Right. Just landmarked. And if I couldnt take care of them, Id call down to the base and theyd send a helicopter and theyd pick them up and take them down to the hospital, because we had to take care of them, because Alaska was ours, and all the Eskimos was our responsibility. [laughs]. And how people went along with them, I dont know either. I put the post on it up under the floor where the newer posts in the staircase was upstairs, and then, when I took the jack away, it sat on the post. And then, it wasI guess that was in the spring, then later on, I dont know what I was doing. And she said, George, do you know who this is? and with her big Southern accent. And the post is still there and the staircase is still in good shapebut thats still in the house, now, down there. And he said, Mom, Ill move in to the other part of the house. This old? February 26, 2023 (70 years old) View obituary. By Carol Ann Benanti | benanti@siadvance.com STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. -- It's designated one of Staten Island's signature society events of the year, a. It was unbelievably gorgeous. But when I die, they say theyre going to make a museum out of it. Im getting rid of everything. He said, I have three of the most beautiful Persian carpets from Persia, said, You cant get them anymore. He said, Theyre antiques but they are brand new, never used. He said, Im giving them to you. And this is them. She was a nasty old lady! But that was funny. And on top of that, I still worked for Sherwin Williams. I was born right in the hospital across the street, and grew up 90% of my time on Staten Island until I became old enough and I joined the military. All the way to the Great Kills Harbor. Theres a ghost in there. And I said, Well, I dont believe in ghosts. And I miss all those horses. Theyd work out, and theyd be waiters, or this and that. Burke: Its never finished! Burke: Im glad I did. And in the back of the house, its still there, is aChrist, it must be half the size of this roomis a huge, huge lilac bush. Q: When you were youngwhen you were a kid. And she said, George, you have so much with design and such, I want you to take over the wallpaper department and the fabric department. I did fantastic for the store. Frank was born in Brooklyn, NY June 26, 1943. And he was the one that took me around and showed me where to get the good fabric. Special thanks to The Peggy N and Roger G Gerry Charitable Trust for their support to complete this initiative. But you do have Chris thats upstairs that lives in the servants quarters. It would have been spectacular but greed set in, and thats what they did. Interviewing George Burke, and. See Photos. Help NYPAP document and celebrate NYCs preservation movement. Daller: Well, you got involved with Burkes Landing with Scalia. Yes. Q: Yes. Unbelievable. So I run downstairs. So Walter was re-stationed to Fort Lauderdale in Florida. As a young adult, he joined the U.S. Air Force and served in the medical department, spending time in locations across Europe and Alaska. Well, I was born on Staten Island. Im going to retire, Im going to go down to that big old house, restore it, fix it all up, move in it, and enjoy it. I had a bulldozer two weeks, riding back-and-forth, and back-and-forth, and back-and-forth across the front of the house because you couldnt see the house from the water. I fixed it up. But what she did is she sold off parcel after parcel in order for her to live here in the house because she had no income. She was a very good friend of mine, a really pretty lady. Burke: Of course, Id been in Alaska for all that time. And finally, we met with John Krawchuk, when he became in office. But I forgot what the other two things were. Yes. Was her name Mackey? After Burke returned to Staten Island, he purchased and restored two houses and an old restaurant and bar before he was contacted by Bess Seguine in 1981, who had inherited the then-deteriorated Seguine Mansion. That house, it was a big French mansard, big Victorian. Theres one here, theres one there, and theres one in the other room. Loving son of Joan (Perry) Burke of Plymouth and the late George W. Burke. No, its not something were talking about right now. Burke: Yes. And if you can capture and keep something that looks like this, then this is a big plus for the area. Daller: But he has albums upstairs, photos. But that was a condo. You know, nobody wanted to end it but nobody wanted to, say, Lets do it. I dont know what it is. They were all womens stuff. And its more expensive to keep her horses there than it was here. Thats how I got to know Adriana Scalamandr and the Scalamandrs. I loved Alaska. Burke: Oh, well, look what I did. And my father died, and we were all very young. Burke: Well, the house, actually, from the outside, is aoh, shitthe name