OUR story

Celebration at Rainbow Hill, affectionately called Celebration,  is located on the North East Shore of Staten Island, New York.  Celebration the second largest private community in Staten Island with 585 homes.  The homes are built on 23-acres of woodlands with Eibs Pond on the southern edge.

Celebration is a private middle-class community located in the area formerly known as Fox Hills.   The property was originally part of the Fox Hills Golf Course and George W. Vanderbilt Estate. Fox Hills was originally a tiny village with fishing ponds and wooded paths. Settler Lewis Henry Meyer built his estate here during the 1870s, and named it Fox Hills Manor after his affinity for fox hunting. Until the turn of the 20th century, Fox Hills, which covered parts of Clifton (Park Hill) and Concord, remained small and rural.

Fox Hills Golf Clubhouse, circa 1915


In 1900, however, the Fox Hills Golf Club, Staten Island's first 18-hole golf course was opened with 200 members. The prestigious club house was located on the Vanderbilt Avenue side. At the time, it was considered the largest golf clubhouse in the county with the grounds encompassing what is today Park Hill, Celebration, and Eibs Pond. The Great Depression (1929-1940) contributed to a decline in membership and rising property prices, and the Club was forced to close in 1935.

The controversial and racist film, Birth of a Nation (1915) includes scenes in the Fox Hills woodlands and Eibs Pond Park on the southern edge. The Biograph film company, owner of a studio in New Brighton and a second studio in Stapleton, produced the D.W. Griffith film.

Celebration was also once occupied by the Fox Hills Hospital for World War  Veterans. The hospital opened on June 1, 1918. It's original 44 one-story buildings were constructed in 90 days.  Fox Hill Hospital was abandoned on March 7, 1922. It was determined that the hospital had become a firetrap and conditions were "deplorable" and unfixable. The photo on the right is a vintage photo of "Mechano Therapy" which took place at Fox Hills Hospital.  During World War II (1939-1945), the Army reopened the site which served as an army base, an  Italian prisoners of war camp, and a trading post along Vanderbilt Avenue. At the close of the war, the hospital was transformed into temporary housing for  veterans who faced a severe housing shortage upon their return to the United States. The hospital shut down completely in the early 1950's. The single-family town home phase began in the early 1990's by developer R. Randy Lee, president of the Leewood Real Estate Group of Bulls Head, with Ralph Zurlo, Michael Boccieri, and Eugene Boccieri.


Celebration for Kids child care center, a 8,500 square foot facility on the grounds of Celebration, opened in 1993 and at the time was believed to be New York City's only day care center built as part of a new residential community. Currently Little Miracles [Eden II]  has rented the space.


We are a diverse community of all nationalities and races united by our pride of home ownership and love of our neighborhood.