A (very slow) Move of the Century
Snafu at intersection
caused lengthy delay
in house move
By gloria stravelli
Staff Writer

Ron Sickler An aerial view of the Century House as it approaches the intersection of Front and Broad streets shows the steel plates that had to be placed over manhole covers and grates to protect against their collapse as the structure passed over them.

It was Wayne Yarusi’s dogged determination not to harm the historic structure in his care that kept the Century House hung up at the corner of Broad and Monmouth streets in Red Bank for six hours Sunday during its move to a new location, he said.

"It was my pride … not to just cut a house," Yarusi explained wearily on Monday morning. "It’s just my style. I move a house in one piece."

A fifth-generation contractor, by Monday morning Yarusi had been working for more than 24 hours on the move of the Century House from the spot where it stood for 138 years at 87 E. Front St. to a temporary location three-quarters of a mile away at 121 Monmouth St.

On Sunday, Yarusi had been loath to order removal of a corner of the house’s front porch soffit to free it from the tight corner at Broad and Monmouth streets where it became wedged around 4 p.m.

It would remain there until, after hours of futile attempts to reposition the wheels of the dollies carrying the house, he gave in and authorized firefighters from the Navesink Hook and Ladder Company to saw off a small portion of the porch roof, allowing it to clear the facade of the Broadway Grill at 10:45 p.m.

The snafu occurred when the front-end loader pulling the 45-foot-wide, three-story structure altered the angle of approach to the turn. According to Yarusi, the change was necessary to avoid a light pole with a planter on top at the northwest corner of the intersection.

"We lost 2 feet on the turn and that cost us in time," he explained Monday. "We had to spin the house in the street, to turn it, but every time we got into a spin, the overhangs were meeting at the same elevation.

The change in trajectory moved the structure too far south into the intersection so that it could not clear the facade of 80 Monmouth St. Once a portion of porch roof was removed, the structure was successfully repositioned for its journey west on Monmouth Street by 11:15 p.m.

Until that point, Yarusi’s Westfield house-moving company, W.A. House Movers and Builders, had negotiated moving the Second Empire mansion along East Front Street to Broad Street with only minor glitches.

With several hundred spectators watching on the ground and from rooftops, a pair of front-end loaders pulled the 132-ton structure away from its foundation around 9:30 a.m. Moving at a slow pace, the Century House got to the corner of East Front Street and Broad Street around noon.

There, a pole with long-silent civil defense sirens was lopped off to allow the structure to negotiate the turn onto Broad.

The festive journey up Broad was slow, due partially, Yarusi said, to the hundreds of people who accompanied the structure on its way to a new incarnation as part of the planned Oakland Street campus of the Red Bank Charter School.

By midday, the crowd on Broad Street had swelled to close to 1,000 by some estimates, and a handful of those had turned out at 5:30 a.m. — the announced start time.

"I totally didn’t expected to see that many people," Yarusi admitted. "It was one of the biggest reasons for the delay. We couldn’t move equipment through town.

"Originally it was a five-hour move. I expected it to take half a day," he said.

The mood was celebratory, and Red Bank’s main thoroughfare was filled with young and old, generations of families — some even brought pets — all taking in the surreal sight of the stately Victorian mansion making its way slowly across the downtown streetscape.

The turn onto Monmouth Street, which is only 38 feet wide, curb to curb, was anticipated to be the most challenging part of the move.

"We knew it would be a tight fit," Yarusi acknowledged, "especially on the turn."

Yet, there was general agreement that the route along East Front, Broad and Monmouth was the best one.

"This route had the least number of power lines," explained Stanley Sickels, borough administrator, fire marshal and construction official.

Through the hours when the house was hung up, several hundred spectators remained, but the mood had changed.

"I stayed to see what would happen," said Stephanie Kiel, Ocean, who had arrived at noon. "You’d think for all the money they could build a new house."

"We went home for dinner at 4 p.m.," said Diane Gargano of Red Bank. "I was surprised to see it was still here. We want to see it make the turn."

As the hours dragged on, Walter Luzter of Red Bank gave his own take on the message on a banner spanning the structure’s upper stories, "Move of the Century? Humph!," he groused. "It took a century to move."

Up until 10:15 p.m., Yarusi and crew struggled to reposition the house to no avail. Finally, he was ready to call for help.

"I felt with all the efforts the community put into saving this house, whatever it took to get around that corner, I would do," he said Monday. "It became a team effort."

Once freed, the Century House crept down Monmouth, overhanging the sidewalk on both sides, and hugging the north side to avoid fire escapes on some buildings. The narrow side street had been stripped of impediments like blade signs and façade lights earlier in the week.

All along the route, once the house passed by, crews began the work of restoring traffic lights, power lines, street lights.

According to Sickels, the structure reached Maple Avenue by 4 a.m. and pulled up parallel to the parking lot at 121 Monmouth St. around 7:30 a.m. Yarusi said the structure was pulled onto the lot at around 9:45 a.m. and his sleepless crew began securing the site.

Plans call for the Century House to shift to the adjacent site of the Oakland Street Restaurant, which is being purchased by the charter school, after the eatery closes in May. The former schoolhouse and the Century House will be renovated and joined to accommodate the charter school’s K-8 classes.

Charter school Principal Meredith Penotti said plans are to have at least a portion of the new school ready for students by the fall. Students currently attend classes in two interim locations.

The charter school’s grades K-3 had occupied the Century House since the beginning of the fall term, and the school was a prime mover, along with Preservation Red Bank and Riverview Medical Center, Red Bank, of an effort to preserve the house from demolition by moving it from a lot adjacent to the hospital, which has future plans for the 70-by-362-foot site.

Meridian Healthcare System donated the house, assessed at $773,600, to the charter school in addition to making a contribution toward the move which Tim Hogan, executive director of Riverview, said Sunday amounted to $70,000 in funds and services. Another $5,000 contribution for the Century House Fund came from PRB.

With Michael Stasi, president of the charter school board of trustees, as the catalyst, the Coalition to Save the Century House began planning the move months before plans were made public in March. Stakeholders, including the school, hospital, PRB, borough and various utility companies, met weekly, then daily as the moving date drew near, to coordinate all aspects of the move.

Sickels said the degree of cooperation necessary to pull off the move was typical of Red Bank.

"Everybody wanted to facilitate this," he said. "That’s one thing we do here; in Red Bank everyone tries to get a task accomplished. Even the business owners have been cooperative."

At the time, Stasi said the move would cost $220,000, but donations brought that figure down to $190,000. He estimated total cost for the move and renovations at $450,000. Stasi said moving the Century House would be less costly than new construction, which ranges from $120-$150 per square-foot.

On Monday, Stasi said it was too soon to estimate overruns due to the long delay in a move that had been projected to take just five hours.

The relocation involved moving street lights, traffic lights, utility wires, facade lights, and business signs, and the charter school will have to wait for bills to come in from JCP&L, Verizon, the state Department of Transportation, the borough and others.

According to Yarusi, his bill will remain the same. "I gave them a price, and it’s still the same price," he said.

The Century House was built by local real estate magnate William Conover following the Civil War in 1865. The house, which has changed ownership only three times, is eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places."

"It was worth all the effort that went into it because it is saved, intact," said PRB trustee George Bowden Monday.

"It’s a miracle," he said. "I responded from a preservation standpoint to the way they cut off just what they needed to for clearance. They handled the structure gingerly, and that was very meaningful for me."