Commission seeks to preserve historic Essex County Jail
14 years 3 months ago #1
by misterpat
Commission seeks to preserve historic Essex County Jail was created by misterpat
NEWARK — The 1837 Essex County Jail is a block-long collection of ruins that is drawing new interest from preservationists and elected officials who want to rescue some of the handiwork of John Haviland, considered the foremost penitentiary architect in American history, a "jailer to the world."
Most of the 10-building complex at New and Newark streets in Newark was to be demolished, except for the warden’s house and a section of 12-foot high brownstone walls, to make way for two technology buildings.
The city’s Landmarks & Historic Preservation Commission rejected those plans by University Heights Science Park, calling the proposal too sweeping. This month, as they toured the historic site, they said it was worth saving.
"It’s a very, very important landmark," said Ulana Zakalak, a Jersey City-based historic preservation consultant who penned an analysis of the old jail for University Heights Science Park. "There’s nothing like it anywhere. Unfortunately, it’s been so mistreated over the years, a lot of people can’t see the beauty and the history of the buildings. They just see the ruins."
She described Haviland as "the most significant architect of penal institutions in the world," with the old Essex Jail being perhaps the last survivor of his smaller lockups.
University Heights, in a statement last week, said it hopes to work out a "compromise" that will include retention of some of the historic buildings’ "members."
The 368-prisoner jail was built just a year after Newark’s incorporation as a city, and today is the county’s oldest surviving government building. The complex, which preservationists call a monument to America’s penal system, is listed on the national and state registers of historic places and added in 2002 to Preservation New Jersey’s "Most Endangered Places" list.
The buildings were closed in 1970 and haven’t been used since 1989, when the county’s Bureau of Narcotics moved out after engineers deemed the facility unsafe. In 2001, a fire caused severe damage, collapsing walls.
By then, Newark had acquired the site from Essex County on behalf of the nonprofit group, University Heights Science Park, using a $750,000 federal grant. The developer planned to build a 50-acre science and technology park in Newark’s Central Ward that would eventually contain 1 million square feet of laboratories and offices.
essex-jail.JPGAristide Economopoulos/The Star-LedgerThe peeling paint and graffiti in a cell in the west wing.
By last winter, the city’s preservation commission had rejected the plan for the site.
"All we’re saying is, ‘Save more of the buildings,’" said Robert Hartman of the city’s landmarks commission.
The jail had additions added in 1890, 1895, 1904 and 1909, but the original prison was designed by Haviland, whose handiwork included the New York Halls of Justice and House of Detention, known as "The Tombs" and the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, which has become a major tourist attraction. The prison’s website has a "Virtual Reality Tour," and rock videos featuring its eerie images can be found on YouTube.
The Essex jail is equally eerie. Today, it is open to the skies, its skylights collapsed into the rubble below. In an adjoining wing, large wooden beams have fallen in just the past few months. Prisoners’ messages are written on the walls. "Where evil dwells II," reads one note scribbled in bright blue letter in one of the dank hallways.
Nevertheless, an analysis prepared for University Heights by Zakalak Associates, Historic Preservation Consultants, calls the jail complex " a unique architectural treasure" based on a Pennsylvania system of solitary confinement of a prisoner in a single cell, day and night .
"It is, I think, a sacred place to be saved," said Zemin Zhang of the landmarks committee.
[url:2y5tgecc]www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/07/newark...s_commission_se.html[/url]
Most of the 10-building complex at New and Newark streets in Newark was to be demolished, except for the warden’s house and a section of 12-foot high brownstone walls, to make way for two technology buildings.
The city’s Landmarks & Historic Preservation Commission rejected those plans by University Heights Science Park, calling the proposal too sweeping. This month, as they toured the historic site, they said it was worth saving.
"It’s a very, very important landmark," said Ulana Zakalak, a Jersey City-based historic preservation consultant who penned an analysis of the old jail for University Heights Science Park. "There’s nothing like it anywhere. Unfortunately, it’s been so mistreated over the years, a lot of people can’t see the beauty and the history of the buildings. They just see the ruins."
She described Haviland as "the most significant architect of penal institutions in the world," with the old Essex Jail being perhaps the last survivor of his smaller lockups.
University Heights, in a statement last week, said it hopes to work out a "compromise" that will include retention of some of the historic buildings’ "members."
The 368-prisoner jail was built just a year after Newark’s incorporation as a city, and today is the county’s oldest surviving government building. The complex, which preservationists call a monument to America’s penal system, is listed on the national and state registers of historic places and added in 2002 to Preservation New Jersey’s "Most Endangered Places" list.
The buildings were closed in 1970 and haven’t been used since 1989, when the county’s Bureau of Narcotics moved out after engineers deemed the facility unsafe. In 2001, a fire caused severe damage, collapsing walls.
By then, Newark had acquired the site from Essex County on behalf of the nonprofit group, University Heights Science Park, using a $750,000 federal grant. The developer planned to build a 50-acre science and technology park in Newark’s Central Ward that would eventually contain 1 million square feet of laboratories and offices.
essex-jail.JPGAristide Economopoulos/The Star-LedgerThe peeling paint and graffiti in a cell in the west wing.
By last winter, the city’s preservation commission had rejected the plan for the site.
"All we’re saying is, ‘Save more of the buildings,’" said Robert Hartman of the city’s landmarks commission.
The jail had additions added in 1890, 1895, 1904 and 1909, but the original prison was designed by Haviland, whose handiwork included the New York Halls of Justice and House of Detention, known as "The Tombs" and the Eastern State Penitentiary in Philadelphia, which has become a major tourist attraction. The prison’s website has a "Virtual Reality Tour," and rock videos featuring its eerie images can be found on YouTube.
The Essex jail is equally eerie. Today, it is open to the skies, its skylights collapsed into the rubble below. In an adjoining wing, large wooden beams have fallen in just the past few months. Prisoners’ messages are written on the walls. "Where evil dwells II," reads one note scribbled in bright blue letter in one of the dank hallways.
Nevertheless, an analysis prepared for University Heights by Zakalak Associates, Historic Preservation Consultants, calls the jail complex " a unique architectural treasure" based on a Pennsylvania system of solitary confinement of a prisoner in a single cell, day and night .
"It is, I think, a sacred place to be saved," said Zemin Zhang of the landmarks committee.
[url:2y5tgecc]www.nj.com/news/index.ssf/2010/07/newark...s_commission_se.html[/url]
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14 years 3 months ago #2
by lithiumbaby
BLAH BLAH BLAH
Replied by lithiumbaby on topic Commission seeks to preserve historic Essex County Jail
I'd like to see conservationists save the county jail in Caldwell! That place just as much history and also an architecuieal (I know I slaughtered that spelling.) wonder.
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