Preservation New Jersey Honors Leaders in Preservation

HOPEWELL – At its annual Night of Celebration, Preservation New Jersey honored leaders, visionaries, and professionals who have preserved and restored important landmarks and landscapes throughout the state.
The 2017 New Jersey Preservation Award honorees include (see PPT presentation for useable images of awardees at https://www.dropbox.com/s/bva9co6kdza7tyl/Celebration%20Program%20PPT.pptx?dl=0):
Building Industry Network Award in recognition of building industry members that have made important and sustained contributions to the sustainability of historic structures, the technical practice of historic preservation, and the promotion of historic preservation and history in New Jersey.
• CRRNJ Terminal, City of Jersey City, Hudson County
Designed by the Boston architectural firm of Peabody and Stearns in the French Renaissance style (exterior massing and details), construction was completed in 1889 and was constructed to replace an earlier 1864 structure which could not accommodate the rapidly growing transportation demands of the area. While the CRRNJ Terminal was abandoned in 1967, the building was restored and adaptively re-used in the 1970’s as part of the creation of Liberty State Park. Post abandonment, the demolition of the Ferry House exposed the Terminal Head House to the full force of the weather in New York Harbor.
In Oct. 2012, New Jersey and New York were struck by the winds and storm surge of Superstorm Sandy. An eleven (11) foot storm surge pushed five (5) feet of sea water over Liberty State Park and through the circa 1889 CRRNJ Terminal Building. Designing the restoration to best address potential future flooding was extremely difficult. The terminal was and will continue to be threatened by the fury of future storms. Its prominent, unsheltered location leaves it open, unprotected and vulnerable to wind, flood and wave action. Although not all obstacles were overcome the terminal is now better positioned to rebound and recover from the effects of future storm actions and flooding.
More than 4 million people from all over the world visit Liberty State Park annually and hundreds of thousands use the ferries at the terminal to access Liberty Island, Ellis Island, and Manhattan’s Battery Park.
The project team was led by lwdmr Architects with the support of the NJ Department of Treasury, the NJ Department of Environmental Protection – Division of Parks, and Liberty State Park.
• Van Wagenen/Apple Tree House, City of Jersey City, Hudson County
In a dense, populated state such as New Jersey, historic properties face significant threats to their survival. The Van Wagenen / Apple Tree House is a true hero of such challenges. Built when the Dutch Village of Bergen was surrounded by a stockade fence to keep the Indians out, it is the only survivor of the houses within that stockade. As Jersey City developed and expanded into a major city over the next two centuries, this house survived because (1), its founding family owned and occupied it for almost 200 years and (2), its next Owner was a Funeral Home, a uniquely compatible use for an old house.
After such a long and unlikely survival, the house was nearly ignominiously demolished in the 1990’s to make way for a bank ATM machine. Fortunately, the City of Jersey City, responding to public opinion, stepped in and purchased the house for the purpose of preserving it. Nonetheless, it has been a long road to preservation. Since the City purchased it, the work has been expensive and labor-intensive. Grant funding, when available, can only go so far. Accordingly, the restoration of the Van Wagenen / Apple Tree House has taken 12 long years.
The result speaks for itself and would make Hartman Van Wagenen proud, even though he would not recognize the neighborhood. Today, the house provides an opportunity to trace Jersey City’s growth from its earliest Dutch agrarian inception, through its high-style mid-19th Century development, to the diverse and vital urban neighborhood that surrounds it today.
The project team was led by HMR Architects with the support of the City of Jersey City, the Jersey City Division of Architecture.
President’s Preservation Excellence Award in recognition of technical practice of historic preservation, and corporate stewardship of structures of local or regional significance.
• The John Buzby House/Bayada Headquarters, Township of Moorestown, Burlington County
The John Buzby House is an excellent example of a Greek Revival Italianate wood frame house built in 1858 by John Buzby, who purchased the lot from his brother William Buzby, who lived across the street. The house is located in the heart of the Moorestown Historic District at the intersection of Main Street and Mill Street. John Buzby, a Quaker, was an important member of Moorestown society and was very active in local business affairs, including establishing the Moorestown Literary Society and serving as the town’s first librarian. The property remained in the Buzby family until 1920. Since then, it has transitioned to commercial use and was used as a hotel, beauty shop, and real estate office. It is at the center of the Moorestown Historic District in a prominent position diagonally opposite the William Buzby house.
Because the exterior was in good condition, the focus of this project was the interior rehabilitation. It acknowledged the need to alter and add to the historic property to meet the continuing and changing uses, while retaining the property’s historic character. Although this project was for commercial office use, the owner wanted the architect to meticulously restore and preserve the interior architectural features of the building. Great detail and care was taken to use classical Victorian finishes, such as William Morris wallpapers and traditional Victorian tile imported from England to complete the restoration.
