Arboreal Architecture

Arboreal Architecture:
Great Trees of St. George-New Brighton-Tompkinsville
Staten Island

1. The sculptured (both natural and man-made) Japanese maple (Acer japonica) (35” dbh) at 1 St. Marks Place is a stunning specimen tree of this widely planted Asian native, New Brighton.

This tree while not as tall as many of the others on today’s tour it is no less a ‘great tree”. Most trees of this maple species never attained such a large girth. When this tree was planted (at least 70 years ago), it was situated to be enjoyed as visitors enter the rear garden. Today it is now a focal point of this beautiful bi-level garden.

Located within the St. George-New Brighton historic district, this unique and grand Victorian style double house at number 1 St. Mark’s Place (and #5) was originally built by a local physician, Dr. Theodore Walser and his wife Mary as a rental property. Their main residence was next door at 33 Westervelt Avenue. The distinguishing feature of the house is the imposing tower that appears to ‘turn’ the corner at St. Marks Place and Westervelt Avenue. The building was designed by prominent local architect Edward A. Sargent. Mr. Sargent designed many of the houses in the St. George-New Brighton historic district.

2. The gracefully arching Honey Locust (Gleditsia triacanthos) 38” dbh at 48 Westervelt is a magnificent example of this species New Brighton.

A hardy member of the Legume (bean) family is a commonly plant street tree. Noted for its ability to survive tough urban situations. The tree is most recognized for its seed pods that fall to the ground in the late summer/fall. When given favorable growing conditions, like here at #48, it can attain great size. The tree is named for Gottlieb Gleditsch, a German botanist who first classified the species.


3. The looming Linden (Tilia americana) 46”dbh at 59 Westervelt Avenue is a singular giant in this part of the neighborhood New Brighton.

Tilia is the Latin name for ‘Lime’ or Linden tree. This is a common street (and lawn tree) in NYC and Staten Island. It is also planted in allees along campus roads and large estates. The species is most noted for its ‘sweet heady’ fragrance when the tree is flowering in the spring.

Also in the Historic district, the Queen Anne/shingle style house at # 59 Westervelt Avenue was built in 1910 by and for George Parsons and his wife Alice. It was designed by Staten Island architect Thomas Perkins. The home is a mirror image of #57 Westervelt Avenue (also designed by Perkins)


4. In the side yard of 10 Phelps Place, a quiet dead street off Hamilton Avenue is a large and spreading 41” dbh Black locust (Robina pseudoacacia) New Brighton.

5. Also the grove up at 11 Fort Hill Park St. George/Tompkinsville.

Related to the Honey locust, this particular tree is quite large for its kind. Normally the Black locust grows taller rather than large. At a diameter of 41’’, this clearly qualifies for a St. George-New Brighton Great Tree. The open growth habit of the tree’s upper canopy gives it an ‘airy’ exotic look (think the open African savannah). Other Great Black Locust trees can be found in Dongan Hills.

10 Phelps Place is one of number of secondary residential structures erected in 1890 on the estate of Anson Phelps Stokes known as ‘Bay Villa’. Mr. Stokes was a prominent New York City businessman who built his large estate in the then ‘fashionable country’ town of New Brighton, Staten Island. The houses at 9 and 10 Phelps Place exemplify the best of 19th century attached dwellings.




6. The Ginkgo (Ginkgo biloba) 37” dbh at 45 Fort Hill Circle is the largest street tree of it species in the neighborhood. St. George.

At an age well over 75 years, this tree has attained a beautiful full and arching canopy. Ginkgos start out as ‘gangly’ young trees but given time and space, they develop into stately ‘great trees’. The unique Ginkgo tree is a single species and family.

This sacred tree has long been cultivated and possibly preserved from extinction by Buddhist priests on temple grounds in China, Japan and Korea. This is a planting practice that seems to have translated to churches in the U.S. Many local churches have Ginkgo trees planted on their grounds, including the Church of St. Peter, Brighton Heights Reformed and the Church of St. Stanislaw Kostka.

7. The 75 Fort Place Tulip tree ‘trio’. St. George/Tompkinsville.

The three towering trees at 75 Fort Place are Tulip poplars (Liriodendron tulipfera). These trees, whose Latin name means Lily tree-tulip bearing, soar to great heights and produce tulip like flowers in the spring. The tulip tree is one of the tallest native trees on the eastern seaboard. The three trees at 75 Fort Place certainly illustrate this genetic ability. The largest of the trio is 51” dbh with the other two trailing closely at 46” and 43”. This species is a commonly found tree in Staten Island’s many parks and forests. The largest Tulip tree (80” dbh with an estimated height of 146’) on Staten Island (as well as the largest single-trunked Great Tree in the City) can be found in Clove Lakes Park.

75 Fort Place is a shingle-style Victorian built in the late 1890’s on the former estate of merchant Daniel Low. The main house was situation on what is present day Fort Hill Circle.

8. The great Beech ‘grove’ of the 1880 August and Augusta Schoverling House at 344 Westervelt Avenue, New Brighton./Tompkinsville

Growing here is a ‘collection’ of four European Beech (Fagus sylvatica). Fagus is the latin name for beech and sylvatica means of the woods/forest. A common forest tree in Europe but primarily grown in the US as a specimen and lawn tree. There are many cultivars of the European beech. The ‘grandest’ of the group is a 52” dbh (diameter at breast height) with the other three ‘Copper’ beeches measuring 35” 32” and 25” respectively. These classic ‘lawn’ trees are emblematic of the neighborhood’s bucolic estate past.

August Schoverling built this Second Empire-style house with New-Grec design elements between 1880 and 1882. Mr. Schoverling was a partner in a very successful gun business, which was considered in 1877 “one of the foremost houses in the arms trade” and reported to have done business “in every quarter of the globe”. The house received NYC Landmark status on May 16, 2000.


9. The tough and tenacious American elms gracing 121 Monroe Avenue (50” dbh) and 163 Daniel Low Terrace (54” dbh) Tompkinsville.

The American Elm (Ulmus americana), once lining many Staten Island streets, nearly became extinct from an accidentally introduced foreign fungal disease (aka Dutch Elm Disease DED). DED killed most of the large Elm trees in the country, including those on Staten Island. This tree appears to have natural resistance and miraculously survived. This tree is one of a few great Elms in the neighborhood (others: 121 St. Marks Place and the corner of Hamilton and Curtis Place).

Monroe Avenue is named for 5th US President James Monroe who Daniel Tompkins served under as Vice President (1817-1825). The street as well as others, in this namesake town, was laid out by Tompkins in 1815.

Sources:
-NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission- St. George Historic District report
-Dictionary of Plant Names, Timer Press
-The Audubon Society Field Guide to North American Trees
-Great Trees of New York City
-Stearns’s Dictionary of Plant Names for Gardeners