Area still 'ideal' for small homes

EDITOR'S NOTE: This story was originally published on Jan. 2, 1958, and was reprinted as part of the 70th anniversary of The Riverdale Press.

The year 1958 will see a tremendous increase in private home construction in Riverdale, according to veteran builder Saul Slavin.

Despite the phenomenal post-war building boom — which substantially compromised Riverdale’s rural character — the area is no less attractive to home settlers, Mr. Slavin says.

Big plans

He’s putting all his eggs in the Riverdale-Kingsbridge basket. A few weeks ago, he started excavations for eight new homes in the West 236th Street-Tibbett Avenue area. He plans another 20 homes here during the next 12 months.

That will  bring to more than 50 the number of private dwellings he has constructed here in the past 15 years. His investment is expected to total more than $1 million.

Mr. Slavin also foresees an increase in apartment house construction.

“Let’s face it,” he says, “Riverdale and portions of Kingsbridge are the most attractive areas in the city. New Yorkers prefer to live in New York, whether in apartments or private homes. Builders will naturally build the most profitable multiple dwellings wherever zoning permits. In Class G residential areas, they will build private homes, such as I am doing.”

Wide demand

There is room for all types of private dwellings in the area, the veteran builder feels, from the modest-priced one-family home and the medium-priced two-family structure, to the high-priced luxury residences, such as have been built at Hillside and elsewhere “on the hill.”

Besides the natural beauty of the community, Mr. Slavin feels there is another inducement for people — especially younger couples — to purchase homes here. They find it difficult to pay the high rents asked in some of the better apartment houses. They are less reluctant to pay an equivalent sum for a home, in consideration of the fact that they are building up an equity which can be translated into cash in an emergency.

Two-family house

The two-family home is often especially attractive to young couples who have saved a few thousand dollars. The income from the extra apartment brings the monthly carrying charges within range of single-family costs, and sometimes even reduces it.

Mr. Slavin has built five homes at Fairfield Avenue and West 232nd Street, two at Tyndall Avenue and West 252nd Street, Five on Lakeview Place, five on West 252nd, and 15 in Kingsbridge, in an area bounded by West 232nd and West 240th streets, west of Broadway.

New group

It is in the latter area that he is now constructing eight additional homes, and the same section will eventually see 20 others with the Knoxwood Homes Inc., label. Mr. Slavin is president.

The residences range from $19,000 for one-family structures, and $29,000 for two-family dwellings.

The local builder constructed his first home in Long Beach, Long Island, 32 years ago, and his first Riverdale home at the outbreak of World War II.

He lives in the Bronx, and maintains offices at 15 Park Row, Manhattan.

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