2020 Ten Most Endangered Historic Places in NJ

 

In recognition of national Preservation Month, Preservation New Jersey (PNJ) announced its annual list of the 10 Most Endangered Historic Places in New Jersey at a virtual press conference at 11:00 AM on Thursday, May 14, 2019. PNJ was joined by the advocates for this year’s endangered historic places via a ZOOM rally to support New Jersey’s threatened cultural and architectural heritage.

The 10 Most Endangered Historic Places program spotlights irreplaceable historic, architectural, cultural, and archaeological resources in New Jersey that are in imminent danger of being lost. The act of listing these resources acknowledges their importance to the heritage of New Jersey and draws attention to the predicaments that endanger their survival and the survival of historic resources statewide. The list, generated from nominations by the public, aims to attract new perspectives and ideas to sites in desperate need of creative solutions.

This year marks a special milestone in PNJ’s efforts to highlight and protect NJ’s historic resources - we are commemorating the 25th Anniversary of the 10 Most Endangered Places initiative. Over this past year, PNJ has hosted workshops and tours celebrating the success stories - sites that have been saved, restored, and are in use once again. The anniversary festivities culminated in a Gala Celebration at Newark Symphony Hall in March where PNJ premiered the documentary – “Saved or Lost Forever” – which tells the story of New Jersey’s places that have been part of significant events and periods in our state’s history, discusses their importance to our collective past, and the fights to rescue these historic properties from extinction. The documentary focuses on three sites recognized on PNJ’s 10 Most list – Camden High School, Romer Shoal Light, and the Van Wagenen/Apple Tree House.

Several challenges face properties on this year’s endangered sites list, including neglect and deferred maintenance, threats incurred by redevelopment and new construction, difficulties raising adequate historic preservation funding, and the need for creative adaptive reuse proposals. Seven of the sites on this year’s list are publicly owned, highlighting the government's frequent role in deferred maintenance along with the reality of limited historic preservation funds. The list also includes sites that portray rare building types of which only a few are left and a thematic listing of  New Jersey’s 1970’s heritage. These two groups - those of which few are left, and those which there are many but not yet recognized as historic - showcase how failure to appreciate unique structures, even if once ubiquitous, can lead to their loss. 

As we acknowledge each year, selections to the 10 Most Endangered Historic Places list are based on the likelihood that historic buildings and places can be brought back to useful and productive life. PNJ proudly points to many properties previously listed among the 10 Most Endangered that have now been saved and preserved or rehabilitated and have once again become character-defining and economy-boosting assets to New Jersey’s communities. As we announce this year’s list, we are encouraged by Newark Symphony Hall, which was included on our first ever 10 Most Endangered List in 1995 and recently hosted PNJ’s 10 Most 25th Anniversary Gala. Newark Symphony Hall is in the midst of a $500 million capital campaign, recently launched a brand new website, and provides community programming and hosts special events all year long.  Although PNJ’s 10 Most Endangered Properties list is published once per year, the fight for the preservation of our historic and cultural resources is daily, and being able to hold our celebration at Symphony Hall 25 years after its listing, is evidence that bringing awareness of such threats can bring about creative solutions. 

Selections to the 10 Most Endangered list are based on three criteria: 

- historic significance and architectural integrity,
- the critical nature of the threat identified, and
- the likelihood that inclusion on the list will have a positive impact on efforts to protect the resource

The 2020 Ten Most Endangered Historic Places in NJ List: