical “belly” window remains.
The home was once owned by Allen T. Terrell, a telegraph operator at the railroad station who later was track master of entire Long Island Rail Road system. His estate owned it through 1916.
62 East Second Street
This two-story Italianate style home dates back to the 1840s, making it one of the oldest in the area. Telltale signs of its era come from the small wing of the house’s right side, where there is no roof overhang.
24 East Second Street
Originally the headquarters of the Riverhead Fire Department and designed by William Sidney Jones, the 1931 two-story brick Dutch Revival building has a large octagonal cupola with a bronze bell-shaped roof and wind vane. Smaller garage door openings were combined to accommodate modern fire trucks. A one-story addition to the side and rear was built sometime between 1939 and 1975.
Building owner Bob Castaldi said Long Beard Brewing Company will be taking over 4,000 square feet on the east side as of about July 1. The vacant west side, which is also 4,000 square feet, he said would make a “phenomenal place for a restaurant.” He has preliminary plans to turn the vacant second floor into office space. The 3,200-square-foot basement, which has a bar and was probably a recreation room, Castaldi said is an excellent place a nightclub or speakeasy.
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