| Kreischer Mansion | |
| Location: | 4500 Arthur Kill Rd., Staten Island, New York |
| Coordinates: | 40.5325°N -74.2383°W |
| Built: | ca. 1885 |
| Architecture: | American Queen Anne |
| Added: | October 29, 1982 |
| Refnum: | 82001199 |
| Designated Other2 Name: | New York City Landmark |
| Designated Other2 Date: | February 20, 1968 |
| Designated Other2 Abbr: | NYCL |
| Designated Other2 Link: | New York City Landmarks Preservation Commission |
| Designated Other2 Number: | 0391 |
| Designated Other2 Color: |
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Kreischer House, also known as Kreischer Mansion, is a historic home located in Charleston, Staten Island, . Built by German immigrant Balthasar Kreischer about 1885, it is a large, asymmetrically massed -story, wood-frame house in the American Queen Anne style. The rectangular house features spacious verandas, gables with jigsaw bargeboards, decorative railings, posts and brackets, tall chimneys, and a corner tower. It was one of two mansions built by Kreischer for his sons. The surviving house belonged to son Edward Kreischer; the other one had been his brother Charles's. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
Edward was murdered in 1890. He was framing a doctor for killing him, his wife had an affair with the doctor, and Edward found out. The wife was poisoning Edward with the doctors help, but it didn't work. But Edward killed himself, and a little boy found his body in the forest, the weapon has never been found.
On June 8, 1894, Edward B. Kreischer allegedly committed suicide by shooting himself in the right temple near his place of business, although murder is an ongoing theory.[1] Since then, there have been claims that Kreischer has haunted the property.[2] Along with other local stories of the house's violent history, this has given the house a supernatural reputation, leading it to be used as a location on television shows including Boardwalk Empire.
In 1998, the Kreischer Mansion was bought with the intention of restoration and eventual sale by Isaac Yomtovian.[3] In 2008, then caretaker Joseph "Joe Black" Young was revealed to be a hitman for the Bonanno crime family, more specifically serving under Bonanno Soldier Gino Galestro.[4] He was convicted of the murder of rival mob associate Robert McKelvey, committed three years earlier on the property.[4] [5] [6]