{"id":129300,"date":"2025-08-08T14:48:16","date_gmt":"2025-08-08T14:48:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/129300\/"},"modified":"2025-08-08T14:48:16","modified_gmt":"2025-08-08T14:48:16","slug":"in-this-staten-island-time-capsule-of-a-home-models-murals-and-nilla-wafers-meet","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/129300\/","title":{"rendered":"In this Staten Island time capsule of a home, models, murals and Nilla wafers meet"},"content":{"rendered":"

Few New Yorkers may know there\u2019s a 19th-century Italianate villa tucked above the busy commercial strip of Richmond Road in New Dorp, Staten Island.<\/p>\n

The former home of Gustav Mayer, the German-born baker who invented the Nilla wafer, stands just four blocks from the New Dorp train station. With its original pine floors and 120-year-old working icebox, the home serves as a largely untouched reminder of Staten Island\u2019s rural past.<\/p>\n

The Gustav Mayer house is four blocks from the New Dorp train station.<\/p>\n

Ryan Kailath \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n

The front of the house sits atop a crest that slopes down a half acre landscaped garden to busy Richmond Road.<\/p>\n

Ryan Kailath \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n

From Richmond Road, the house appears part-Gothic novel, part-wedding cake. A wide front porch spans the full building, with carved wooden columns and original wavy glass windows look out on a sloping lawn.<\/p>\n

Many of the heirloom plantings date to the 1930s, according to Robert Troiano, the current owner.<\/p>\n

The house’s exterior was landmarked in the 1980s. The back entrance faces a quiet residential street.<\/p>\n

Ryan Kailath \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n

The front porch stretches as wide as the building.<\/p>\n

Ryan Kailath \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n

The home\u2019s original owner David Ryers was a commander in the New York state militia and the last proprietor of the nearby Rose and Crown Tavern, which, according to the Historical Marker Database<\/a>, was occupied by the British during the American Revolution and is the site where Gen. William Howe read the Declaration of Independence to his officers on July 9, 1776.<\/p>\n

In 1855, according to an NYC Landmarks Preservation Commission report<\/a>, Ryers tore down the tavern and built this house in its place, inspired by the landscape architect Andrew Jackson Downing.<\/p>\n

The 2,400-square-foot parlor floor is currently the living quarters, which Troiano updated with a modern renovation.<\/p>\n

Ryan Kailath \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n

Mayer, the German-born confectioner, bought the house in 1889 and moved there in 1890. In the basement, he tinkered with recipes and eventually created what became Nabisco’s Nilla wafer.<\/p>\n

Upstairs, Mayer’s daughters Paula and Emilia turned the house into a personal canvas. Both women lived here into their hundreds, never married, and painted Swiss and Italian landscapes from their travels directly onto the walls.<\/p>\n

Troiano visited Paula Mayer near the end of her life, when a nurse had moved the two daughters to Maryland.<\/p>\n

Paula Mayer painted murals throughout the second and third floors and decorative elements on tilework and cabinets throughout the house.<\/p>\n

Ryan Kailath \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n

Ryan Kailath \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n

Troiano grew up nearby and bought the home in 1990 after noticing it for years.<\/p>\n

\u201cI was a restorationist and woodworker looking for a project,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Troiano spent decades rehabbing the structure from the inside out, rebuilding the rooflines, restoring the 19th-century windows, and preserving Paula Mayer\u2019s murals, he said.<\/p>\n

\u201cEverything is original,\u201d Troiano said. \u201cThe yellow southern pine clapboard is original from 1855. The longleaf southern pine flooring is probably $50 a square foot in salvage yards. I put back any pieces that might\u2019ve been tampered with or missing.\u201d<\/p>\n

Robert Troiano rented the house out for photo shoots for years, but stopped a few years ago. He’s now planning to sell it.<\/p>\n

Ryan Kailath \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n

The third floor has additional bedrooms that serve as photo backdrops.<\/p>\n

Ryan Kailath \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n

Ryan Kailath \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n

The utilities are modern, but you won\u2019t see an outlet unless you know where to look.<\/p>\n

The house is crowned with a square cupola, which was once used for cooling the home in the summer and taking in ocean views. On clear days, it overlooks Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook, New Jersey.<\/p>\n

The cupola atop the house has views of Raritan Bay and Sandy Hook.<\/p>\n

Ryan Kailath \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n

Paula Mayer\u2019s paint still stains an original table<\/p>\n

Ryan Kailath \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n

Over the years, the home became a destination for the fashion and film industries.<\/p>\n

The home’s controlled decay, complete with peeling paint, sun-bleached shutters and patched plaster, attracted photoshoots for magazines including Vogue, Cosmopolitan and Essence.<\/p>\n

Gisele B\u00fcndchen, Mary-Kate Olsen<\/a> and Amber Heard have shot here, Troiano said.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe first shoot was ‘Saturday Night Live’ in 1990, for a skit called \u2018Fuzzy Memories,\u2019\u201d he recalled.<\/p>\n

Paula Mayer\u2019s decorations appear throughout the house.<\/p>\n

Ryan Kailath \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n

Designs for Gustave Mayer\u2019s biscuits.<\/p>\n

Ryan Kailath \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n

Robert Troiano is only the second owner of the home since 1889.<\/p>\n

Ryan Kailath \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n

Troiano stopped renting the space for photo shoots during the pandemic and is now preparing for a move south.<\/p>\n

The home, which has only had two owners since 1889, is now on the market, with an asking price of just under $1.5 million.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe new owner reserves the right to do whatever they want with the house,\u201d Troiano said. \u201cAlthough I might prefer it was maintained historically, it\u2019s not a criteria by any means.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other Cool Places\"The<\/p>\n

The interior of a living room.<\/p>\n

Ryan Kailath \/ Gothamist<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Few New Yorkers may know there\u2019s a 19th-century Italianate villa tucked above the busy commercial strip of Richmond…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":129301,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[648,1032,1033,171,67,132,68],"class_list":{"0":"post-129300","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-arts-and-design","8":"tag-arts","9":"tag-arts-and-design","10":"tag-design","11":"tag-entertainment","12":"tag-united-states","13":"tag-unitedstates","14":"tag-us"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114993699515193961","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129300","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=129300"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/129300\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/129301"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=129300"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=129300"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=129300"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}