Woodland Cottage

33 Belair Road | also 37 Belair Road | Shore Acres | built 1845

Open on the map4 entries

Written with AI from the source each entry cites, then fact-checked.

1. 1845

   Woodland Cottage appears on Blood's 1845 map as a speculative rental in new Clifton

   Newark lawyer David Abbott Hayes, apparently a principal of the Staten Island Association that laid out the suburb of Clifton, had the cottage built around 1844 to rent out. It is labeled Woodland Cottage on Blood's 1845 map of Staten Island's north and east shores. Hayes probably never lived there, and who rented it before he sold it in 1849 is unknown.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

2. 1858

   St. John's Church buys the cottage, and it serves as the parish rectory

   St. John's Episcopal Church acquired the cottage in 1858, and Walling's 1859 map marks it as a rectory. During the eleven years the church owned it, its main occupant seems to have been the Rev. John C. Eccleston, the parish's most eminent rector, who served from 1856 until he retired at seventy in 1898, with a break from 1863 to 1867.

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

3. 1869

   Builder James Thompson buys the cottage, and his family keeps it until 1948

   Staten Island carpenter James Thompson, later listed as an architect and builder, bought Woodland Cottage in 1869. His family also ran a large lumber and building supply yard in Stapleton, and he bought up other Clifton land, including the lot of the original St. John's Church. His heirs held the cottage until 1948.

   “James Thompson, a Staten Island carpenter and builder, acquired Woodland Cottage in 1869 and it remained in the possession of his heirs until 1948.”

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

4. 1900

   James Thompson adds a gabled west wing to the Gothic Revival cottage

   The original clapboard cottage, influenced by Alexander Jackson Davis, has a central chimney, steep gables with bargeboards and diamond-paned casements. Around 1900 Thompson added a gabled section at its western end. It copies the older bargeboard, but its Queen Anne window sash gives away its later date.

   “The gabled section at the western end of the house was added c.l900 by a later owner, the Staten Island builder, James Thompson.”

   Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

Nearby

• St. John's Episcopal Church1334 Bay Street | 4 entries
• St. John's P.E. Church Rectory1329 Bay Street | 4 entries
• Alice Austen House (Clear Comfort)43 Maryland Avenue | 1 entry
• McFarlane-Bredt House30 Hylan Boulevard | 8 entries
• Alice Austen House (Clear Comfort)2 Hylan Boulevard | 8 entries
• St. Mary's Church1107 Bay Street | 3 entries

All 3 buildings with stories in Shore Acres