Supreme Court Rules Doris Dukes Mansion Will Be Demolished

Hillsborough, NJ -- It's official. Doris Dukes Mansion will be demolished.

Judges in the Appellate and Supreme Courts have both agreed to allow Dukes Farm Foundation to continue with the demolition of the unoccupied 65,000-square-foot mansion formerly owned by Doris Duke in order to make it more accessible to the public.

Supreme Court Justice Lee A. Solomon made the decision on Monday.

"We are gratified by both decisions but not surprised," Dukes Farms Foundation Executive Director Michael Catania told Patch. "We thought we did everything appropriately and fully expected the courts to uphold the granting of the demolition."

Demolition had initially began on March 5 beginning with the Hollywood Wing of the mansion being torn down.

However, an emergent motion was filed on March 6 by David Brook, the attorney for DORIS (Demolition of Residence Is Senseless) -- a group fighting the demolition.

Appellate Court Judges Douglas N. Fasciale and Carol E. Higbee denied the group's motion on Friday, March 18, according to Hillsborough Township Attorney Bill Willard.

Brook then filed another emergent motion to the Supreme Court, which was denied by Solomon on Monday. With this decision, the DORIS group has exhausted all means of stopping the project, Willard said.

"You've got to hand it to them," Willard told Patch. "They were passionate about something, got behind something passionately and did take it all the way."

Members of DORIS posted on Facebook:

"What a sad day"

"Sad, the end of a large part of Hillsborough history."

Although the ruling was in the Duke Farms Foundation favor, Catania was unhappy with how the situation was handled.

"It's really a shame this turned so nasty and personal," Catania said. "Reasonable people can disagree but the way they handled it, we are frankly mystified by that."

Catania said the foundation doesn't know when demolition will resume as they are currently working with the contractor to confirm a date.

Once the mansion is demolished the foundation is looking to open up the 50-acre property to the public which is surrounded by gardens, fountains and waterfalls.

It was originally scheduled to be opened to the public this spring but with the litigation, Catania estimates the official opening will be in the fall or spring of 2017.

(Photo from DORIS Facebook)