In the running for the most attractive building on Metropolitan Avenue‘s 14-mile length from Williamsburg to Jamaica is the Hess-Miller Funeral Home at 65th Street. Its location is no coincidence, as All-Faiths (Lutheran) Cemetery is a block to the east. (Middle Village may even be called The City of the Dead.)
This building dates from 1902 and was originally the summer home of a local politician. In 1920, John Miller purchased the home and established his funeral parlor here. When Arthur Hess partnered with him in the 1940′s, it then became the Hess-Miller Funeral Home. It is still in business under the same name, although it is no longer owned by either family. If you’re ever attending a wake here, seek out a couple of antique mirrors. They were formerly at the now demolished Niederstein’s Restaurant a few blocks to the east, demolished a couple of decades ago to make way for an Arby’s franchise.
One of the fascinating things about being dead is that they make you look as good as possible despite the circumstances by dressing you in finery, putting you in a room full of family and friends in some cases in the most beautiful building you ever set foot in. And then they burn you to a crisp or bury you in the ground.
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