A Manhattan-based developer wants to restore the historic downtown Newark building where Louis Bamberger’s famous department store was founded in 1892.
The project to convert the long-vacant upper floors of the building at 141-149 Market Street into 99 apartments, received unanimous approval from the city’s Landmarks Commission. But the owner Ralph Braha still needs Planning Board approval before construction can begin.
Most people associate Bamberger’s department store with the flagship building at 115 Market Street, but that building opened in 1912, costing $2 million at the time. The building at 141-149 Market Street dates back to the late 19th century, and that’s where the famed department store got its start there in 1892.
In 1898, there was an addition put on the building, but the store still outgrew that location.
The department store remained in both buildings — there is rumored to be an underground tunnel connecting the two to facilitate deliveries — until Ohrbach’s moved into the building around the 1930s.
“Newark was the place to shop — everybody came downtown,” said Dave Robinson, principal at SUAD, the lead architects on the project.
Robinson said that the owner, Ralph Braha, intends to apply for state historic tax credits, which are offered to buildings listed on the National Register. The Four Corners Historic District was listed on the National Register in 2000.
SUAD is also involved in two nearby projects: the renovation of the old RKO Proctor Palace — an incredible landmark to the city’s vaudeville history — into a 38-unit apartment building and the restoration of a three-story brownstone at 126 Market Street. At the December meeting alone, there were two other developers who brought plans to restore three buildings in the Four Corners: at 27 and 29-31 Academy Street, and 186 Halsey Street.
“It’s a great trend that’s happening in Newark,” Robinson said. “These spaces have been vacant for generations; it’s going to change downtown. There will be people shopping, living, and working downtown — that’s what cities are for.”
“Our culture is to demolish and build new, and it shouldn’t be like that,” Robinson said. “This is our history and we need to preserve it.”
Despite the upper floors being vacant for about four decades, the intricate terracotta work and headstones over the windows have held up well, according to architect Brian Compertore, whose firm CTS Group was hired as a consultant. “They need minor repairs and repointing, but the majority of the decoration on this building is still in fairly good condition.”
One highlight of the restoration is removal of the aluminum signboards that covers the second-floor windows. These types of oversized billboards unfortunately still clutter Newark’s downtown district, despite the fact that zoning laws were changed to prohibit them.
The storefront will be restored to the way it appeared in the 1930s, with smaller retail signage and the former Orhbach’s sign will be recreated. Although the neighboring building on Halsey Street was demolished for a parking lot, it revealed a long-covered painted advertisement for Bamberger’s that Robinson’s firm will restore.
Although much of the building’s interior is “utilitarian” and lacked interesting design that could be preserved, the lobby of the Halsey Street entrance has the original floor tiles and elevator dials, Robinson said.
“We’re going to try to salvage those and incorporate them into the design,” he said.
