N.J. School in Limbo
By Tricia McCarter-Joseph | Online Only | Oct. 23, 2009
The owners of a 1908 schoolhouse in the historic district of Mullica Hill, N.J., about 30 miles south of Philadelphia, are struggling to find funding to complete a renovation they say will cost $3 million.
Owners since 1969, the Friends School Corporation has spent almost $400,000 attempting to repair the building's foundation and west wall. Eight years ago, bricks began falling from the building while it was still occupied.
"The bricks themselves were failing, and the weight of the building has caused it to warp," says Drew Smith, head of school at the Friends School Mullica Hill. The corporation hired Philadelphia-based structural engineering firm Keast & Hood Co., to complete a study of the building in 2001. "Keast & Hood recommended a maintenance plan to fill in the cracks and voids in the foundation, which were causing the structure to fail."
Last year, after the corporation was denied grant assistance from the state historic preservation office, it applied for a demolition permit. The Harrison Township Historic Preservation Commission denied the permit in June.
"We don't have the money to finish [the renovation]," Smith says. "We are sensitive to the fact that the building is significant to Mullica Hill, and we don't want to be responsible for a wave of demolition. We would not have applied for a permit if we had another way to go about it."
The historically rural area has seen a surge of commercial development in recent years, which troubles Joseph Naples, chairman of the Harrison Township Historic Preservation Commission. He's not convinced that the Friends School Corporation has exhausted all its options.
"If the report was done in 2001, why did they wait so long to come before the commission?" Naples says. "The [Keast & Hood] report did not unequivocally state that the building was beyond repair. We don't have many [schoolhouses] in the town. What scares me is that we're losing our historic district."
Preservation New Jersey named the Cope Building to its list of the state's 10 most endangered historic sites this year because of its importance to the town.
"It's very visually prominent," says Ron Emrich, executive director of Preservation New Jersey. "Mullica Hill is a tiny village, and the school has been a part of the village for over 100 years."
Smith and the school's board of trustees initially appealed the commission's decision but have currently suspended that appeal, hoping to find a solution.
"We realize that the Historic Commission is in a delicate position in setting a precedent," Smith says. "Our goal is to be a good neighbor. We're not a school that's resource-rich, and we're really at our last option. If there's someone out there who's interested, then I'm all ears."
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Comments
Submitted by altosaxman at: October 24, 2009
This building is too important to be torn down. It can be restored, and have a viable use within the Historic District. We need to save these old buildings. It has been proven that the preservation of these buildings is nore eco-friendly than tearing it down and strarting over.