Art Gallery On Historic Hoboken Corner To Be Replaced By Real Estate Firm

HOBOKEN, NJ — A longtime civic association and art gallery space on Hoboken's Main Street are being replaced by a real estate agency, according to signage that appeared in the windows last week.

For many years, 1200 Washington St. hosted the Beth Mason Civic League and doubled as an art gallery.

Mason had been a founder of Hoboken's People for Open Government (POG) and served on the City Council. But she ran unsuccessfully for mayor in 2009.

Even after leaving politics, she kept her Civic League and served on the Hoboken Housing Authority board.

A spokesperson said of the league on Tuesday, "We are very much still active and engaged in the community." Information is here.

The windows now bear the name of NestSeekers International, a firm with offices across the country.

Historical Significance

The building was part of the El Dorado Apartments, built around 1892 by the Hoboken Land and Improvement Company and designed by architect Charles Fall. They were added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1978 (see the application here). A plaque on the 12th Street side gives information to passersby.

"The four Washington Street properties are also representative of the rapid physical growth and urbanization of the city of Hoboken in the last decades of the 19th century and of the acceptance of apartments as a type of residence for the middle class," notes the application for the site.

The apartments suffered a fire in 1981 in which 11 people died. They were four adults and seven of their children, newspaper accounts said. Read more about that here.