The existing 1870’s building and its addition are located on a diverse block of historic Newark Ave in downtown Jersey City with a diversity of styles from the 1830’s through the 1920’s. The project has a small footprint, but with five stories and 45’ of frontage, it has a large impact on its context. It is the first significant construction on the block in one hundred years.
The project expands the existing structure to include office space in the Basement and on the First and Second Floors, with three apartments above. The lower levels are configured for possible conversion to a restaurant in the future.
The original facade is very plain, but has a vertical emphasis that once drew the eye up to an amazing, now long lost, cornice. The street elevation of the addition picks up the vertical emphasis, using bronze aluminum fins to represent the shadows created by the brick pilasters on the existing facade and window/bay spacings of similar size to the originals.