Sands Point home with a storied past balances modern charm, historic significance
There were once trees growing up from the basement and through the living room of this historic cottage in Sands Point.
The house was a shell of what it used to be.
Once owned by a noted orator and longtime member of Congress, it was left vacant in 1970. A century after it was first built, the home earned a second life in the '90s.
Joe Monahan is the current owner. As a historian, he is dedicated to keeping the home’s past alive. But the property came a long way before he moved in.
In 1887, William Bourke Cockran purchased 300 acres in Sands Point, according to the Cow Neck Peninsula Historical Society of Port Washington. The area is now referred to as Harbor Acres and is made up of residential homes, including the Cockran Gatehouse, where Monahan lives.
A historical postcard is seen during a tour of Joseph Monahan's historic cottage in Sands Point on July 5. Credit: Corey Sipkin
A historic landmark plaque sits on the mantle in the historic cottage in Sands Point. Credit: Corey Sipkin
Cockran was elected to seven terms in Congress, serving in the late 19th and early 20th century. Monahan, who is a professor of finance at Georgian Court University in New Jersey, learned that Cockran hosted Winston Churchill and President Theodore Roosevelt in Sands Point, according to the Cow Neck historical society findings.
“I think what makes it unique is the history of who went through the gates,” said Monahan, 75.
The house is enclosed by iron gates, hence its name, with a lion gargoyle peering over the top. In addition to its links to notable guests, the property has retained much of its historical details.
“As a historian from my college degrees, I was intrigued when I first went inside,” Monahan said, “because it’s so modern-day.”
That’s because the home underwent a full renovation. After Cockran died, the property was purchased by Vincent Astor in 1927, per historical society records. But by 1970, the house was left vacant and the property became heavily overgrown.
“There were trees literally growing in the equivalent of the living room … from the basement, which was a dirt floor,” said Monahan, who has photos from this period of time. “The lower area had been vandalized, and the upper area was burnt out from various fires.”
In 1991, Dave Mahler purchased the home. Back when he was a teenager working at a motorcycle shop in Port Washington, he became very familiar with the abandoned house. "Every time I passed it, I wondered why somebody didn't do something with it," said Mahler, 75.
Decades later, Mahler became friendly with the owner of the property, and bought the house in hopes of restoring it to its former glory. The village and its historical society allowed him to take on the project, under one condition, he said.
"The deal was that I could restore it, but not expand on it," said Mahler, who now lives in Glen Head.
But there was a lot to do — more than Mahler had realized. "The house was built when heat was from a fireplace and water was from a well," he said.
Don Alberto was the architect on the project, and has been restoring historic buildings for 38 years. After about a year of rebuilding the foundation and updating the water, electricity and septic systems, the project was complete. And there are still nods to the house's history throughout the property: The grand fireplace in the living room was restored, with its original stone still intact. The original well sits right outside the front door. In the 1800s, carriages would stop at the house so the horses could drink there, with the beach is a quarter of a mile down the road, Monahan said.
The original well sits outside the house during a tour of Joseph Monahan's historic cottage in Sands Point on July 5. Credit: Corey Sipkin
After remarrying and starting a family, Mahler sold the house to Monahan, since "one bedroom wasn't gonna hack it," Mahler said. But in the 2000s, Monahan got village approvals and added a connecting house on the other side, making it a three-bedroom, two-bathroom property. Alberto was hired again for the job.
When looking at the house, one side is made of cedar and stone, while the other is more modern, but just as rustic. Monahan appreciates this about his home — full of contradiction, but bursting with historical significance.
“The thing that drew me to it was the fact that when you buy historic homes, you have to deal with the consequences of renovation,” he said. “But this was modern and I loved it. On the outside it looks like 1895, and inside it was 1995.”
Rachel Weiss joined Newsday in 2016. As a real estate/living multimedia reporter, Rachel writes feature stories and contributes to and appears in on-camera video packages. She was the lead reporter on Newsday’s LI Acts of Kindness series.
