- Terry Pranses
History Lost, Rebuilt or Remodeled? What's next for historic 212-214 Hudson Street?
Like most of us, you've wandered by the lot and house on this fascinating stretch of Hudson St. It has a charm, rooted in history, of a less-compacted, more roomy and relaxed style that helps us experience what Hoboken has meant to prior generations. If you're lucky, you'll even catch the vines along the porch fully green and in bloom.
This special spot is now deep in review. A developer has different ideas for this space, which will be presented May 1st at Hoboken's Historic Preservation Commission. For an idea of what's being proposed, and important click-through links, you may visit:
It may be termed a rebuild for the 214 Hudson St. facade, but it could be seen as
a demolition and reconstruction, or mainly as a new building, with assorted salvaged parts to resemble the current one. It certainly looks much closer to the sidewalk, losing the step-back-in-history feeling. The open side lot would largely be filled in by a similar-sized, but not symmetrical structure, whether that's complementary or something else. Then there's a hulking non-brick structure behind both of these pieces ... what's that about ... just about squeezing in more square feet?
The proposal shows a limited amount of green space between the new structures and the stables along Court St. So much of the tone-setting green space would disappear from public view.
There's also a great deal of renovation proposed for the stables structure, along Court Street. Although the Task Force is concerned about the windows and doors where none currently exist, this part of the redevelopment seems to acknowledge history much more than the Hudson St. "front side" does.
The Task Force hopes the HPC will examine this rigorously and push back if the net result is less history, more fiction. Please attend the meeting at 6:30 PM, Monday, May 1st, if you'd like to comment and follow more closely.
Here's the Zoom link:
https://us06web.zoom.us/j/82282690831