Yorktown Man Seeks to Landmark His Historic Home

Yorktown resident and realtor Bill Primavera and his wife Margaret have lived at their Hickory street home for the last 40 years. The couple now wants to make sure their home is protected and still around for centuries. 

"I had applied for landmark status for my home, the Ebenezer White House in Yorktown, the first such application in 37 years," Primavera told Patch.

His house – located at 2718 Hickory Street, at the corner of Granite Springs Road – was originally built as a small saltbox structure in 1734 by Jeremiah Travis, who lost the home to forfeiture during the Revolution. 

It was then purchased by Dr. Ebenezer White, a physician who served in George Washington's army during the Revolution. White later became a New York State Senator and served two terms as Yorktown supervisor. His heirs lived in the home until 1945.  

After the Whites, there were two other homeowners before the Primaveras bought the house.

"On the first day we moved in, a descendant of White visited us with all kinds of material about the family and the house, including the family tree, old pictures and a journal that was written about the family," Primavera told Patch. 

Since 1976 no other home has received a landmark status. If a property owner wants to do any exterior alteration, even changing the color of the paint, he or she must present the plan to the Landmarks Preservation Commission for approval, Primavera said. 

When Primavera and his wife first saw the house, he said they loved its "beautifully restored" kitchen. 

"Just in the past three months, we've upgraded the kitchen with quartz countertops, new appliances, chandelier, new floor and a gorgeous opaque glass tile backspash, but we kept the cabinets which we could never replicate more beautifully," Primavera said. 

Since moving into the home, he said he and his wife loved discovering what was left in and around the house. They found pieces of pottery and china in the ground when gardening, coins inside the walls when they were renovating, a mortar and pestle, an old millstone in the yard, and a signed family bible in the attic.

"My daughter was only three when we moved in and complained that she didn't like the house because it 'squeaked,' Primavera said. "Of course, the squeaks in an old home is one feature which gives it its charm."

The homeowner said one of the most significant features of the house is a beehive oven which was used to bake bread. Almost all of the original woodwork and flooring remains as well as the cupboards in the living room and back parlor.

"We added a new mudroom, back entry and bathroom, but stayed within the same footprint of the house," he said. "The only big addition is a gorgeous pool which we shaped to look like a natural pond, with waterfall."

Primavera is also waging an effort to help change a state law.

"A cut in taxes would override any inconvenience of having to have alterations approved," he said. "I feel that any privately owned historic home is subject to demolition if it's not protected, yet landmarking punishes us for doing so by diminishing the value and prospects for selling our homes to new owners."

After his wife read an article in The New York Times about how difficult it is to market a property that has been landmarked, Primavera initiated his own campaign to do something about that.

He said if the law is changes, it would provide a clear benefit to those "adventuresome enough to live in an historic home." 

Primavera is currently working with the town officials to draft either a resolution or an actual bill to present to state legislators. 

"We love this house and could stay forever, but the more practical outlook is that we'll eventually live smaller," Primavera said. "However, we feel that we would never leave Yorktown where, basically, we have grown up. We love the town's diversity and beauty."

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