The Vertical Life, or Hill-Walking on Staten Island, Part 7

Corner of Scribner and Westervelt avenues, Tompkinsville, Staten Island, looking west toward Bismark Avenue, January 5, 2008

NOT BECAUSE THEY'RE QUAINT, BUT BECAUSE THEY WORK

I guess the collapsed plastic sawhorse-ends shown in the photo above are supposed to dissuade you from clambering up what remains of the stone stairs on the southwest corner of Scribner and Westervelt avenues, Tompkinsville. But as Scribner Avenue resident Richard Wonder wrote me, the stairs aren't as bad as they look.

That's not to say, however, that the stairs should be permitted to deteriorate further--or that they should be replaced by some dreary lump of poured concrete, as on the south side of Corson Avenue at Westervelt, one block south.

As the photo above shows, the retaining wall on the south side of the Scribner Avenue roadbed is solid and straight. What's not shown in that photo is the slate sidewalk laid above that retaining wall, which is perfectly serviceable as well.

Like the stairways connecting York Avenue to Highview Avenue and York Terrace just a few blocks west (you'll find photos of them in the October, 2007 archive of this blog), these distinctive pedestrian paths are unique, not only on Staten Island, but in New York City. They deserve to be saved not only because they're charming and quaint but because they're sensible pedestrian amenities that could last another century with adequate investment now.

Comments

[Dan Icolari]

Thanks for writing, Amadio.

As Tony predicted in his comment of August 20, 2008, builders have indeed erected two or three new one-family houses on that lot and repaired the stone stairway and wall as well.

Corson, Scribner, Winter and, to a lesser extent, Hendricks --- and selected parts of Westervelt in that stretch --- are definitely on the upswing. Despite the economy.

[Amadio Arboleda]

I lived in the white house on the left on Westervelt as a boy from 1941 to 1948. The vacant lot next to the house was vacant then and had been for some time. I'm surprised to see it still vacant.

[Dan Icolari]

Thanks for the information, Tony. I've seen signs on that property from time to time but didn't realize the owners were active now.

It seems odd that they would proceed at this particular time, given the county foreclosure rate and, just for one example, the stalled multi-unit project on the south side of Victory Boulevard near Pike Street that's sitting there moldering, half complete.

Though the corner of Westervelt and Scribner is a more attractive location, I would be more hopeful if the market weren't so shaky, and from what I read, getting shakier.

[Tony]

Builders are getting ready to erect 2 or 3 houses on this site. Lets hope they repair and restore the stairs, walk and walls. I ususally use the street to climb the hill although I do see people using the stairs on occasion. Thanks for the writeup and photos.