STATEN ISLAND, N.Y. – A Vermont-style home, built in 1984 and completed in 1985, sits on a bluff at the foot of Huguenot Avenue.
When owner, William Roger, an engineer and surveyor, saw the Huguenot property it sits on, he told his wife, Marilyn, he had to buy it.
The Westerleigh native purchased two oceanside lots with his brother-in-law in the late 1970s and built his “dream home.”
The property abuts a strip of city land, which Rogers, 87, loves to maintain. He clears a path daily of fallen branches, so his many grandchildren and neighbors can stroll. The call to the ocean runs deep: Bill was a South Beach lifeguard from ages 18-to 25.
Rogers said many times while building this house that he was “having the time of his life.” The cedar exterior gives the house a country feel; the breathtaking view can be enjoyed from all three floors of the vaulted, cathedral interior, and the back deck spans the house and wraps around one side.
The concept for the house came from his family ski trips to Vermont and his love of the architecture that includes a large centered fireplace and beams that are wide, long and strong.
Talking with Bill and his daughter, Beth Muldoon, they told me about so many happy years here. On weekends, many of his 25 grandchildren would take over the property. There were pot luck dinners, barbecues and kegs of beer, laughter and little girl squeals. A few of the family members still live in the large three-story house with Bill and Marylin.
Rogers’ favorite thing about living here is the height of the property. “Hurricane Sandy came close, but not into the house,” he said. A former lifeguard, he loves the view of the water. “It never gets old,” said Muldoon. And her father agrees.
P.S. As we met a few days ago, the Rogers’ were awaiting the birth of their first great-grandchild. Perhaps the newest generation, too, will enjoy the Staten Island waterfront the way generations of Rogers have in the past.