10. The Herman A. and Malvina Schleicher House includes perhaps the oldest Mansard roof in New York City
The traffic circle at 123rd Street and 13th Avenue is a bit of an anomaly: It’s just one building that happens to date back to 1857, but some records point to earlier. The building was the mansion of Herman A. Schleicher, a merchant who sold coal and hardware throughout his career. He also supposedly supported the South during the Civil War and used his home to give guns to Confederates. Schleicher befriended Poppenhusen, and his wife Marina purchased 14 acres of land from Poppenhusen’s associate Herman Funke, where the mansion would be built. The home was built by Morris A. Gescheidt, who also designed Poppenhusen’s factory and likely the Poppenhusen mansion. The Italianate style home with elements of the French Second Empire style was one of the first in New York City (and likely the oldest surviving example) to have a Mansard roof, which was used widely in Renaissance and Baroque architecture.
Most of the homes in the area that took inspiration from the Schleicher estate, though, were torn down or altered over the past 100 years. After Schleicher passed away, his wife sold it to a State Commissioner. By 1892, John Jockers purchased the home and converted it into the Grand View Hotel, with views of the East River and Flushing Bay. The hotel was short-lived and was later divided into apartments. The home is one of the oldest properties still standing in this part of Queens, and New York City street enthusiasts can easily see why. The building was constructed before the College Point street grid was laid out, so planners designed a traffic circle surrounding the home to maintain the grid pattern.