Seeking a new home for Century House

By gloria stravelli
Staff Writer

GLORIA STRAVELLI The Century House, located at 87 E. Front St., was built in 1865 and is the only remaining local example of Second Empire architecture, once popular among the Red Bank merchant class. The mansion may be moved from its current location to the site of the former Oakland Street School.

Members of a coalition working to preserve the Century House at 87 E. Front St. in Red Bank this week announced plans to save the 138-year-old structure by moving it to a new site on Oakland Street.

"This is a wonderful opportunity for the community to come together," Michael Stasi told a group invited to a panel discussion on Sunday about saving the Second Empire mansion from demolition.

Coalition members are the Red Bank Charter School, Preservation Red Bank (PRB), Riverview Medical Center and the borough.

Stasi, president of the board of trustees of the Red Bank Charter School, said the cost of moving the house to the site of the former Oakland Street School and renovating it for use by charter school students is estimated at around $500,000.

Raising that amount would require fund raising by stakeholders in the community, Stasi added.

"The question is, Can we raise the funds to make it a community effort to save the Century House?" he asked. "The school doesn’t want to be the only one doing fund raising. It will show us how much the community is behind us.

"In the end, we will have a wonderful building preserved with a wonderful use," he added.

Stasi said some $80,000 has already been committed in monetary donations and in-kind services by the hospital, the borough, JCP&L and Comcast.

The move could be made as early as May if details can be ironed out, he added. The project would require site plan approval by the Red Bank Planning Board.

Stasi said talks have been ongoing between members of the coalition and the utility companies that would be involved in the move.

He said the tentative route for the move would be along West Front Street, south on Broad Street, west onto Monmouth Street, south on Maple and west onto Oakland Street.

"We chose this route because it gets us halfway across town without moving wires," he explained.

Stasi, a landscape architect, said the move must be carried out in the spring or fall because JCP&L wants to avoid the possibility of interrupting service during the summer months when power outages pose a problem.

The charter school recently announced plans to purchase the Oakland House Restaurant on Oakland Street and return the 1920s structure to use as a schoolhouse.

Charter school K-8 classes currently held at two interim locations would be consolidated there.

The proposal would move the Century House from East Front Street to the parking lot adjacent to the old school building.

Acquired by Riverview Medical Center in 1975, the Century House is currently leased to the charter school, which uses the structure to house students in grades one through three.

Now in the midst of a $63-million expansion, Riverview offered Century House to the charter school in lieu of demolishing it to make way for a parking lot.

"When we sat down to negotiate a two-year lease with the hospital, Tim Hogan [executive director of the medical center] said, ‘If you can find a property to move the house to, we’ll be happy to give it to you,’" Stasi said.

"We took Hogan’s comment very seriously and started looking for properties to move the house to."

Hogan said Sunday Riverview could not absorb the Century House into its new campus.

"We looked at incorporating it, but from a practical standpoint, there are few uses," he said.

While he said plans for the property have not yet been determined, Riverview has been criticized for not ensuring the future of the Century House.

Stasi said the charter school took the lead and contacted W.A. House Movers & Builders, Westfield, a company with expertise in moving historic structures.

In addition, the school’s trustees began discussions with utility companies whose cooperation would be necessary to effect the move.

The trustees also reached out to PRB, Riverview and the borough for support.

"Coalition members are very committed to making this happen," Stasi noted. "Technically, the house can be moved."

In deciding to take Riverview up on its offer, trustees looked at what could be built for the same amount of money and found new construction costs range from $120-$150 per square foot.

The charter school presently occupies some 18,000 square feet of space in two facilities and would need to add on to the Oakland Street facility, which has 12,000 square feet.

The charter school began operations with grades four through eight in 1998 at Trinity Church on White Street. The school added grades one through three and moved into the Century House last summer.

According to Stasi, the charter school has a two-year lease for the Century House through the summer of 2004.

He said factors arguing for going ahead with the move in May include JCP&L’s insistence that the move be made in the spring or fall and the fact that space for students attending classes in the Century House is available at the St. Anthony of Padua complex through the summer.

"In concept, the borough is very supportive of saving the Century House," Borough Administrator Stanley Sickels said Monday.

"But logistically, there are a lot of details that have to be worked out."

Those include, he said, traffic signals and street lights that will have to be moved and agreements that need to be worked out with utility companies, the county and the state Department of Transportation.

"What will it entail? And who will cover the cost? The borough is not in a position to contribute other than by providing police," he noted.

PRB trustee George Bowden spoke about the provenance of Century House at the panel discussion.

According to Bowden, the house, also known as the William Conover House, was built by the real estate magnate following the Civil War in 1865 on land that ran from East Front Street to the river.

The well-preserved house is an example of the Second Empire architectural style that typified the dwellings of Red Bank’s expanding merchant class.

Key features are the structure’s mansard roof and rare convex roofline, hexagonal slate roof tiles and curved lintels, he said.

"This is the last Second Empire structure on the river," he told the gathering. "It’s a beautiful home. I would call it a jewel in the crown. I hope we can save it."

Century House, which has changed ownership only three times, is eligible for inclusion on the National Register of Historic Places.

"A lot of work has already been done to make this happen," Stasi said Sunday. "We view it as an opportunity to bring community groups with different missions and minds together and come out where something wonderful will happen."