of it went right out of my head. So we brought that point up a few times. And I just got a call from all my lady friends saying that my house is falling apart. Because look how long the war went, and England had nothing. And so people saidthey took all the horses and they moved to New Jersey. I mean, as a kid going down here crabbing, down on the beach, we used to look back at the house all the time. Stole all that carved stuff, stole all that stuff, that whole box of stuff. Burke: To put it backbecause the house was ruined, it was in terrible shape. Q: You mentioned that the South Shore has changed in the last few years. And with that money, I restored most of the house. Q: Your collection of the items that you bought from Mrs. Murphy. And they said he had the box, and took it with them. Was very little time on here. If you were at the water looking up here, you couldnt see the house. My big old Victorian house is saved, and thats still there. It was like a mansion youve never seen. You know, he just passed away. He says, Hes my good friend, and so on, We live on Staten Island. And I got to know a tremendous amount of people that way. This was all field, all the way up, and she used to turn the horses loose on all the fields out there. Staten Island, New York. George Burke was born on Staten Island and grew up in Annandale before moving to Florida with his family. Q: And you said that you restored the garden there too? And I often wondered what happened to that brooch because I gave it to Bess. Im only a salesman in a department store. I said, and its going to take a lot of money to put that house back together. She said, Well, Im going to help you all I can. And I said, But why would I fix a house I didnt own? And she said, Well, why dont we talk about that. She said, If youre interested in buying it, I will make the arrangements that you can own it. Burke: Oh, God, I stood on the edge here and I watched what was going on over there. The Secret Service, as well as a Cohasset school accounting specialist and the superintendent, are determining how much the operation cost the town. The ceilings had fallen down because a lot of the drain pipes had leaked. It has to stay exactly as an old plantation house. I know everything, what to do. Its Greek Revival. You made enough money. And no ones going to be able to talk about it, and point things out, and say where it came from, or whats the history behind it. So I come home dead tired. What were the things that you did when you were young? Q: So well have audio recording and a transcript for researchersand Ill remove those names that you mentioned, Linda. I bought another restaurant, didnt I? Daller: Yes. Daller: Mm-hmm. So I had people come in and wanted to buy the Tidewater Inn. [laughs]. Theyre very few. Well, he didnt want the bull with the little girl. I moved in the house, and I would come in the house, and right in the front hallway, you could always smell lilacs. It doesnt happen on the North Shore because were very condensed and its a dense population. Burke: Oh, well, when I was inI guess I was in England. Daller: What about the coat? You werent on Staten Island. You could imagine what the mansion looked like. Its just a shame. Thats what I was. Destroyed. Would you? Its unreal! And I took John in as a partner, but I owned the Old Bermuda Inn and the two buildings. That was the mansion. Lookit, I saved the police station and the two buildings next to the police station. Yes, and I had bought the house, but I couldnt have the house and move in until she died. And from the garden, you could come back in under the porch and down into the kitchen in the basement. But, Q: Let me ask you some more about the items that you collected when you were. Most of them were like china and vases, such like that. Email or phone: Password: . Skip to main content (800) 896-5587. And I was the assistant to the general who was the surgeon for the European Command. Of course, I went to school here. Where all the servants lived. Theyre getting rid of everything! She had to move them to New Jersey. Daller: Well, he hopes that Historic House Trust and the Parks Department work hand in hand and maintaining itthat theyll maintain it as a museum. John T Burke passed away on April 22, 2015 in Whiting, NJ and is under the care of. Burke: Yes, but just think of that gorgeous, bigthe mansion that this was their farmhouse, up the street here, that was gorgeous. The kitchen was never in the basement. Burke: Hawaii. Its a big plaque on it, its landmarked and everything. The stables, everything has to remain the same. Q: And you feel that thats at risk because of the development thats happening now. That was gorgeous. So a lot of the things that you acquired to furnish the house were in poor condition, and then you have them reupholstered