Kellogg House

Turning a new leaf on a turn of the century home

After returning from the Civil War, military veteran George Sumner Kellogg needed a permanent place to lay his head peacefully. He sought land near Queens County, and landed on the promising Baldwin area.

He aimed to build a grand Queen Annestyle house at 960 Merrick Road. At that time, Merrick Road was the only road running between Long Island and Brooklyn. Wood planking for horse-drawn carts was introduced later in the 1860s.

Kellogg enlisted the help from a young upand-coming Queens architect Walter Halliday for the extensive and ornate project. Between 1899 and 1901, they designed and labored to bring ideas to life during Baldwin’s first residential building boom.

The building's irregular form, unique window placement, stained-glass windows, wraparound porch, and mixture of decorative wood building materials from the time period are the only visual aids of the turn of the century Merrick Road grand homes visible today.

Over the years, many grand houses on larger lots were razed and replaced by subdivisions or commercial properties. Others have been altered or demolished to make room for more contemporary development.

However, prevailing over all the odds more than 100 years later, the Kellogg House was placed on the National Registry of Historic Places in 2017, becoming Baldwin’s first historic site — and the ninth in the Town of Hempstead at that time. There are now 35. Although not currently open to the public, passersby can glimpse into the past while walking along Merrick Road.

Placement on the national registry saved the Kellogg House from becoming a victim of progress. It was slated to be demolished

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Tim Baker/Herald photos Top: The Kellogg house was completed by Civil War veteran George Sumner Kellogg in 1901, and has been a part of Baldwin ever since.

Continued from page 16 then replaced with the Nassau County Police Department’s 1st Police Precinct building. The precinct is now next to the house in Baldwin, sharing the parking lot.

Recognized as a historic place gave a second life to the house as grants can — and have been — obtained for its preservation. Although the process of restoring the centuryold home was delayed due to Covid-19, the Baldwin Historical Society is reinvigorated to delicately restore a tangible piece of Baldwin’s history.

Their dream and vision would be to turn the home into a community center, where Baldwinites could gather for myriad events. Breathing new life into the home has been a labor of love for quite a while, but with the pandemic loosening its grip, now could be the chance Kellogg’s house becomes reborn as vibrant and charming as it once was.

— Karina Kovac

Top: Restoration efforts at the Kellogg House continue. Bottom: With an irregular form, wraparound porch, and stained glass windows, the Kellogg House would have been a very comfortable house to live in.

Top: The Kellogg House sits at the intersection of Harrison Ave. and Merrick Road, where it's been for over 100 years. Bottom: Civil War veteran George Sumner Kellogg oncewalked the rooms of this house.