Building of the Week: Mahlstedt Lumber and Coal, New Rochelle
Built in 1920 at 415 Huguenot Avenue, New Rochelle.
City Historian Barbara Davis says that when commercial buildings were constructed in the late part of the 1800s and early 1900s, no expense was spared.
“This was certainly the case when the owner of the J. A. Mahltstedt Lumber and Coal Company (incorporated 1895) erected a handsome Neo-Classical Revival style building for his thriving enterprise’s offices. The limestone two-story structure was prominently sited just opposite the Soldier’s Monument at the west junction of Huguenot and Main Streets.”
The lumber yards were located directly behind the building. The Mahlstedt family had deep roots in the community including running the ice manufacturing business on the lake that is now the Twin Lakes in front of New Rochelle High School. The pink family home on the lake is now the Huguenot branch (the Childrens Library) of the Public Library.
Mahlstedt Ice House where the High School lakes are now, c. 1920.
New Rochelle High School, opened in 1926, originally called Woodrow Wilson High School
The Mahlstedt businesses closed following The Depression. The building served as a temporary site of the Post Office, offices for the New Rochelle Water Company, and the Landis Hardware Store. At some point the upper part of the facade was covered with an aluminum cap, hiding the lettering.
Those letters again appear. After purchasing the property in 2008, the current owner invested money and in expertise to restore it.
I included the photo with the UPS truck because it shows how far the building now tilts to the right. (Correction: the building’s owner says it is the street, not the building, which is uneven.)
Black and white images courtesy New Rochelle Public Library Local History Collection
Category: Building of the Week, Home and Garden, New Rochelle, Real Estate, The Way We Were
