December 2, 2015

Historic Designation Urged for Witherspoon-Jackson

At a lengthy and often emotional meeting of Princeton’s Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) Monday evening, a consultant to the municipality recommended that the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood be designated a local historic district.

A standing-room-only crowd including neighborhood residents, architects, and local officials packed the main meeting room at Witherspoon Hall to hear a presentation by Wise Preservation Planning, the Chester Springs, Pa. company hired to survey the area that has been home to the town’s African American community and other ethnic groups for generations. Following an informative presentation by longtime neighborhood resident and historian Shirley Satterfield, the HPC opened the floor to members of the community.

Several spoke passionately about how African Americans had landed in the Witherspoon-Jackson neighborhood after being forced out of other parts of town, and urged the HPC to vote in favor of recommending the measure to Princeton Council, which makes the final decision. Some other residents and property owners questioned the study’s conclusions and expressed concerns that creating a historic district would negatively affect the neighborhood.

At the start of his talk, Bob Wise said that he had prepared studies for many potential historic districts, but had never seen such a large turnout for a presentation. The company prepared a 110-page study covering the history and architecture of Witherspoon-Jackson, surveying 395 properties. They classified them into “contributing,” or buildings and sites more than 50 years old that retain their integrity, and “non-contributing,” defined as being up to 45 years old and altered to an extent that they no longer fit in with the neighborhood’s character. About 71 percent are considered contributing, and 19 percent non-contributing.

Four properties are considered key for obtaining the historic designation: the Paul Robeson House, Witherspoon Street Presbyterian Church, Dorothea’s House, and Witherspoon School. The consultants based their conclusions on the municipality’s own criteria as well as guidelines from the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office and the National Park Service Department of the Interior.

“The survey found the neighborhood to be a cohesive and intact expression of Princeton’s largest African American community, whose appearance and setting is a result of social, economic, and educational disparity brought about by discrimination and segregation,” the study reads. “The buildings and streetscape here, opposed to elsewhere in Princeton, tell this story; the district designation should help preserve it. The dense development, vernacular architecture, and associated religious, social, and commercial buildings make evident the incredible history that occurred here.”

While the study cites the representation of architectural styles including American Foursquare, Bungalow, and Italianate, the recommendation for designation is more about the history of the neighborhood than it’s streetscape. The Wise company began by studying a mostly rectangular area just north of Nassau Street, bounded roughly by Witherspoon Street, Paul Robeson Place, Bayard Lane, and Birch Avenue. During the course of the study, the boundaries were adjusted slightly to include both sides of Birch Avenue and Witherspoon Street. A small number of buildings on Witherspoon Street including two properties south of Paul Robeson Place and Witherspoon Lane were included, both on the west side of the street.

Jay Craig, an 85-year-old resident who has lived in the neighborhood all his life, spoke of his painful experiences with discrimination and called Princeton University “one of the most bigoted, segregated universities in the country.” Mr. Craig urged the HPC to vote for recommending the designation. “This is not complicated,” he said. “This is either or. You will either do the best you can, or leave it in the hands of greed merchants or the Gordon Gekkos of the world.”

Former Princeton Borough Mayor Jim Floyd, Princeton Nursery School executive director Wendy Cotton, former Borough Mayor Yina Moore, and resident Bernadine Hines were among others who spoke in favor of the recommendation. So did Louise Wilson, a resident of the neighborhood for only the past five months, and John Heilner, who lives in Princeton’s western section. Responding to those who said the designation might result in a decline in property prices, Mr. Heilner said that studies show otherwise. He urged the commission to recommend establishing the district as soon as possible.

“Every passing month there are more teardowns, with construction of much larger houses — houses are lost; housing that’s affordable is lost; in revaluations taxes increase on surrounding properties due to higher ‘land value’ attributed to new large structures next door,” he said.

Al Carnevale, a new resident of Birch Avenue in the neighborhood, said he worried creating a historic district could make taxes go up. “What’s the whole package?” he asked. “What is the effect on pricing, taxes, and fixing our homes?”

More than one member of the public wanted to know just what the restrictions on improvements and construction would be if the neighborhood became a historic district. Members of the HPC said the rules already in place for Princeton’s existing historic districts would be followed in Witherspoon-Jackson. Mr. Wise recommended that the HSP be flexible about the use of materials such as vinyl and aluminum should the district be designated. He said the town should create visual guidelines for renovation projects and new construction based on the streetscapes and the architecture of each property.

The HPC plans to vote on whether to approve, modify, or reject the recommendation at another special meeting on December 7 at 4 p.m. If it is endorsed, the measure then goes to Council which makes the final decision. If the governing body votes to create the district, an ordinance would be introduced early next year.