Jersey City has undergone several transformations during the past 200 years. This site aims to visualize these fascinating changes through photos from then and now.
If you are a Jersey City old-timer, I would very much like to hear from you - please use the comments functionality and share your JC experiences of by-gone years. And if you have old photos that you can share, even better - please send them to me. With your approval I will share them on the blog.
I hope you will enjoy the blog!
Sunday, January 13, 2013
Hudson Co. National Bank, Jersey City, N.J.
As many other sites of historic, commercial buildings in Jersey City, the bank has been reduced to a parking lot. It seems as if the stock of residential buildings have fared better, e.g. from Van Vorst Park to Hamilton Park.
View Larger Map
The loss of this building strikes me as particularly sad because the surrounding area is relatively well preserved and quite beautiful. The post office is obviously one of the very best buildings in the city, and the church mission buildings and The Old Beehive are also attractive. The only eyesore is the poorly modified structure that now houses the gastropub.
Is it possible that the bank building fell victim to Colgate rather than urban blight? Many of the vacant lots between Greene and Washington along Sussex and Morris were bought by Colgate and razed in hopes of driving others out of what was still a solid residential neighborhood sometime back in the 50s. (I had always assumed the buildings had been razed because they'd become structurally unsound back in the 70s and 80s, and I think most people in the neighborhood still assume that.)
Andrew Smith is quite correct regarding the role of Colgate-Palmolive in buying and demolishing properties when the neighborhood (I grew up on Sussex between Washington and Greene) was at a low point. Today, that block is practically a bucolic oasis amidst a mostly 21st century cityscape.
The loss of this building strikes me as particularly sad because the surrounding area is relatively well preserved and quite beautiful. The post office is obviously one of the very best buildings in the city, and the church mission buildings and The Old Beehive are also attractive. The only eyesore is the poorly modified structure that now houses the gastropub.
ReplyDeleteIs it possible that the bank building fell victim to Colgate rather than urban blight? Many of the vacant lots between Greene and Washington along Sussex and Morris were bought by Colgate and razed in hopes of driving others out of what was still a solid residential neighborhood sometime back in the 50s. (I had always assumed the buildings had been razed because they'd become structurally unsound back in the 70s and 80s, and I think most people in the neighborhood still assume that.)
UNREAL.
ReplyDeleteNever knew such a structure lived here :(
Feels like the other Bank on Montgomery a block away - same architect?
http://j.mp/1D6ruek
Andrew Smith is quite correct regarding the role of Colgate-Palmolive in buying and demolishing properties when the neighborhood (I grew up on Sussex between Washington and Greene) was at a low point. Today, that block is practically a bucolic oasis amidst a mostly 21st century cityscape.
ReplyDelete