Small Details in our Curb Appeal

Reclaimed Property

We started planning and designing our back yard and while taking measurements, we discovered that our property was 3 to 4 feet shorter than what was stated on our survey.

Unfortunately located direclty behind the fence, was a concrete patio. In order to move the fence to the rear of our property line, we would have to cut the patio and remove the remaining concrete. Carl called his friend Tommy from ETEC, who was willing to help us with this project.

Tommy and Earl came by one Saturday with all the necessary equipment, they proceeded to cut the cement patio and then showed us how to use the jack hammer.

Things started slow but the more we used the machine, we became more confortable and we were able to move faster. Within few hours we had broken up the remaining patio that was on our property and temporarely relocated the fence.

It was a lot of work but definately worth the extra 3 feet of space. We appreciate Tommy and Earl stopping by to help us and especially for lending us their jack hammer, otherwise it would have taken us forever to break up the cement with a sledge hammer.

 



2nd Floor Rear Bedroom

After Manny relocated the mantel and hearth to the parlor floor, we were left with quite a mess and unfortunately, more work to get the room ready to become our walk in closet.

We had to remove the remaining plaster from the brick, the cement where the hearth was located and in the fireplace firebox. We decided to pour a fresh layer of cement in the hole we created, to help prepare the area for the contractor so he can patch the floor with new hardwood flooring. Hopefully we did this correctly and didn’t create more work for him. Time will tell.

Located next to the fireplace was a pair of built-in bookshelves that we decided to demo. We tried to incorporate the shelves into our design, but figured removing them would open up the space and give us more room for the installation of our new closets.

Our next step will be to cover the brick with sheetrock to enclose the firebox and give the wall a nice finished look.

Moving of the Mantel

The house was originally constructed with five marble fireplace mantels. Unfortunately the parlor level fireplace was closed off and the mantel removed by a previous owner.

We plan on using the rear 2nd floor bedroom as a walk in closet, and decided to move the mantel (from the bedroom) down to the parlor floor where a fireplace once existed.

Since it was a detailed job we hired a professional, Manny Lassalle. Manny and his crew did an amazing job relocating the mantel and opening up the wall to exposed the firebox. Everything went well and we are extremely happy with the results.

2nd Floor Rear Bedroom

Dismantling of the Mantel

Opening up the original firebox on parlor level

Parlor Floor Living Room

History

The first settlement west of Manhattan Island, named by the Dutch as New Netherland, was made shortly after 1629 when Michael Pauw bought an expansive tract from the Lenni Lennape Indians. The first tract, called “Hobocan Hackingh” by the Lennape, covered roughly the current boundaries of Hoboken. The second tract consisted of two parts, “Harsimus” and “Aressick”, extending south from the present day Jersey City/Hoboken border through the Bayonne peninsula.

When the Dutch arrived, Harsimus Cove was a marshy shallow mudflat with a rise of land. Under the colonization plan of the Dutch West India Company, Pauw was required to settle fifty persons on the land. Cornelius Van Vorst, sent by Pauw to establish a plantation, arranged to settle the farmers and built his family home on Harsimus Cove.

John B. Coles, a flour merchant, served in the New York Senate (1799-1802) and was one of the thirty-five investors in the Associates of the Jersey Company. In 1804, he purchased the northern half of the Harsimus Island where he laid out the city’s first blocks of what became downtown Jersey City. Development of the area progressed slowly. In 1827, Coles laid out plans for a park on a map in the northern center of the Harsimus area, but he died shortly thereafter.

 

Map of Jersey City 1850

Hamilton Park is the center of the Hamilton Park Historic District in downtown Jersey City. Over the years it has maintained its bordering tree-lines streets with rows of Victorian brownstones from the post-Civil War era.

The park is named after Alex Hamilton. He was the aide-de-camp of General George Washington during the Revolutionary War and later the nation’s first secretary of the treasury under president Washington.

Most of the houses in the Hamilton Park were built between 1850 and 1890. Row houses provide the defining characteristics of the Hamilton Park streetscape. Mostly constructed from brick with stone or iron exterior details and wood cornices, blocks of attached row houses were built following the Civil War. The houses on our street were built in twos and can be dated at about 1880.

 

Hamilton Park 2010