The Kreischer Mansion at at 4500 Arthur Kill Road in Tottenville is one of Staten Island’s landmarks — a 140-year-old Victorian with a history of murder and reported ghosts, which in recent years has been used as a haunted house in the weeks leading up to Halloween.
Kreischer to Become Wedding Event Location
Not any longer starting in 2025. New owners Eric Bischoff and Julia Mackie are scheduled to renovate the mansion to turn it into a marquee wedding and events location.
This is not the first time someone has had grand plans for the Kreischer Mansion — the house and its 4.8-acre plot of land were supposed to be turned into a 200-building retirement community in the early 2000’s, but the plan never reached fruition. Bischoff and his fiance Mackie know what they’re doing — Bischoff runs a successful DJ business on the island and owns several other event locations on Staten Island and New Jersey, including a landmarked building on Main Street in Tottenville.
But they will be up against it — “We are at the mercy of the Landmark Preservation Committee,” said Bischoff in a March, 2024 interview in the Staten Island Advance, “because not only is the Kreischer Mansion a New York City landmark, it is on the National Register of Historic Places too. But we are prepared to work with all of the historical societies and take all of the necessary steps to make sure this is done right.”
Kreischer Mansion History
The Kreischer Mansion was 1 of 2 identical mansions built in 1885 by wealthy brick manufacturer Balthasar Kreischer for his sons, Edward and Charles.
1. Kreischer’s Brick Factory & Kreischerville
Balthasar Kreischer was born in Bavaria, Germany and became an expert at brick laying. Long story short, he emigrated to the US, and established a brick-making factory on the grounds of the Mansion in 1854 to make firebricks.
A firebrick is a brick made from fire-clay. It is capable of resisting extremely high temperatures, and is therefore used in construction of chimneys, fireplaces, ovens and furnaces.
In 1854, when clay mining was discovered on the Island, Kreischer seized the opportunity and bought up land surrounding the area where the clay pits were situated. He built a factory to produce fire-bricks, and houses for his employees, so they could live near the factory.
The factory produced 20,000 firebricks a day. Other items made at the plant included roofing tiles, gas retorts, ornamental moldings, garden urns and figures.
The business and its workers thrived — and the area was renamed to Kreischerville. It was a story straight out of the Hollywood movies like “It’s a Wonderful Life.”
There was a fire in 1877 that destroyed the factory, but was rebuilt, and good times continued.
2. Kreischer Built Dual Mansions for His Sons
Nearing retirement, Balthasar Kreischer built dual mansions with his sons in mind.
The mansions were styled in Late-Victorian, Queen-Anne style, featuring verandas, gables with jigsaw bargeboards, decorative railings, tall chimneys and a corner tower. They were built side-by-side on the top of the hill overlooking a neighborhood that was then called Kreischerville. The neighborhood had its own US Postal Code.
His son Charles lived in the house on the left (above) and his son Edward lived in the house on the right. They married sisters, lived side-by-side, and worked at the family brick factory.
Balthasar Kreischer passed away naturally the year after the mansions were completed — in 1886.
3. Edward Kreischer Killed Himself or Was Murdered?
On June 8th, 1894, Edward committed suicide by shooting himself in the temple at the Brick factory, reportedly due to trouble he was having with employees. A current writing on Wikipedia says something different — that Edward was murdered because “his wife had an affair with a doctor,” and “was poisoning Edward with the doctors help, but it didn’t work.” Edward found out and “killed himself. A little boy found his body in the forest; the weapon has never been found.”
Legend has it that Edward and his weeping, distraught wife are among the ghosts that people claim to have heard at the mansion — even though Edward lived in the mansion on the right, which burned down in 1930 and is not the current Kreischer Mansion.
4. Factory Closes in 1906
Demand for firebricks dropped drastically in the 1890’s due to a building slump, and the factory was sold into foreclosure in 1899 and then permanently closed in 1906.
5. Kreischerville Renamed Charleston in World War I
Kreischerville was renamed Charleston during World War I, when anything German named became taboo.
6. Brick Factory Closed in 1927
7. Kreischer Bricks Can Still Be Found
You can still find the Kreischer Bricks today on the shores of the Kill Van Kull near where the factory used to be. Here is our coverage of that:
8. Kreischer Mansion Was Victorian Restaurant in the 1990’s
The Mansion was landmarked in 1968, and was briefly used as a Victorian restaurant for a while, until that closed in 1997.
9. Plans for the Return of Kreischerville… Not
In 1999, Isaac Yomtovian, a developer who has built over 200 custom homes and townhouses on Staten Island, purchased the 5-acre estate for $1.4 million. His plan was to create a 55+ Senior community by constructing 130 condos on the site, which he received approval for in August 2006. His plan was to preserve the mansion as a place for seniors to socialize.
10. Bonanno Mob Killing at the Mansion
But a funny thing happened. In 2005, the man Yomtovian employed as a caretaker at the empty mansion — Joseph (Joe Black) Young — was reportedly paid $8,000 to kill Bonanno associate and Midland Beach resident Robert McKelvey.
Prosecutors allege that:
- Young lured McKelvey to the Kreischer Mansion where he attempted to strangle him.
- McKelvey broke free and tried to run off, but Young ran after him, tackled him to the ground and stabbed him repeatedly with a knife.
- For good measure, Young dragged McKelvey to a nearby pond and drowned him.
- Young and 3 other mobsters used hacksaws to chop McKelvey’s body to pieces, then burned those pieces in the mansion’s furnace.
All of that didn’t come out until 2008, after Yomtovian had received approval to build 130 condos. But then of course the great real estate bust of 2009 happened, presumably ruining Yomtovian’s plans.
11. Recording Studio at the Mansion
Since then, the Mansion had been minimally used for other business — including a recording studio. It has been used as a filming location for several tv shows including Boardwalk Empire.
Yomtovian put the property up for sale for $7.4 million in 2021.
12. Halloween Scary Nights
That’s where Eric Bischoff and Julia Mackie come in again — purchasing the property with plans to renovate the mansion as a Wedding and events center. In the interim, the house has been used for arts and social events (there is an event schedule on the Mansion’s Facebook page), including Halloween scary nights. They have even put up a sign to bring back the Kreischerville name.
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