This extraordinary care and attention to detail was motivated by the client’s desire to retain the house to its Victorian period of significance using historic fabric evidence within the house, and the William Buzby house, as well as extensive historic research by the architect’s interior designers. This has successfully created a very pleasing, warm, and welcoming historic space, and yet at the same time, this building functions as the office headquarters for BAYADA Home Health Care services, an organization with 18,000 staff, 300 offices, in 22 States.
The project team was led by Historic Building Architects with the support of Bayada Home Health Care.
Sarah B. Fiske Legacy & Leadership Award in recognition of important and sustained contributions to the understanding and promotion of historic preservation and history in New Jersey.
• Journey Through Jersey
On Feb. 3, 2017 the New Jersey Historic Trust launched Journey Through Jersey (www.journeythroughjersey.com), the first website dedicated solely to promoting heritage tourism in the state and to supporting and improving quality visitor experiences at the state’s many and diverse historic sites. The development of the website arose from the needs identified in “Linking our Legacy to a New Vision; A Heritage Tourism Plan for New Jersey,” which documented the untapped potential for a robust heritage tourism sector and outlined the steps necessary to achieve that goal. The “Journey Through Jersey” website is the initial step towards broadly marketing heritage tourism within and outside the state, supporting and improving visitor experience, and encouraging preservation of New Jersey’s historic sites. It is the first campaign designed specifically to support, grow and improve heritage tourism in New Jersey.
The innovative website design encourages interactivity and offers a variety of ways to plan a visit. Website visitors can choose from three options: by theme, by region, or by interest. When a theme is chosen, visitors see a diverse list of historic sites that interpret the stories exemplified under that theme. Website visitors can also choose a region – north, central or south, or an interest – century, family friendly, outdoors – as a way to plan a visit. The interactive state map locates the historic sites, identifies them by theme, region or interest and provides a thumbnail description of each site. Each historic site also has its own page, complete with description, photographs, map locater, hours and amenities. Links to similar sites on these pages encourage connectivity.
The New Jersey Historic Trust team was supported by History in the Making and Spitball Advertising to make this project happen.
• Dr. Joseph & Annie Salvatore
For more than four decades, this preservation power couple from Cape May County has saved and restored 30 historic buildings, used them as the foundation for an outdoor living history museum and an aviation museum; developed innovative heritage tourism programs; personally funded the creation of two historic districts; and shared their expertise by serving on more than 15 boards that have local, regional, and statewide impact in the fields of history and historic preservation.
The Salvatore’s involvement with historic preservation began in the fall of 1973 when they created an outdoor living history museum called Historic Cold Spring Village. Since it opened in 1981, the Village has grown to incorporate 29 historic buildings that range in date from ca. 1691 (Coxe Hall Cottage) to ca. 1957 (a Quaker meeting house outhouse). Like so many other history-oriented non-profits, Historic Cold Spring Village suffered from decreased public support for its mission and programs after the Great Recession of 2009. More specifically, county funding went from $150,000 a year to zero over a five-year period. Annie and Joe innovatively decided to establish a source of stable funding for the Village by tapping into the popularity of craft breweries and combine it with the appeal of a historic, timber-framed barn. The Village is the first and only non-profit organization in the state to obtain a license to brew beer. The brewery barn opened its doors on July 12th, 2016, and Cold Spring Brewery is so popular that they are already planning to install larger storage areas to handle the demand.
In 1997, the Salvatores “adopted” a crumbling and decrepit World War II hangar that had been vacant for more than a decade. Located at the former Naval Air Station Wildwood, now serving as the Cape May County Airport in Lower Township, the massive, all-wood 92,000 square foot hangar had no useful purpose, holes in the roof, and pigeons in the rafters. The main floor of the hangar houses hands-on and static exhibits as well as 26 airplanes (one of them National Register listed) and helicopters that date from WWII through the Iraq war. A special section tells the history of the US Coast Guard, which has its recruit training center (TRACEN) in nearby Cape May City. Many of the displays are interactive, engaging both adults and children.
With these two venues, the Salvatores became pioneers in heritage tourism before the term had even been coined, offering authentic historic experiences to the more than 34% of tourists who claim that cultural and historic attractions are their most important factor in choosing Cape May County as a vacation destination. Since its founding, the Village has accommodated more than 2 million visitors and over 75,000 school children. Similarly, the Aviation Museum has entertained more than 1 million visitors since its founding in 1997.
Founded in 1978, Preservation New Jersey is a nonprofit organization that helps homeowners, organizations, public officials, and citizen advocates working to preserve the historic neighborhoods and sites that are important to our communities. Preservation New Jersey coordinates advocacy programs, provides educational workshops, publishes an interactive website, serves as a resource for technical assistance and general advice for the public, addresses legislation and public policies that impact New Jersey’s historic places and communities, and produces the annual list of New Jersey’s 10 Most Endangered Historic.
Visit Preservation New Jersey’s websites at www.preservationnj.org for more information regarding the organization and the 2017 Night of Celebration and NJ Preservation Awards.