J. Fred Faigle Residence (Great Neck, New York)

 residence, Queen Anne style (architecture)

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According to the 1910 U.S. census, there were many houses along Arrandale Avenue. Nassau County records indicate that number seventeen was built in 1912. J. Fred Faigle and his wife Mary, who lived there for forty years, may have been the original owners. Faigle was the owner of Faigle’s Meat on Middle Neck Road. A Great Neck Village history reports: “Faigle's Meat Market was very well known, but not everyone could go there, because it was expensive. The well-to-do people would buy from him.” Number seventeen was sold in 1952 to Rosanne Siegler, who became Mrs. Schoenbrod shortly after. In 1963 the house was purchased by Saul and Elaine Kessler, who resided there for thirty-one years. When the Gersmans purchased the house in 1994 they had looked at close to one hundred houses in Great Neck searching for the right one. Soon after moving in, the Gersmans went to work restoring the handsome oak woodwork inside the house, which had been painted black by a previous owner. They removed carpeting to reveal beautiful oak flooring, which they also restored. They carefully painted the former dining room, which still has the original plate rack surrounding the walls. And the unsteady wrap-around porch received first class treatment when they installed four-foot-deep cement footings to secure it, then removed the railing pieces, stripped off years of paint and wear, and applied a new coat of paint to match the rest of the house.

To help decide what color to paint the exterior of the victorian / queen Anne-style house, they checked many other houses in Sea Cliff and Cape May, New Jersey. The Gersmans chose and rejected numerous choices before selecting a handsome mustard yellow with maroon red and dark green accents. In the process of restoring the house, the Gersmans discovered numbers on the window sill of one of the upstairs bedrooms. This may be an indication that 17 Arrandale was a “Sears Roebuck Kit Home”— a build-it-yourself mail order house.

17 Arrandale Avenue was awarded by the Great Neck Historical Society for their exceptional achievement in restoring this handsome home to its original grandeur. After extensive research and hard work, much of it their own labor, Norman and Gloria Gersman have added decades to the life of this prominent example of Great Neck’s architectural heritage. The house was built in 1912 and is the same size today. Also on this three-quarter-acre property is the original carriage house, which has a basement and a second story mahogany floor.