Façade changes spark concerns in Red Bank
By Jeremy Grossman
(Note: Originally published in the March 26, 2015 issue of Greater Media Newspapers)
RED BANK — Members of the Historic Preservation Commission are concerned with façade changes in Red Bank’s Central Business Zone Historic District, including the removal of original vestibule storefronts on Broad Street.
While many residents take pride in Red Bank’s historic identity, some members of the borough’s Historic Preservation Commission say the town is at risk of losing touch with its character.
“We’re beginning to see the fabric of the downtown historic business district disappear,” said Councilman Edward Zipprich, liaison to the commission.
“People come to Red Bank because it’s a historic town. It still has the ‘Main Street, USA’ feel to it, but if we don’t dig in to protect what’s left of the historic fabric, and we let new tenants take that out, then we lose the historic look of downtown Red Bank.”
It’s an issue that Zipprich said he and the members of the Historic Preservation Commission are greatly concerned about.
“I want [the Planning Board] to understand that there is a protective measure designed in our ordinance that we need to take into serious consideration going forward if anyone were to remove a storefront or significantly alter any of the buildings in the historic downtown district,” Zipprich said.
An ordinance adopted in the early 1990s and amended in 2009 encourages preservation of the borough’s cultural and historical identity in the Central Business Zone Historic District, encompassing the area of Broad and Monmouth streets, and the Washington Street Historic District area, which is largely residential.
Businesses such as Urban Outfitters at Broad and West Front streets have retained the historical storefronts, while Merrill Lynch on Broad Street blended both old and new designs. Zipprich said he is concerned with businesses removing the historical vestibule display windows, and cited the jewelry store at 24 Broad St. as an example of a location where this has been done.
He also cited plans for a Subway sandwich shop on Broad Street where the original storefront was removed, and the project was never finished.
“You have these people come to the board, they get the variance, and they never open up the store,” Zipprich said. “So now Red Bank lost a historic storefront and didn’t benefit from this new merchant coming to town.”
Barbara Boas, a member of the Historic Preservation Commission and an alternate member of the Planning Board, echoed Zipprich’s concerns.
“The windows are a big thing,” Boas said. “When the storefronts were built in the late 1800s and early 1900s, the windows were important to the merchants. Obviously, they didn’t have the Internet or the same kind of advertising ability we have now.
“So you would have these windows where you would walk into a little lobby, and you could see the wares of the merchant on both sides. … There aren’t many of those truly rounded windows in the state, let alone in Red Bank. There used to be a lot of them.”
She praised Urban Outfitters, which occupies the former Natelson’s site, for maintaining the vintage look of the façade at 2 Broad St.
“That’s the history of architecture in that era. That’s how they advertised, that’s how they merchandized,” Boas said.
She said many of the new businesses remove the vestibule display windows to create more floor space inside.
“If you think about some other small towns that have downtowns, like Westfield, most of their stores have the flat, straight windows,” Boas said. “It’s like being in a giant strip mall, like being at The Grove. You walk along and everything is right in your face, straight and around. That’s not what Red Bank is.
“This is an important, historic, little town, and a lot of cool things have happened here, and we’ve changed enough.”
Boas said it is time to start paying attention to history preservation.
“ … There are some buildings that should never have been built in the 1970s. But I think, in the ’70s, people weren’t thinking historic preservation — they were just thinking, ‘Let’s get more businesses in town,’ ” she said.
But Mayor Pasquale Menna said he is cautious about saying there’s an issue with the borough’s historic aesthetic.
“I’m always very wary about expressing concerns when I have not been given an actual report,” Menna said. “So I would rather not put the cart before the horse.
“If anybody, including Historic Preservation members, has an opinion on it, they should put it in writing so we can review it as a council. It would be presumptuous for me to say I have concerns over anything when there is no recommendation or report by any of them.”
As for whether he is pleased with the look of the historic downtown, Menna said, “If it were up to me, I’d love Georgian buildings all over the place.”
He said he has no issue with historic preservation, but noted that architectural design and standards evolve with the community.
Ned Gaunt, an architect and member of Red Bank RiverCenter’s Visual Improvement Committee — which reviews the design of new facades in the downtown — said designs that would destroy Red Bank’s character are not approved.
“[The Historic Preservation Commission] sometimes just likes to see things saved that aren’t necessarily historic and aren’t necessarily worth saving,” Gaunt said.
He said Red Bank is moving toward a trend of blending contemporary designs with traditional styles, and cited the Merrill Lynch and Morgan Stanley buildings on Broad Street — which he designed — as examples.
“What we are hoping to see is Red Bank maintain the character that it has. … And some of the [new] building designs themselves are very nice,” Gaunt said. “Even though they don’t fall into any historic category, they give the town itself a lot of character.”
He said there is often confusion as to what buildings are deemed historic.
“There’s a lot of buildings in town that are very attractive and have nice, old designs, but they’re not necessarily historic,” Gaunt said. “In order for a building to be historic, it has to meet certain criteria, such as style of the building or someone who lived there or an event that took place there.
“But just a building being old doesn’t make it historic, and a lot of people don’t understand that.”