Old Police Station Named One of Ten Most Endangered Historic Sites in NJ

The day after the old police station’s fate was considered by the Township Committee and Maplewood residents, the statewide group Preservation New Jersey announced that the building was one of the ten most endangered historic sites in the state. The designation, which comes a year after the Township Committee voted against designating the station and surrounding building as a local historic district, does not come with any enforcement.

Virginia Kurshan, Chair of the Maplewood Historic Preservation Commission, wrote in a testimonial that the old police station, along with the library and other buildings surrounding Memorial park, are a “cohesive group of the town’s most significant public buildings.”

“As the loss of even one of the elements that make up this cohesive group would significantly diminish the integrity of the ensemble as a whole and it’s effective representation of a unique transitional period in Maplewood’s history, the threat to the Maplewood Police Headquarters is of great concern,” Kurshan said in the testimonial.

According a Preservation New Jersey press release, selections to the 2009 Ten Most Endangered list are based on three criteria: historical significance and architectural integrity, the critical nature of the threat identified and the likelihood that inclusion on the list would have a positive impact on efforts to protect the site.

At a special town meeting over the police station on Monday May 18, the Township Committee heard from two prospective developers for the old police station site. Kurshan said she was encouraged by the proposal from Ecological Development, who said they would use much of the existing structure, and sustainable building methods, to build a medical facility on the property.

The other proposal, by Mark Built Homes, would employ some green construction methods, such as re-using parts of the old building. But they would knock down the structure to build up a new one, which would contain 50 units of rental housing.