The King’s Bridge as it looked in 1856. Notice the hilly area in the background — today we know this as Broadway, Kingsbridge Avenue, and Godwin Terrace. The white house on top of the hill may be the Moller mansion.
Godwin’s Island and the footbridge are depicted on this 1890 map. (Back then, Kingsbridge Avenue was called Church Street and Corlear Avenue was called Water Street.) This map also clearly labels the Godwin and Moller houses, and the 35th Police Precinct station house, which occupied one of small buildings on Godwin’s property (much of the land surrounding the police station was soggy marshland, and the station often flooded).
The Moller Mansion was built in 1870. and moved to Godwin Terrace around 1931. It was originally the home of George H. Moller and Emma Godwin Moller. St. John’s church purchased the property from the family and for more than 75 years it was a convent and housing for the Brothers of Christian Schools. However, it was just sold for 1.5 million in July, 2021 and was torn down with new construction in its place.