Staten Island, NY guide
Historic Richmond Town preserves more than 30 historic buildings at the center of the island. Here's what renovation and cleanout work looks like for the neighborhood built up around it.
Historic Richmond Town is New York City's dedicated living-history village and museum complex, established in 1958 as a joint project of the Staten Island Historical Society and the City of New York. It sits roughly at the geographic center of the island, and the surrounding neighborhood has grown up around a genuinely deep well of local history — the site itself dates its earliest structures back to the late 17th century.
The complex today comprises more than 30 historic buildings and sites dating from the late 17th to early 20th centuries, with a 25-acre core campus — about 15 restored buildings open to visitors — sitting within a larger 100-acre property. It's the kind of concentrated historical density that doesn't exist anywhere else on Staten Island, and it shapes the character of the surrounding residential streets, many of which carry their own older housing stock nearby.
One long-repeated claim about the site's centerpiece, Voorlezer's House, was formally corrected following further research in 2018. We won't repeat the specific older claim here since it's no longer considered accurate — the honest, current summary is simply that Voorlezer's House remains one of the complex's oldest and most significant surviving structures, without the additional superlative once attached to it. It's a useful example of how even well-established local history sometimes needs a second look.
Properties near the historic district and the adjacent Staten Island Greenbelt tend to include real older housing stock — homes where plaster shows up instead of drywall, original wood trim and period hardware are often worth pulling for salvage rather than demolishing outright, and a renovation can turn up more variety in what needs to leave the property than a comparable newer-home remodel elsewhere on the island.
Historic Richmond Town sits close to the roughly 2,800-acre Staten Island Greenbelt, a network of connected woodland parks including High Rock Park and LaTourette Park that was formally recognized by the city in 1984 after a hard-fought 1960s–70s preservation campaign against a proposed highway through the area. Properties near this green corridor sometimes see more mature trees and larger lots than elsewhere on the island — worth mentioning if your project includes any yard or land-clearing debris alongside a renovation.
Most single-room renovations on the area's older housing stock fit a 15 or 20 yard container. A larger whole-home renovation, or a project that combines interior work with yard or landscaping debris near the Greenbelt, more often calls for a 30 yard. Whatever the scope, pricing stays flat-rate, based on the size, the type of materials and how long you keep the container.
| Size | Dimensions | Capacity | Weight included | Best for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 10 Yard Dumpster | 14 ft long × 7.5 ft wide × 3.5 ft high | 50–70 bags | 1–2 tons | Small cleanouts, roofing shingles, tight driveways. |
| 15 Yard Dumpster | 16 ft long × 7.5 ft wide × 4.5 ft high | 80–100 bags | 2–3 tons | Flooring, bathroom or kitchen updates, multi-room cleanouts. |
| 20 Yard Dumpster | 22 ft long × 7.5 ft wide × 4.5 ft high | 110–130 bags | 3–4 tons | Medium remodels, roofing jobs, light construction. |
| 30 Yard Dumpster | 22 ft long × 7.5 ft wide × 6 ft high | 170–190 bags | 4–5 tons | Whole-home projects, office cleanouts. |
| 40 Yard Dumpster | 22 ft long × 7.5 ft wide × 8 ft high | 230–250 bags | 5–6 tons | Large builds, commercial or industrial jobs. |
Call (718) 808-9313 and describe your property and project — an interior renovation, yard work near the Greenbelt, or both. We'll size the container to match and talk through placement on your specific street.
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Call and describe the job. Flat-rate pricing, a sized container, and a delivery time on the same call.
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From this guide
Historic Richmond Town was established in 1958 as a joint project of the Staten Island Historical Society and the City of New York.
More than 30 historic buildings and sites, dating from the late 17th to early 20th centuries, sit within a 100-acre property, with about 15 restored buildings open to visitors on the 25-acre core campus.
No — a long-repeated claim about that particular structure was formally corrected following further research in 2018. Voorlezer's House remains one of the site's oldest and most significant surviving structures, just without that older, now-corrected superlative attached to it.
Most single-room renovations on the area's older housing fit a 15 or 20 yard. Larger whole-home projects more often call for a 30 yard.
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