READY TO ROLL: The former Court Clubhouse, hoisted onto steel beams, will be rotated 180 degrees and rolled across Prospect Avenue the week of February 13 to be set on its new foundation. A section of Prospect Avenue between Olden Street and Murray Place will be closed to traffic for about four weeks starting February 1.  (Photo courtesy of Clifford Zink)

By Donald Gilpin

The former Court Clubhouse has been hoisted from its current location at 91 Prospect Avenue, with steel beams and hydraulic jacks inserted below the first floor. Dollies are ready to be placed below the steel beams so the building can rotate 180 degrees and roll across Prospect Avenue to its new location.

The rotation is expected to take three days, currently scheduled for the week of February 13, and it will then take one day to roll the clubhouse across the street and set it on its new foundation adjacent to 114 Prospect, according to a January 20 Princeton University press release.

Constructed in 1927 as the Court Club, one of the University’s eating clubs, the building had more recently served as the home of Princeton’s Office of the Dean for Research. A University plan to move it across the street to a location occupied by three Queen Anne Victorian houses, which were to be demolished, met with resistance from the community and many University alumni until, in October 2021, the University came up with a compromise plan to preserve all three houses. One of the houses, 110 Prospect, was moved last fall to make room for the clubhouse building.

Sandy Harrison, a 1974 Princeton University graduate and board chair of the Princeton Prospect Foundation, a leading force in negotiating the University-community compromise, expressed his gratification at seeing the completion of the 91 Prospect move.

“Princeton Prospect Foundation is very pleased that the moving of the former Court Clubhouse is about to come to fruition after months of public hearings and ultimately successful negotiations with the University in 2021 to preserve it in a manner which also keeps three Victorian-era houses across the street from being demolished.”

He continued, “After the move is completed, everyone should next look forward to witnessing the renovation of all four historic buildings so that they will retain their original distinctive qualities and also be highly functional for hopefully many decades to come.”

Emphasizing that moving and restoring the clubhouse building serves the goal of maintaining the character of Prospect Avenue, University Architect Ron McCoy, as quoted in the University press release, noted, “Moving a building is exciting, but this is an especially symbolic moment. It signifies a transformation of the University’s institutional commitments and weaving those together with the interests of the community.”

Historic preservation consultant Clifford Zink, author of The Princeton Eating Clubs and a leader in negotiating with the University, highlighted the benefits of the compromise for all involved. 

“It’s impressive seeing the University’s work to move the former Court Clubhouse, as it was seeing the move last fall of 110 Prospect Avenue, the former Key and Seal Clubhouse,” said Zink. “It shows the benefit of the compromise in 2021 — preservation of the former clubhouses and the two adjacent Victorian houses, while the University will build its Theorist Pavilion as its Prospect Avenue entrance to its ES-SEAS [Environmental Studies-School of Engineering and Applied Sciences] development.”

Zink added that the Prospect Avenue Historic District, approved by Princeton Council last year as part of the compromise, will guide the continuing preservation of this key element of Princeton history.

Starting on February 1, in preparation for the building move, a section of Prospect Avenue between Olden Street and Murray Place will be closed to most traffic, with some detoured walkways for pedestrians over the next four weeks.

Local vehicle access to residences, eating clubs, Bobst Hall, the Prospect Avenue Garage, EQuad buildings, and the apartments at 120 Prospect will be accommodated during the closure, according to the University press release.

Preparations for the move, underway for months, are being overseen by the University’s construction manager, Whiting-Turner, and Expert House Movers of Sharptown, Md.

The University press release reports that, after arriving in its new location, the clubhouse building will be renovated to include new office and conference spaces for the dean of research’s office and a larger veranda in the back. It will also be made fully accessible.

The current 91 Prospect site will become the location of an open space and pavilion leading to a new building for chemical and biological engineering and continuing into a “necklace” of connected buildings expanding the University’s engineering and environmental facilities.

“In our overarching effort to be good stewards of our history, we realized that we could move the building, maintain its current functionality as a whole for the Office of the Dean for Research, and preserve the character of the street, while still allowing us to realize the vision for Environmental Studies and the School of Engineering and Applied Science,” said McCoy.

The three Victorian houses on the north side of Prospect are all owned by the University. Both 110 and 114 will be used as residences, and 116 will contain business offices.