Tuesday, July 8, 2025
A renewed effort to document the historic architecture and neighborhoods of Rockville Centre’s South Side is gaining momentum — not just to honor the village’s past, but also to guide its future. Led by the Rockville Centre Historical Society, the initiative aims to expand the village’s historic resources survey and explore new ways to recognize and preserve the character of its homes, commercial buildings and community spaces.
Residents have expressed concerns over the past few years about the loss of local historical buildings, including a 19th-century home at 220 Hempstead Ave. that was demolished in 2021 and a Civil War-era house at 24 S. Park Ave. that was knocked down in May. The historical society expressed its regret for not being able to save those structures, but at a community forum on June 12, members Matt Cliszis and Jennifer Santos outlined just how much goes into historical preservation and what the organization plans to do going forward.
The pair detailed how properties can gain recognition through the national and New York state registers of historic places, the Town of Hempstead Landmark Commission or a local landmark ordinance, each offering different levels of protection and incentives for preservation.
The most immediate and potentially impactful opportunity is through the state and national registers, particularly for properties in specific census tracts. While these designations are honorary, they unlock powerful tax incentives.
“If you are one, an income-producing property, which is anything in our commercial district, or two, you are (in) a residential district,” Cliszis explained, “you are eligible for both a 20 percent tax credit on your federal income tax and a 20 percent credit on your state income tax. Because of this, the state incentive of this is really to encourage areas that are underdeveloped or financially not in a great position to preserve buildings, and it gives the financial incentives to allow people to do that.”
The incentives apply to both income-producing properties, like downtown commercial buildings, and owner-occupied residences in designated census tract areas, Cliszis said. Much of the village, he noted, is in the census tract.
“It’s essentially almost the entire village south of Lakeview Avenue,” he said.
Even more notable is the fact that the state credit is refundable. “If you owe New York state $5,000 and you have a $20,000 tax credit for this $100,000 siding project that you’re doing, they will send you a check for $15,000,” Cliszis said. “So you actually can get money directly from the state of New York to encourage folks to do this.”
To receive the credits, property owners must follow a process beginning with pre-approval from the State Historic Preservation Office. They must also comply with national standards for preservation, which can be found on the National Park Service website.
The southern part of the village was not included in the original village survey and research from 2018 to 2020, which extended from north of Lakeview Avenue to the southern border of Hempstead, and from Peninsula Boulevard on the west to the Baldwin border to the east. A total of 824 houses were documented, with each property receiving a basic architectural description and a current photograph.
In-depth historical research was conducted on 100 homes that were either well-preserved examples of particular architectural styles, had notable historical significance or stood out as unique representations of their style. The earlier work helped define local historic districts that now qualify for designation.
The historical society is now raising funds to complete the survey of the South Side, which Cliszis and Santos said is a $20,000 effort to document over 1,000 buildings. Other ideas include offering commemorative plaques for homes recognized as historic.
“The south part of the village would be south of Lakeview Avenue — it would include our downtown,” Santos said. “And just south of Merrick has a tremendous amount of … what I would imagine would be historic resources, a lot of large homes that are very architecturally distinct.”
Residents are encouraged to research their properties and consider nominating their homes for designation as historic.
“The board is actively looking into different ways to go about it,” village Trustee Katie Conlon said, “but we need the community involvement and the community to be informed (and) to make their opinions heard and known.”
To learn more, visit the historical society’s website, RVCHS.org.
