THE WINDSOR TERRACE ASH HOLE (1903)
Brownstone Detectives investigates the history of our clients’ homes.
The story you are about to read was composed from research conducted in the course of one of those investigations.
Do you know the history of YOUR house?
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Nobody likes an ash hole.
It is a given fact. They’re a nuisance. They’re an eyesore. And everyone would rather they go somewhere else than stick around and continue to bother them.
So, when a wealthy real estate operator and contractor, a Thomas McCann, who owned the land in Windsor Terrace where the ash hole was to go – what today comprises the backyards of Nos. 637 – 641 17th Street – determined to sell the land to an ash hole operator, all hell broke loose.
For many years a dumping ground for the Street Cleaning Department and various contractors, the triangular plot of land, was now up for sale to the City.
McCann, the owner, claimed the land to be quite valuable at $12,500. The City, though, thought it was really only worth less than half of that, at $5,700. The City’s real estate expert, the man who’s opinion about land might have mattered the most, and “who went over the property carefully,” thought it was worth only $1,132.
The neighbors, who would have to deal with the ash hole if it moved in next door, seemed to be the only ones who really knew the value of living next to an ash hole – $500.
In the end, the City awarded McCann $5,700, which just goes to prove what some people already know:
City Governments often overvalue the city’s ash holes, while the taxpayer will do anything they can to keep an ash hole from moving onto their block.
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Brownstone Detectives is an historic property research agency. Our mission is to document and save the histories of our clients’ homes. From our research, we produce our celebrated House History Books and House History Reports. Contact us today to begin discovering the history of your home.
