5281 Independence Avenue

Riverdale | built 1963

Open on the map3 entries

The lot about 1940
About 1940. Via 1940s.nyc
The lot about 1985
About 1985. Via 80s.nyc

The city photographed every building for its tax records around 1940 and again in the 1980s. NYC Municipal Archives.

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

  1. 1892

    Orlando and Delia Anna Dorman make the Foster villa their country retreat, Auvergne

    In 1892 Orlando P. and Delia Anna Dorman bought the Samuel H. Foster estate, after Hugh N. Camp had held it since 1889. They lived on Manhattan's Upper West Side and used the villa as a country retreat they named Auvergne, adding a piazza on its north side and probably the small outbuilding shown on an 1893 map. The villa, demolished sometime after 1938, stood partly on the site of this house.

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  2. 1946

    The Buckners' Riverdale estate is split into three lots, two going to Henry L. Sonnenberg

    Thomas A. and Myrtie L. Buckner had owned the old Samuel H. Foster estate since 1907. By 1946 it had been divided into three lots: Henry L. Sonnenberg bought the two long, narrow eastern lots on Independence Avenue, and Myrtie Buckner kept the smaller western lot with the 1908 carriage house. Houses followed on the eastern lots in 1955-56 and 1963, and the northern lot, this one, was merged with a sliver of the Charles Foster estate.

    “By 1946 the estate was subdivided into three lots: two long narrow lots at the east which were sold to Henry L. Sonnenberg…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

  3. 1963

    A modern wood house for Phillip Polatin rises on the steep site of the old Foster villa

    This irregularly shaped modern house was built in 1963 for Phillip Polatin; the report lists its architect as unknown. Clad in natural wood siding and surrounded by trees, it was laid out to make the most of the view and to suit its steep lot. The Samuel H. Foster estate's villa, demolished sometime after 1938, had stood partly on this spot.

    “This house was built in 1963 for Phillip Polatin on a lot which was originally part of the Samuel H. Foster Estate…”

    Source: NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission

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