11 Most Endangered
Doo Wop Motels
Year Listed: 2006
Location: New Jersey
Current Status: Endangered
Threat: Development
The Lollipop Motel in Wildwood, NJ, is one of the Doo Wop Motels listed on the 11 Most Endangered List in 2006.
Credit: Adrian Scott Fine
Families have been vacationing at the Jersey Shore for more than 100 years, and the Wildwood Doo Wop motels have been a major beach destination since they were constructed from 1956 to 1970. The Doo Wop district offered families an affordable vacation that seemed exotic because of the motels' far-out design and faraway-sounding names such as Tahiti, Caribbean and Starluxe. The demand for resorts that offer modern amenities means that motels in the Doo Wop district, which encompasses the cities of Wildwood, Wildwood Crest and North Wildwood, are ripe for development. Nearly 100 Doo Wop motels have been demolished in recent years, usually for the construction of market-rate condominiums. While the architectural and historic significance of the motels has been widely recognized, local governments have not reached agreement on how - or whether - to regulate new development.
Update
Though vacationers still flock to the Wildwoods today, more than 100 of the Doo Wop motels have fallen to the wrecking ball - two dozen in the last two years alone - because of increased speculation in condo construction and rising property values. A group of concerned business owners, local residents and preservation advocates has formed the Doo Wop Preservation League and is working diligently to secure increased protection for these icons of the recent past. Presently a study in underway to assess the economic feasibility of retrofitting and retaining motels, including design guidelines for compatible adding floors or additions. With multiple municipalities and the lack of a unified vision or protection for the area, more and more motels are likely to be lost and replaced by larger, generic condominium buildings. There’s a glimmer of hope though with the recent plan to demolish the Ocean View Motel and unprecedented denial of a permit by the New Jersey Department of Environmental Protection (DEP). Through the Coastal Area Facility Review Act (CAFRA), the DEP denied an application to demolish the Ocean View Motel and construct a six-story, 69-unit condominium structure in its place. Now headed to court, the National Trust is monitoring this closely and will participate in support of the State’s actions as the outcome could determine the fate for the remaining historic mid-century motels and distinctive character of Wildwood.
