Part 1: Huntington’s Very Own Levitt Houses: Strathmore at Huntington

When we think of Bill and his real estate company Levitt & Sons, we have all the usual images—GIs returning from war, Levittown, and the suburbanization of America.  But Dix Hills is home to its very own set of Levitt houses, the eighteenth Levitt development on Long Island, called Strathmore at Huntington, where they built 560 homes on 677 acres, with 50 acres being set aside for parkland and 12 acres for school use just off the Long Island Expressway. 

The August 10, 1967 Long-Islander announced that Levitt & Sons planned to build 56 homes in the new Dix Hills development and “The first three subdivision plats… [showed] 132 homes on the sections 2 and 3; sec. 1 is a 49.897-acre park tract.”  The article goes on to explain that the homes would be in the $40,000 price range, with four model houses include three colonial versions and one ranch version. 

According to the August 27, 1967 New York Times, “The 22-by-20-foot master bedroom is situated on its own level for privacy, and has its own bath and walk-in closet.  The model also has a 22-foot living room; a 13-foot dining room and a wood-paneled family room.  The garage is below ground level.”  The model homes were scheduled for opening on August 25, 1967.

 A week after their opening, the Long-Islander ran an advertisement on August 31, 1967 for Strathmore at Huntington.  The advertisement described the homes as “The most luxurious homes in the history of Levitt and Sons… Every home in this impressive group is of notable size and beauty, set back from curving roads on at least three-quarters of an acre.  Every home is centrally air-conditioned and fully appliance equipped by General Electric… even the fabulous new GE self-cleaning oven is included! Every home has a handsome log-burning fireplace, and a two-car side entry garage.  Careful attention to interior detail is reflected in the rich wood paneling, the sliding window walls, the hand-cut wood kitchen cabinets, and the glamorous bathrooms.”  Pictures of all four models were included, as well as a description of "country club" living, as the residents would own their own swim and racquet club.

Unfortunately, things did not run smoothly for residents who purchased in Strathmore, and by March 27, 1969 the Long-Islander was reporting that the Town of Huntington was “Withholding building permits and certificates of occupancy until the heating problems of local homeowners are ironed out in the Strathmore in Dix Hills development….” 

The complaints had been brought to the town board at their meeting the week before.  The town required the Levitt crews to “Rebalance all systems; add additional registers where needed; check insulation installments; recaulk where needed; check all current transit lateral supply lines, clean and vacuum; and improve cutout in feed lines.”  The article also mentioned the charge by the Home Owners Association against LILCO for intentionally low-balling the estimates for gas heat, with the actual costs running 15 to 50 percent higher than the estimate.

The following week, on April 3, 1969, the Long-Islander reported that the Huntington Town Council was checking into charges that LILCO was overcharging its customers in several Dix Hills developments, including Strathmore. 

The situation was made worse on April 14, 1969 when a fire broke out at 1:07 a.m. in one of the Strathmore homes, located at 3 Roundwood Road.  The homeowner noticed the flames in the furnace area, and using a nearby hose, attempted to put the flames out.  The Dix Hills Fire Department showed up within minutes, and was able to put the fire out, though they noted that if it had raged for just two minutes longer, the house would have been a complete loss. 

When they arrived, “The heating room was engulfed in flames and had burned through the ceiling to the attic.”  According to the April 17, 1969 Long-Islander, the fire was attributed to a defective valve on a gas-burning mechanism. 

At a meeting that included representatives of LILCO (heat suppliers), GE (manufacturers of the heating unit), and Levitt & Sons (home builders, the town board “was successful in demanding that the three act immediately, before the night was out, to send crews into the development to check the safety of burners now in use by the homeowners.  They were further instructed to return on April 23 to the board with their findings.” 

According to a report by then-Councilman Kinsella, LILCO took several photos of the house after the fire and then removed the defective heating unit from the premises.  The unit in question was made by GE and sold to Levitt & Sons for installation by a local air-conditioning company.  LILCO was then in charge of the servicing of the unit. 
In the course of the meeting it was revealed that the Dix Hills Fire Department had responded to two similar calls at the Levitt houses—at both the heating unit was found to be overheating.  As a result of this situation, “All building permits and certificates of occupancy for Levitt homes remain suspended by the department of building and housing.” 

Things only got worse the next month for the residents at Strathmore at Huntington when “the overflow of a sump, sending thousands of gallons of water through the Levitt development and inundating two homes… and [one] basement had been damaged and there was extensive silt all around both homes.” 

Again the town declared that they would “withhold all certificates of occupancy indefinitely until the sumps are operable,” according to the May 1, 1969 Long-Islander. 

Things weren’t looking good for the residents of the Strathmore at Huntington community, and residents were threatening to evacuate.  So what happened next? Tune in next week to find out!