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Fire Damages Landmarked Staten Island Home, Officials Say

By Nicholas Rizzi | July 7, 2015 2:00pm
 The landmarked John King Vanderbilt House, 1197 Clove Rd., caught fire early Tuesday, the FDNY said.
1197 Clove Rd.
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SUNNYSIDE — A landmarked 180-year-old Staten Island home caught fire early Tuesday morning, officials said.

The vacant John King Vanderbilt House, at 1197 Clove Rd., caught fire at approximately 1:13 a.m., the FDNY said. The rear of the 2-story frame house was ravaged by flames which took nearly an hour to get under control, the FDNY said.

The home was built in 1836 and Vanderbilt, a cousin of railroad tycoon Cornelius Vanderbilt, lived there until his death in 1908, according to the Landmark Preservation Committee.

It was built at a time when Staten Island was changing from a rural farming community to a more populated, suburban area and the house stands as one of the last remnants of that period of construction, according to the LPC. It was made a landmark in 1987.

Fire officials were still investigating the cause of the blaze, a spokesman for the FDNY said.