By Alexander Dworkowitz
It was once a hotel, a clubhouse, and a boarding school, one of the centers of life in College Point. But the Koening-Boker house, now an abandoned mansion frequented by cats, possums and raccoons, may soon be just a memory.
One of its owner, Charlie Free, said he and his partner, Thomas Cooney, are working on a deal to sell the property to a developer.
“We’re going to sell it,” he said. “They’re going to knock it down.”
Cooney, who is handling the specifics of the sale, could not be reached for comment.
To preservationists, the likely demolition marks another unfortunate but seemingly inescapable chapter in College Point’s history.
The 2-1/2-story wood frame home was constructed on what is now Boker Court in about 1857 for Frederick Koening, the German banker who became the partner of College Point industrialist Conrad Poppenhusen.
The house stands on the cul-de-sac known as Boker Court just north of 14th Avenue, which once separated the homes of factory owners and workers.
“They nicknamed 14th Avenue Wall Street because it was the economic dividing line,” explained Susan Brustmann, executive director of the Poppenhusen Institute.
Koening eventually sold the home to another German businessman, Frank Boker, according to “Historic Preservation in Queens,” written by Jeffrey A. Kroessler and Nina S. Rappaport. Over the years, the house became a hotel, the College Point Clubhouse and finally a boy’s school.
In recent years, the house was divided into several apartments, which were rented out. But the house fell into disrepair.
Ten years ago Free purchased the home with the intention of pulling it down. The housing market fell through, and Free rented out the apartments, waiting for land prices to increase.
With a brighter real estate market, Free and Cooney stopped renting out the apartments and cleared out the house in January. The partners are now close to deciding on a buyer, Free said. All of those who have expressed interest in purchasing the property plan to knock the house down.
Free, a College Point native, said he could not afford to repair the home.
“It has a nice little history to it,” he said. “I would have liked to have saved it, but it was just too far gone. The previous owner let it go so far down it was too expensive to try to renovate.”
“I love that town,” said Free, who now lives in South Carolina. “I hate to see what is happening to it now.”
Jim Driscoll, vice president for history at the Queens Historical Society, said his group did not have the finances to restore the house.
“It’s in terrible shape, but if you walk around it, you still get the impression of an old, beautiful mansion,” he said.
“I wish there was someone out there who could turn it into a bed and breakfast,” said Brustmann. “It’s so perfect for that.”
Brustmann said that many historic homes in College Point have been destroyed in recent years.
“It seems that’s the way things are going in College Point,” she said. “We’ve almost giving up.”
Tracy Shannon, who lives across the street from the house on Boker Court, is worried that the destruction of the home would change the character of the block.
“I’d like to see the block stay quiet,” she said. “People come here and say, ‘Wow, it’s so nice, it’s like the country here on this block.’”
Nevertheless, Shannon admitted that there was little she could do to save the house.
“A building that is going to be saved has to have someone who is willing to save it, to put the money behind it,” Driscoll said. “I don’t know who would do that.”
Reach reporter Alexander Dworkowitz by e-mail at Timesledger@aol.com or call 229-0300, Ext. 141.
