HomeMy WebLinkAboutSpiral Staircase Letter 2023-12-19 To whom it may concern:
Re: Spiral staircase at two Bell Place
Date: December 19, 2023
The existence of a spiral staircase in the home located at Two Bell Place
in Rye Brook is a mystery. There is no official record that indicates when the
spiral staircase was installed. The first owner of this house was in the boat-
building business. Whether he was able to alter the original plan for homes
built around 1950 in the Rye Hills community or done so subsequently especially
after a fire in 1958 that resulted in a complete renovation of the second level
of this home, is not clear from Town/Village records. One of the main walls on
the first floor of this home is paneled with teak wood that came from a ship. The
spiral staircase also came from a ship. It stand to reason, that since both the
spiral staircase and the teak paneling were installed at the same time and
most likely when the house was being built, the original permit may have
included the spiral staircase.
Although the spiral staircase served as the only way to get to the second floor
for a period of time, once the approved permit to install a new two car garage
and an upstairs bedroom became operational, there no longer was any need for
the spiral staircase. However, the subsequent owner decided that it had a
continuing use as an emergency fire escape ( recall the fire in the 1950s) and also
as a convenient way to display important momentous of his life's achievements
including my hole in-one- golf shot, my background in sports with the New
York Giants/Jets/Columbia and photos of my world travels as a dance host.
Most important is why do I have to account for something that
may have happened 65-70+ years ago before I became the owner of this
property. There were at least two previous owners other than the original
owner before I purchased this home. The approved sale of the home several
times before I became an owner indicates that there was not an issue with the
spiral staircase and there should not be with me at this time.
Ronald Szczypkowski Ed. D.