Vintage Long Island homes have a timeless appeal

Living in an 18th- or 19th-century vintage home can give you a sense of time standing still.

Homes that are  hundreds of years old have charm and character you don’t easily find in today’s modern dwellings, notes Jane Spalholz, who’s lived in a home in Huntington that dates back to 1700 for nearly 18 years.        

“I love the way these old homes are built: They’re built to last,” says Spalholz, 67, a retired real estate agent. “And, they’re not cookie cutters. They’re not boring, There’s a feeling that you get when you come in. It’s very homey and cozy.”

Despite her abiding adoration of antique homes, renovation proved quite a challenge, Spalholz says.

“This house needed just about everything — and we have done just about everything,” she says of the foundation work, floor leveling, uncovering and repairing a brick wall and redoing the kitchen and bathrooms.

Working closely with the local historical society, Spalholz says, “We did a lot without disturbing the architectural integrity.”

The breadth and expense of the renovation were not priorities for the Spalholz family. They ended up spending $250,000 on the work, which took nine months, Jane Spalholz says.

“We just took one day at a time and lived here and felt it and said, ‘OK, now I see what it needs,‘” she says.

Most of the older homes, which are typically farmhouses and Colonial Federalist styles, can be found in the historically settled areas of Long Island, notes Richard Murdocco, an adjunct professor of public policy at Stony Brook University, who has studied the historic trends that have shaped development throughout Long Island.

Many of these antique homes have at least one oversized hearth, which was the focal point of the room.

“From a societal standpoint, that’s where the family would gather. And, from a practical, technical standpoint, that was critical for the heat,” Murdocco says.

Other notable design elements of these homes are broad slatted wood floors, longer and narrower windows, covered porches and, in waterfront communities, widow’s walks — small rooftop perches from which you could see the water, Murdocco notes.

“The myth was that the wives would wait for their husbands to return home from sea. And they would go up there and look out over the horizon, looking for the ship returning,” Murdocco explains.

Unlike tract homes that were crafted later with more uniform design features, these antique homes were custom-built, Murdocco says.

“They were built to fit not only the parcel and the geography but the needs of the family who resided in them,” he says.

Restoring a vintage home very often means uncovering damage from termites, says Tom O’Donoghue, a Sag Harbor builder who specializes in historical restoration.

“You end up replacing a lot of wood,” he explains.

Today’s homeowners use a lot more electricity than people did in the past, so electrical systems need to be updated, as do older septic systems, which are typically not up to code.

Renovations almost always entail more work and money than homeowners anticipate, O’Donoghue notes.

“No one in their right mind would do an old project on a fixed budget, because there are just too many unknowns,” O’Donoghue says.

While people love the historical look and feel of these homes, they still want to enjoy modern amenities, such as steam showers, radiant floor heat and open floor plans, O’Donoghue observes.

“Most of the time, there’s a lot of modern upgrades that people need,” O’Donoghue says. “They just need bigger rooms and more space.”

People should be aware that when homes are in historic districts, there are limitations on how much can be taken down, even if there are serious structural defects, O’Donoghue says.

“From a builder’s point of view, it will never be as good as if you started from scratch,” he says.

Vintage homes are dwindling. Across Long Island, about 150 Colonial and Early American homes, dating to before the mid-19th century, remain listed on the National Register of Historic Places, many of which were expanded over time, says Sarah Kautz, executive director of Preservation Long Island, a nonprofit advocacy group.

Kautz notes that timber and other materials from old buildings were rarely discarded on Long Island, and instead, recycled and used in later structures. “So Colonial/Early American building materials, which are significant and important objects in themselves, may survive within more recent structures.”

One of the biggest threats to historic buildings of all periods is the lack of updated surveys, Kautz notes.

“We need to know where historic buildings are in order to preserve them," she says.

"If local governments, property owners, and others don't know that a building is historic, it cannot be nominated to the National Register or designated as a local landmark," Kautz says. "Without official historic status, we have no access to incentives like tax credits, tax abatements, and other financial support for preservation.”

Meanwhile, homeowners are doing what they can to preserve the aging structures.

When Patricia and Ben Monachino bought their circa 1777 Bayport home, they knew it would require some restoration.

“We didn’t realize we were going to put that much into it,” says Patricia, 76, a real estate agent. “I thought I was going to preserve the floors. I was going to not have to put in a bathroom. As it is, we had everything and then a brand new septic tank.”

