The Montclair Historic Preservation Commission is reviewing nomination proposals to designate two Township neighborhoods, the Oakcroft and Wheeler Street neighborhoods, as Local Historic Districts. The second public hearing to hear public comment will be on this date.
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Oakcroft/Wheeler Street Public Hearing
The Montclair Historic Preservation Commission is reviewing nomination proposals to designate two Township neighborhoods, the Oakcroft and Wheeler Street neighborhoods, as Local Historic Districts. The first of two public hearings to receive public comment will be held on this date.
Community Q&A for Oakcroft & Wheeler Historic Districts
The Township and the consultants Connolly & Hickey Historical Architects, who prepared an intensive-level survey of the Oakcroft and Wheeler Street areas, will answer residents’ questions at a Q&A forum. They will address questions about their survey report, local residential historic districts, the designation process, etc.
Historic Survey Report Presentation to Historic Preservation Commission
The historic survey report of the Oakcroft and Wheeler Street neighborhoods, two of seven residential areas being considered for designation by the Township, will be presented by the consultants Connolly & Hickey Historical Architects at the Township’s Historic Preservation Commission meeting. This regularly scheduled meeting of the Commission can be live-streamed on Channel 34 by local subscribers of Comcast (on channel 34) and Verizon FiOS (channels 34 and 33).
Silver Mine, Scandal and Suburbia: The Oakcroft Story
A failed silver mine, an art scandal and a devotion to Princeton University all paved the way for Oakcroft, an 80-home, five-street “residential park” just south of Anderson Park in Montclair. The Township is considering this 113-year-old neighborhood for historic district designation. Discover its story and find out what makes it historic and special. A slide show by Lisanne Renner, Oakcroft resident and local historian. At the Montclair History Center’s Crane House & Historic YWCA, 110 Orange Road, Montclair. Free.
25 Princeton Place – Buzz Aldrin House (1907)
25 Princeton Place - Buzz Aldrin House
25 Princeton Place (1907)
This became the childhood home of Buzz Aldrin, “Montclair’s Man on the Moon,” who was part of NASA’s Apollo 11 mission. A plaque is in front of the house. This twin-gable Tudor Revival design occurs four times in Oakcroft: at 130 Edgemont Road, 35 Godfrey, 28 Godfrey, and here on Princeton. It was probably designed by George A. Freeman & F.G. Hasselman of New York, hired by the Godfrey Land and Building Company. This stucco house is in the Township-wide architectural survey “Montclair 1694-1982: An Inventory of Historic Cultural and Architectural Resources” (No. 0713-172). It was among the first homes to be built in Oakcroft.
303 North Mountain Avenue – Edison House (1912)
303 North Mountain Avenue - Edison House
This house is on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places as an example of a poured-concrete house designed by Thomas Edison to provide mass-produced affordable housing. Montclair resident Frank D. Lambie was instrumental in construction by designing and building the molds through his Lambie Concrete House Corporation and New York Steel Form Company. A 1910 version of this construction technique is at 420 Valley Road in Montclair.
293 North Mountain Avenue (1898) and 295 North Mountain Avenue (1892)
293 North Mountain Avenue (1898) and 295 North Mountain Avenue (1892)
These two houses originally stood a half-block north, on land that became Anderson Park. Charles Anderson, who donated the land for the park, teamed up with well-to-do friend and neighbor and bought these lots as the new location for the houses so that park construction could begin. The houses were moved around 1903. A photo taken in 1902 by the park’s landscape architect, John C. Olmsted, shows these houses still on the future park site.