The Architecture of Bergen County, New Jersey: The Colonial Period to the Twentieth Century (Project of the Bergen County Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs) - Hardcover

Brown, T. Robins; Warmflash, Schuyler

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0813528674 ISBN 13: 9780813528670

Publisher: Rutgers University Press, 2000

Synopsis

Walk or drive through any of Bergen County's seventy communities and you will find telling reminders of a wonderfully rich and diverse architectural history--the legacy of three hundred years of settlement, growth, and change.

The Architecture of Bergen County, New Jersey presents an accessible overview of the county's architectural heritage and its historic structures. The volume explores the styles, trends, and events that influenced the design and setting of the region's buildings. More than 150 photos document Bergen County's architectural treasures, generating awareness and appreciation for these structures and their history.

The book is arranged chronologically, beginning with the arrival of European settlers in the seventeenth century and ending in the late twentieth century. Each chapter opens with a brief historical background and follows with a description and analysis of building types common to Bergen County for the period. Some structures, such as the Hermitage in Ho-Ho-Kus, the Vreeland House in Leonia, and the Bergen County Courthouse in Hackensack, are of regional, even national, significance.

The book also highlights delightful surprises. Examples include a large number of picturesque houses that were built from the designs published in mid-nineteenth century architectural pattern books, the home of an early African American newspaper publisher, and two homes in Paramus and Washington Township whose exterior walls are made of mud.

The Architecture of Bergen County, New Jersey demonstrates the close association between architectural development at the national and local levels, and shows how social, technological, and political changes occurring within the county have been reflected in the building types and styles of the area.

About this title

About the Author:

T. Robins Brown is the executive director of the Friends of the Hermitage in Ho-Ho-Kus in Bergen County. Schuyler Warmflash is a licensed professional engineer, architectural historian, and preservation advocate. James DelGiudice is a photographer and founder of the Specialized PhotoGraphic Design Company, and an adjunct assistant professor of photography at the County College of Morris.

Review:

"The book is really a history of the county, told through architecture. More than 150 photographs plus maps and figures trace the days from the stone houses of Dutch settlers 300 years ago, to (real) colonials to the extravagant early-2oth-century Crocker-McMillin mansion, known as Darlington in Mahwah (the county's first national historic landmark) and on to modern homes and buildings, including diners; this is New Jersey, after all." (New York Times (New Jersey section))

"This well-written survey of [Bergen] County's cultural resources . . . [has] sidebars highlighting people, places, and things that shaped the county's history. . . . Topics are emphasized using extant examples. The entire book is illustrated with black-and-white photographs of buildings, reprinted maps, drawings, and plans." (Choice)

"While the book will most likely find its way to library shelves and schoolrooms, it would be valued by anyone with a love of old houses, an interest in architecture, or with a school-age child likely to come up with a project involving the county's history. . . . The photographs paint a picture of the intriguing architectural diversity of Bergen County. There are the familiar stone houses built by the early farmers, the churches built during the Federal period (1775 to 1850), historic cemeteries, the picturesque homes of the late 1800s, and the turn-of-the century mansions designed by important local architects. . . . The book presents a fascinating look at the evolution of the county." (Record of Bergen County)

"Presents an accessible overview of the county's architectural history and historic structures. Illustrated with more than 150 photographs by Jim DelGiudice, this book documents the county's architectural treasures, building both awareness and appreciation for these structures and their history." (Suburban News)

"This comprehensive effort to detail the evolution of Bergen County's architecture was written primarily with the non-specialist in mind. . . . The book is amply illustrated, with photographs, drawings, and maps. It is arranged chronologically with all seventy of the county's municipalities and its complete array of architectural styles and building types represented." (New Jersey Gazette)

"When suffragette Elizabeth Cady Stanton drafted what eventually became the 19th Amendment to the Constitution, which gave women the right to vote, she lived in a Second Empire-style house in Tenafly. . . . Stanton's home and many others are surveyed in a new illustrated history of Bergen County's architecture, which starts with early structures including New Jersey's signature 18th- and 19th-century Dutch stone farmhouses, and ends with modern buildings of the mid- and late-20th century. . . . Filled with photos of picturesque homes and public buildings, including the Gothic Revival Hermitage in Ho-Ho-Kus, Brown and Warmflash have painstakingly crafted a compendium that will be at home both on Bergen County coffee tables and in the libraries of architecture buffs." (Rutgers Magazine)

"A long overdue tribute to New Jersey's important architectural legacy . . . Sweeping and intelligent treatment of our overlooked architectural treasures." (Robert D. Griffin president, Bergen County Historical Society)

About this edition

• Publisher: Rutgers University Press
• Publication date: 2000
• ISBN 10: 0813528674
• ISBN 13: 9780813528670
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 264