As they set out to level the floors, they discovered rotted wood beams and had to redo all the floors, wiring, electricity and plumbing. In the process, cracks developed in the foundation that necessitated redoing the bathroom and dining room. They added custom-made, double-hung windows, designed to look like the windows from that era, and two bedrooms, a laundry room, and a deck.

When they bought their home 16 years ago, people thought they were crazy, Monachino says.

“It looked like the haunted house,” she says. “The shingles were green with Pepto Bismol-pink shutters. Everything we did was restoring it to the way it was,” Monachino says.

Despite the extensive work, which included extending the banister with the same type of wood spindles on the original and preserving all the molding, Monachino has been thrilled to live in the house that President Grover Cleveland slept in when it was owned by his friend, Colonel Joseph Meeks. Monachino says for the most part, her renovations took about six months, but there were other renovations done over time, including in the kitchen.

Monachino says she absolutely loves the unique quirks of an antique home, like the crooked chimneys in the kitchen and third-floor den.

“The folklore is that they made all the chimneys crooked to keep the witches out,” she explains.

For Spalholz, living in her three-century-old home has sparked a lasting interest in American history.

“I could just picture what was going on in this home at this time,” Spalholz says. “I wish the walls could talk. To think that this house was built long before the Revolutionary War is quite amazing.”

Here are a few vintage homes on the market now:

ASKING PRICE: $1.499 million

COMMUNITY/SCHOOLS: Setauket, Three Village Central School District

PROPERTY TAXES: $31,123

YEAR BUILT: 1790

PROPERTY SIZE: 4.2 acres

FEATURES: A renovated six-bedroom, five-bath waterfront estate with wide plank hardwood floors, wainscoting, gas heat, chef’s kitchen and covered slate porch. The property includes a four-car garage with a two-bedroom cottage and a separate beachfront cottage with kitchen and bath and direct access to Conscience Bay.

LISTING AGENT: Amanda Eckart, Keller Williams Points North

ASKING PRICE: $998,000

COMMUNITY/SCHOOLS: Huntington, Harborfields Central School District

PROPERTY TAXES: $15,172

YEAR BUILT: 1700

PROPERTY SIZE: .58 acre

FEATURES: A restored Colonial home with five bedrooms, 2½ baths, wood beamed ceilings, brick walls, large brick fireplace, parlor room, chef’s kitchen, new and updated baths. The property, which has apple and peach trees, is a short walk to Fleets Cove Beach

LISTING AGENT: Carol Casey and Donna Natale, Realty Connect USA

ASKING PRICE: $599,500

COMMUNITY/SCHOOLS: Bayport; Bayport-Blue Point School District

PROPERTY TAXES: $11,611

YEAR BUILT: 1777

PROPERTY SIZE: .56 acre

FEATURES: A post and beam Colonial farmhouse with three bedrooms, two baths, a crooked chimney in the kitchen, cherry wood floors, heated sunroom, third-floor office/guest room with wood beamed ceiling. An original beam separates the living room from the keeping room, a room adjacent to the kitchen found in Colonial times.

LISTING AGENT: Rae Lerner and Patricia Monachino, Century 21 Bays Edge Realty

ASKING PRICE: $449,000 — $469,000

COMMUNITY/SCHOOLS: Wading River; Shoreham-Wading River Central School District

PROPERTY TAXES: $10,754

YEAR BUILT: 1790

PROPERTY SIZE:.81 acre

FEATURES: Perched atop a hill overlooking the Long Island Sound, a three-bedroom, two-bath, 1,900-square foot Colonial has a butler’s pantry next to the kitchen, wainscoting, library with wood beamed ceilings and built-ins, kitchen with wood beamed cathedral ceiling, and three-season enclosed porch. The property has a pond and waterfall.

LISTING AGENT: Linda Stowell, Coach Realtors of Port Jefferson

ASKING PRICE: $998,000

COMMUNITY/SCHOOLS: Miller Place; Miller Place School District

PROPERTY TAXES: $26,274

YEAR BUILT: 1700

PROPERTY SIZE: 2.16 acres

FEATURES: A four-bedroom, 2½ bath home, with a formal parlor, extra-wide fireplaces, wide plank floors, keeping room, screened-in porch, basement wine tasting room with stone wall and fireplace. The waterfront property, which overlooks Mount Sinai harbor, has a two-story barn with two horse stalls, swimming pool and pool house, chauffeur’s quarters, studio apartment and greenhouse.

LISTING AGENT: Alexia Poulos and Carol Acker, Douglas Elliman Real Estate