Historic home moved to new home in Eastport

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A bungalow that was designated as a historic house by the Town of Brookhaven was moved to a new location on Montauk Highway in Eastport on Tuesday. ALL PHOTOS BY BRYAN FINLAYSON

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It was an eyesore to some, a treasure to others.

A dilapidated bungalow, designated a historic structure by the Town of Brookhaven, was relocated from Moriches Boulevard to a new resting place on Montauk Highway in Eastport on Tuesday.

The bungalow was moved to make way for a 50-unit condominium development, called Eastport Meadows, on a 7-acre parcel south of Citarelli’s market on Montauk Highway.

The bungalow had been located on the grounds of a former slaughterhouse and duck processing plant, known by locals as the “duck factory,” where ducks from nearby duck farms were cleaned and prepared for sale. The bungalow was lifted from its foundation last week.

“This will be the last piece in the puzzle to get the site cleared off,” said Nick Poulos, a principal of the Northwind Group, which is developing the parcel.

He noted that the company demolished two other structures on the property, the old, charred remains of the slaughterhouse, which burned down several decades ago, and another house that was too time-worn to salvage. “It’s redeveloping an industrial site that was a mess in the community,” he said.

The house was built in the 1920s and used to house employees who worked in the duck plant, Brookhaven Town spokesman Kevin B. Molloy said this week.

“It is a typical example of a classic bungalow house,” Mr. Molloy said. “Together as a package, this style of architecture was emblematic of the bungalow homes that were built in the area.

“It represents the duck farming industry that was significant to the history of Eastport,” he added.

Using a diesel engine truck, Dawn House and Building Movers of Yaphank on Tuesday towed the bungalow down the tree-lined streets of Eastport like a float in a parade, making a wide turn at the intersection of Seatuck Avenue onto Montauk Highway, passing casual onlookers, including Lorraine Paszkiewicz, who has lived down the street from the bungalow for nearly 50 years.

“I just can’t believe it,” said Ms. Paszkiewicz, 75, taking snapshots with a disposable camera. “It’s amazing.”

Ms. Paszkiewicz, a retired schoolteacher, said the bungalow used to house workers who were employed by the slaughterhouse. The plant received ducks from the many duck farms that once dotted the South Shore landscape, she said.

“At one time, this was big duck farming territory,” Ms. Paszkiewicz said. “We used to see the ducks come down in the trucks and in crates, quacking. It was so sad, because we knew where they were going.”

Her twin daughters, Margaret and Elizabeth, have less than fond memories of the plant. While attending fifth grade at the Eastport school, they were taken on a tour of the slaughterhouse.

“My daughters have never gotten over it,” Ms. Paszkiewicz said. “They thought it was so horrible.”

The bungalow completed its turn onto Montauk Highway and continued forward at a steady crawl, causing a temporary traffic jam and stopping only once for Long Island Power Authority crews to raise some fiber-optic cables and 32,000-volt electrical lines.

It passed the Eastport Farm Stand and eventually came to a halt at its new half-acre resting place, across from Big Apple Motors.

Mr. Poulos said the North Wind Group spent more than $200,000 to relocate the bungalow, and will also pay for its renovation.

“We’ll be putting a septic system in there and a heating system,” Mr. Poulos said. “It will be a functioning house. We’re not just going to move it over there and leave it boarded up.”

The house, at first glance, stands out for its modest architectural flourishes, said Eastport resident John Andren, who came to watch the move.

“I know it’s an interesting style of house. You don’t see many with a bungalow style porch and the wood shingled roofs and siding,” he said. “It was probably a nice little house when it was built for the times.”

Bert Seides, a member of Brookhaven Town’s Historic District Advisory Committee and president of the Ketcham Inn Foundation in Center Moriches, said the bungalow style represented the beginning of a new era in construction—the prefabricated house.

Prefabricated homes, in which pre-cut and pre-packaged home construction kits were sold by mail order, were offered by companies such as Gordon-Van Tine, Sears, Roebuck and Company, and Montgomery Ward, and revolutionized the housing industry.

“It’s a fine example of what was occurring in America at the time, which was prefabrication. Prefabrication offered a lot of modern features like central heat, good cross ventilation, lots of windows and they were designed to appeal to the broad middle class at the time,” Mr. Seides said. “They were coined bungalows. Many of them were square or rectangular. This one is one-story with broad overhangs with a little front porch with nice personality.”