and restored. But the picture in the locket was all crumbled up. He did the White House and everything. And I said, Well, the smell is still there. And I said to her, Whatever happened to the old girl? And she said, Well, years ago, when she died, she said, she was laid out in the front parlor in the coffin, and it was nothing but lilacs. Burke: I think, what was left of it, the sons moved to California and they opened up a Scalamandr in California. How the hell they got to the right people, I dont know. Would you sell me the acres in the front? Daller: Well, yes. The Seguine Mansion, also known as The Seguine-Burke Mansion, is located on Lemon Creek near the southern shore of Staten Island. Did you know that from? So my mother decided she would make it into a two-family, and rent out one part of it. Daller: But it was the thing with the lilacs smell. Daller: He did the sofa upstairs as well. Put through the years, people recognized it and everything. Burke: Well, if she left them there, she had to come back as a ghost and tell me that they were there! The oldwhat the hell was itgrocery store. Or next to the chair where she was sitting. So I gave it to them. I mean, how did you decide what to purchase, what to collect? Thats ittheres no more of them. And then I shipped it all back home. So there wasnt a lot of time spent here. Lets move out, youre being kicked out anyway, the house is sold. Soon, nobody had room in their house to store anymore of my stuff. I saved it years and years ago. She said, Now you can save it., And I said, Well, I can save it. Most recent obituaries in New York. Thanks very much to you. He was an antiquehe had a big rug business in. Burke: the Historic House people did give me a big bronze plaque to put on the front of it. And it didnt take long to sell because it was a big piece of property, nice house. Burke: Yes. Burke: Oh, what I want to do isover that fireplace, I want to take that painting downand bring my painting and put it over that fireplace. Theyll take care of it and be able to show tours. But, God, that was almost 100 years ago, you know? Daller: Yes. So everything just kept going off and someone would have all of this, someone would have all of that. And she was laying like this. First thing I started with was the basement because it had four-foot of water in it. And my uncle came in and was part of the whole group. That was a bigits still there. But it doesnt work that way. He introduced me all the time tobecause look at look at what he was. And getting an American Dollar from being in the service, getting my payeven though it wasnt that muchbut at that time, over there, it was worth a fortune. And I hope whoever is in charge of itLinda will probably be here in charge! Daller: You know, people dont understand them. Now theyre worth a couple hundred-dollars apiece. And that way, it wouldnt burn the houses down. Burke: All that stuff from England? And they repaired all these taxis, repainted them, and then sold them all to Cuba. So what I did, I decided, well, Id go inand we had where you could buy all your liquor and such in the post exchange. So, unfortunately, there arent many people that care that way anymore. I was living in London, and I was studying the history of art and design, or something like that, in the University of London, and he was going and he was studying art. And I always used to say, Wonder who lives there! and so forth and so on. I had the house put back together. Q: [Laughs] Yes. Up until a year ago, he was still cutting the lawn! Mon-Fri, 7am-6pm MDT . My sister, Frances, got me a nice little apartment in the Bronx, right next to her. And I lived there for quite a few years. The one owned by the steel companywas that a beautiful house! One day, he was gone. Burke: Well, when it came to really heavy construction, like this whole wall being rebuilt and things, I had to hire carpenters and I had to hire plasters to plaster the ceiling. Like this chair that youre sitting in, these are Chippendale chairs in the Chinese style. Like our page to stay informed about passing of a loved one in Staten Island, New York on facebook. And my brother Bill and my brother Ed decided to go into an automobile repair shop. 6389 Amboy Road. Ill do that. So that was over in Port Richmondits still there, I understand, the store. They just went and just vandalized it to hell until there was nothing but a shell left. I remember you always loved it and liked it. Burke: Yes, I paid off this house. You buy me out. And he bought me out. So, I would saywhat was it?the spring, and in the back of the house was the entrance to the cellar with the double doors, where you walked down the stairs, and it was all brick, and it had the doors. I think I got the two of them for five bucks or something like that. And what they