No-show charity 'Shadow Ball' raises funds

Needing $60,000 to fix an old home purchased for preservation, a North Shore group will host a unique charity ball.

One existing in name only.

The Oyster Bay Historic Preservation Roundtable "Shadow Ball," in which donors buy tickets to an imaginary gala but don't have to dress up and go anywhere, supports emergency stabilization work on the hamlet's Hillside House. Inspiration came from a 1928 "danceless dance" fundraiser created, in part, by a woman who once lived at the home.

"For us it was the perfect model," said Isaac Kremer, executive director of the Oyster Bay Main Street Association and a member of the preservation roundtable.

"The last thing we need is another fundraiser [event]. It seems all our organizations are planning one right now."

The North Shore Land Alliance bought the mid-19th century Greek revival home in May after rumors it would be razed for a new five-home tract. The white, three-story summer cottage -- once rented by Theodore Roosevelt's uncle -- sits on 2 acres at Oyster Bay's eastern entryway.

Historians describe it as one of the area's last remaining "summer colony" estates. In the 1850s, the 10-bedroom home, with a striking fireplace and large glass transoms, included a tavern and inn.

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After the $905,000 purchase, the Land Alliance said it intended to find a buyer to restore and preserve the site for a historically sensitive use such as a bed-and-breakfast inn.

It still plans to do that, but must first address the structural decay.

"It's an old house; it has lots of rot," said North Shore Land Alliance president Lisa Ott.

When a buyer is found, the Land Alliance will place a conservation easement on the property to ensure its preservation. It would join the Octagon Hotel and Snouder's Corner Drug Store as other historic properties in the hamlet that have either been restored or targeted for restoration.

Shadow Ball "invitations" advertise an event held April 35 at the fictional Oyster Bay Opera House, accessible by Robert Moses' notoriously failed Oyster Bay-Rye Bridge.

Kremer has confidence the community will participate in the nonevent.

"Oyster Bay has a long tradition of supporting preservation of its historic buildings," he said.