Few New Yorkers may know there’s a 19th-century Italianate villa tucked above the busy commercial strip of Richmond Road in New Dorp, Staten Island.

The former home of Gustav Mayer, the German-born baker who invented the Nilla wafer, stands just four blocks from the New Dorp train station. With its original pine floors and 120-year-old working icebox, the home serves as a largely untouched reminder of Staten Island’s rural past.

From Richmond Road, the house appears part-Gothic novel, part-wedding cake. A wide front porch spans the full building, with carved wooden columns and original wavy glass windows look out on a sloping lawn.

Many of the heirloom plantings date to the 1930s, according to Robert Troiano, the current owner.

The home’s original owner David Ryers was a commander in t

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