Fire damages art, historic house

A fire Wednesday night damaged part of the historic Hewlett-Munson William House -- one of the oldest homes in Nassau County -- and dozens of photographs recently hung inside for a new show by The Art Guild of Flower Hill.

A nearby caretaker's cottage also was damaged in the fire, which was discovered at 9:50 p.m. on the 4-acre Elderfields Historic Preserve on Port Washington Boulevard in Flower Hill.

"As best we know, this was an electrical fire," said Diane Bares, executive director of The Art Guild, which provides studio space, gallery rooms and all-ages art classes at the house.

The Port Washington and Manhasset-Lakeville fire departments responded and Thursday the Nassau County fire marshal's office was investigating.

Bares and guild co-president Ilene Silberstein sat outside the house Thursday, talking with artists who work in the building, parts of which date to 1675.

"We're an entity that's now been shut down -- for the moment," Silberstein said.

An office suffered water damage and a gallery space was burned. Framed photographs displayed as part of the guild's upcoming "Bold" competition and exhibit were warped and damaged.

"The firemen were amazing and they really tried to save what they could," Silberstein said.

It's unclear how many of the 48 photos by several artists will be salvaged. The exhibit's opening has been delayed.

Repair estimates were not available Thursday. Much of the damage was confined to two backrooms.

Aleta Crawford, who has a studio in the building, went to work on her oil paintings. "Everything was covered in a thin layer of oily soot," she said.

The property, which includes the main house, a barn, the caretaker's cottage and a walled garden, was left to the county in 1996. It once belonged to the Hewlett family, one of the original homesteaders in the area. The main house later was enlarged by Carlos W. Munson, who owned the Munson Steamship Line, according to the Preservation of Long Island Antiquities and American Institute of Architects.