did is they bought a whole fleet of old taxis. And they would give me all kinds of beautiful little carved objects and things that would be carved out of the whales teeth or. Isnt that a huge house theyre building, you told me? Matthew Funeral Home Inc 2508 Victory Blvd, Staten Island, NY (718) 761-5544 Send flowers. And I looked back, you could hardly see the house. Viewing times and guestbooks can be found here . I mean, we had clocks, baby-Ben clocks, hanging in apartments. I found three things like that. And then when I went looking for myhis name was Joinerand everybody was saying, Well, Sergeant Joiner is leaving, Sergeant Joiner is leaving. And I never thought much of it. Well, what are we talking about? I could make another funeral parlor out of that. And I said, No, lets not make a funeral parlor. And I said, well, Im going to retire. But they did a lot for me. And I wanted these little chairs tufted but he had passed away before he could get around to tuft. Its a plus for the borough too. And I had this goddamn old sergeant who was going back also, but he was getting out of the service, and he was being discharged. Thank you so much. And he said, George, you know, that big, beautiful house that sits empty? And over the years, it became just prohibitive to try and do. They cant do anything. And there was a whole other floor, another story, and its built with the French style, in the French mansard. So I moved into the house here. Burke: Well, I hope it gets maintained. Oh, thats right. View the profiles of people named George Burke. Burke: I dont find any difference living here. I didnt know they were lilacs, but I could smell something pretty. No, it wasnt that. And they were good investments. Frank Tredici Jr., age 79, of Staten Island, New York, passed away on Monday, February 20th, 2023. And that makes more sense to people when they see something. GEORGE CROAKE OBITUARY. I was born on Oct. 11, 1930, one of nine siblings, to an. So thats how that all came about. If we can reach an agreement with Historic House Trust, by all means. So I got this on the front porch somewhere, nailed to the house, butdoesnt matter. Yes, by the time I got to do all that I had no money left. But thats part of whats been going on down here. And I said, What in the hell is this doing in my house? So I opened up the lid and there was this old lady laying in there, with this big lace collar around her neck, and her hair was puffed up behind her head, like that, was all gray. Burke: Of course, I come from a big house. The whole family kind ofand the ladies got too old, and they decided they were going to move and go live inI think Georgia or Virginia, I forgot. Its been so long now. Burke: Yes, I had to go down in the basement, and put a post, and then I had to jack up the stairs. I mean, look, theyve been trying to get rid of the carriage horses in the city, for how long now? So I made sure it was filled in with dirt the rest of the way, so I wouldnt have that water getting in the basement. Q: Okay, all of that. I forgot whose house it was. So it took a fortune, but I had it, all that money, to restore the house. So she was always, Come on, George. They bought a house. So she said, Bess said, Were going to have to quit, George. I said Oh, shit. Or is there a way for things to be changed? And I know everythingId love to go out to Staten Island. So he said, Good. He was in the Air Force. And Ill see to it that, financially, things work out for the two of us. It was piled up in their basement. Dont remember what happened to it, right? So tell me about when you went to Europe. I mean, I couldnt do stuff like that all the other stuff I could do. Burke: Oh, my nephew. So whenever the big surgeons traveled, I always traveled with themtraveled all over Europe. Mrs. Mackey. Burke: I had a beautiful big old house in Tottenville that I loved. She said, George, when she died, she was laid out in the coffin, right in that room, in front of those two windows. Q: And so all these items went upwalked up the stairs and were, carried back down the stairs. And it was very much built like this house. But before we know it, there wont be a thing left in the house. When I bought it, I didnt know what was that ones house. But anyway, she said, Im not going in the house. I said, Gee, look at these chairs. And they said, Yes, look at them. And, then I gotwhod I get from the city? Burke: I knew that. He worked by himself. You just named them. And the porch, I dont thinkone end of it, you wouldnt dare walk on because the whole thing would have collapsed. Because Mrs. Seguine was holding the. He said he believes that whoever was in that other house, really didnt want people there. Daller: Well, he said, he felt that house had spirits in it. 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