National Register Documentation on New Jersey Patterned Brickwork is Approved

Despite the wide appreciation of New Jersey's (especially southern) iconic architectural form--the  patterned brickwork building of the colonial period--until now there has been no statewide context written on the topic. There have been several picture books featuring them, local histories written in the nineteenth and twentieth centuries mentioning them, a few articles in scholarly journals, and two doctoral dissertations that I know of. In Salem County, a small number have been individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places, some are part of historic districts, and one, the Abel and Mary Nicholson house in Salem County, is listed as a National Historic Landmark due to its higher levels of significance and integrity.

Abel & Mary Nicholson House, Elsinboro, Salem County. Photo © Janet L. Sheridan.

With the approval granted at the November 8 meeting of the New Jersey Historic Sites Review Board, the context entitled, "Traditional Patterned Brickwork in New Jersey" will constitute a "National Register of Historic Places Multiple Property Documentation Form." This means that in the future, any patterned brickwork building to be listed will be associated with, and referenced to, this MPD form. It will facilitate future listings by reducing the amount of documentation that would be required for an individual National Register nomination, because the common theme of patterned brickwork in New Jersey is already on record. No one has to reinvent the wheel, so to speak, which will save time and money in preparing nominations. The draft is posted here.

Robert Craig, a senior historic preservation specialist in the state Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) wrote the MPD form. At the same time Bob has been creating a statewide inventory of not only surviving examples of patterned brickwork buildings (mostly houses, but some Quaker meeting houses), but also those which have been lost, and those standing buildings which have been stuccoed and may be hiding patterned brickwork. The collection is situated predominately in New Jersey's southern counties, with a few outliers further north, and they number over 300 at this time. The number rises and falls as the research goes on.

Locations of known (standing or demolished) or potential (stuccoed) patterned brickwork buildings in Salem County, NJ. Map © Janet L. Sheridan.

"Traditional Patterned Brickwork in New Jersey" will make it easier to nominate examples of this distinctive architectural tradition, of which New Jersey has the greatest number of examples of any state. The need is great. In Salem County, my unofficial count of standing pattern-brickwork buildings, demolished examples, or stuccoed candidates is 94. Of those, 12 are known to be demolished. There are 33 stuccoed examples, 5 of which are confirmed patterned brickwork. Thus, until more is learned, there are 44 standing, confirmed examples of patterned brickwork in Salem County. However, of those 44, only 8 are individually listed on the National Register of Historic Places so far (the program started in 1966). So, 36 need to be listed in order to encourage their preservation.

These remarkable and precious architectural landmarks of eighteenth century colonial landowners and their cultural authority are at risk. They still disappear from time to time, and will continue to. The ca. 1740 Rebecca Edgil/Samuel Tyler house in Salem was taken down in December 2015 under pressure by the city government even though it was recognized as significant and worthy of protection in the city's Master Plan Historic Preservation Element. Its brickwork was a remarkably fine example of this kind of workmanship and was in fine condition.

Ca. 1740 Edgil-Tyler house in Salem being demolished. Photo © Janet L. Sheridan

In Camden County, the 1764 Hugg-Harrison house, in the way of the I-295/I-676/Route 42 reconfiguration,was taken down by the NJ DOT on March 3, 2017 in a sudden, secret demolition at dawn despite public outcry against the decision, and efforts underway by Belmawr Township to move it. These houses may still be standing if they had been listed on the National Register.

View of 1764 Hugg-Harrison house at the confluence of three highways in Belmawr Township. Source: "Justice for the Historic Hugg-Harrison House"FaceBook page.

Read the draft MPD form, which will change only slightly prior to being listed. Do you have a patterned-brickwork house? Would you like it listed? If you want to know more about nominating a patterned brickwork house, contact me.