John H. R. Draper Residence

 residence, LIGC - Long Island Gold Coast, NRHP - National Register of Historic Places, historic landmark

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Residence built in the second quarter of the nineteenth century, most likely for a member of the Velsor family around 1840. In 1840, John Velsor conveyed six acres at the head of Northport Harbor to Nelson Velsor, presumably his son who was the captain of a coaster, a ship that transported cargo up and down the coast. In 1880, their daughter Florence Velsor married John Henry R. Draper, who had come to the United States from England as a child. Draper worked in the wholesale hat industry. After Harriet Velzer died in 1903, the Drapers used the Centerport house as a summer home.

By 1981, the property was owned by attorney Susan O’Grady who proposed converting the two historic houses into offices and building luxury townhouses on the property between the houses and Northport Harbor. The office conversion did not take place, but a condominium complex known as Bull Calf Landing was built. The elegant home is listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985 as the most distinctive example of vernacular Greek Revival style architecture in the Town of Huntington.