The first five listed are legitimate, but Parkview is the name of a proposed historic district that would consist of several blocks in the center of Jersey City.
The blocks would include Madison Avenue, Bramhall Avenue, Crescent Street, Jackson Avenue, and sections of Clinton Avenue, Monticello Avenue, and Grand Street.
Madison Avenue contains a slew of brownstones that were once called "Doctors Row" because doctors lived their, with their servants on the top floors.
The proposed name of Parkview comes from the several city-operated parks that are located within this proposed historic district, including Arlington Park on Grand Street, Cornelius Parker Park on Madison Avenue between Bramhall and Clinton Avenues, and Monticello Avenue Park between Bramhall and Clinton Avenues.
How it happens
The historic districts in Jersey City are geographic areas designated by the government to have historical importance. They are also overlay zones that regulate how new developments must be compatible with the architecture of the existing historic structures. Alterations and improvements of historic structures must be done with minimum interference to the historic features of the building.
Historic districts are usually created by a City Council via approval of an ordinance.
Madison Avenue
Leading the way for the first historic district to be created in nearly 20 years are two people - Marcia Adams, a Madison Avenue resident since 2001 and president of the Madison Avenue Block Association, and recent Grand Street resident George Fontenette.
"I brought up the idea to my neighbors that it was a historical community, and they think it is a historic community," Adams said last week. "And [they] have agreed with me that it should become a historic district."
Adams said she believes during the summer of 2006, Parkview will become a reality.
At Tuesday's meeting of the Madison Avenue Block Association at St. John Baptist Church on Bramhall Avenue, area residents who would be affected by a historic district discussed this issue.
The characteristics
Why would Parkview be considered a legitimate historic district? If one was to start walking around Madison Avenue and other blocks within this proposed historic district, he/she would see the many brownstones and rowhouses, many of which date back to the 1870s.
Adams said when she first moved on the block to live with her son Jeffrey and his family; she was taken aback at some of the most beautiful architecture she had laid eyes upon.
"These brownstones are unique in their own way, and they are beautiful with the high ceilings and the designs," said Adams. "I feel we need to save our history, and this is one way to accomplish it. I don't know why can't we became historic like Downtown [Jersey City] and Hoboken."
The proposed historic district also gives the resident or visitor a sense of gravitas that comes from the city's oldest churches in the vicinity - St. John Baptist Church, St. Patrick's Church and Salem Baptist Church, to name a few - and other solemn places such as the Parker Funeral Home on Clinton Avenue and the old Masonic Temple across the street from the funeral home.
Adams also sees the historic district as a way to ward off the rapid development of the city that is close to encroaching upon the "Parkview" proposed area. She says she already sees this happening in the Bergen-Lafayette section of the city.
But even more important, the historic district would accelerate a renaissance that is taking place on the block. Adams remembers a time only a few years ago when the beauty of the area was marred by some ugly activity.
"When I first moved in, we had the drug dealers on the corner of Bramhall and Madison," said Adams. "I had to get a dog when people would knock on your door, coming from New York City at 2 a.m. and asking for drugs, and I think people should not live like that." A renaissance
Adams and her neighbors have been helping to bring about some of that renaissance with the pursuit of the renovation of Cornelius Parker Park, which Adams said will begin either in June or July of next year.
Adams also has found an ally in Fontenette for her mission. Fontenette is a New York City studio musician who, with his wife, found a home in the last two years on Grand Street, south of Communipaw Avenue.
"I thought I was the only one who thought of a historic district for this area, but when I met up with Adams, I found a friend," said Fontenette. Fontenette, along with his neighborhood group, the Upper Grand Street Block Association, has been trying to acquire land on the corner of Grand Street and Clinton Place to develop an arts center and a community café. At last Wednesday's City Council meeting, Fontenette spoke to the council on his plans for an arts center.
Fontenette said that the desires to develop an arts center and to create a historic district are related.
"It is about getting people to take charge of their own destiny. This area needs a boost because sometimes you see some people around here with a sense of hopelessness," said Fontenette. Becoming Parkview
What would make Parkview a legitimate historic district? According to Adams, the groundswell must start with the residents.
Adams said she already mailed documents to residents who live within the proposed Parkview Historic District. She also has brought Jersey City historic experts to block association meetings to explain how historic districts work.
Those experts have included the city's historic preservation officer Dan Wrieden and the founder of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy, John Gomez. Gomez has consulted Adams on the creation of the historic district.
"I am a big fan of [the area]. Those brownstones on Madison Avenue made up what was once known as Doctors' Row, with many doctors owning homes on that block and they had their servants on the top floors," said Gomez. "And it is also an intact 19th century brownstone district, which makes it rare in Jersey City."
Adams also said that Wrieden has a blueprint of the district drawn up. Wrieden could not be reached for comment last week.
And then there's the City Council, who would approve a study to be made of a historic district by the Planning Board. Once the Planning Board makes a recommendation for a historic district, the City Council can approve it.
City Council President Mariano Vega said after last week's City Council meeting that "the council is in the mood now" to create additional historic districts in the city including the proposed Parkview and also a section of Monticello Avenue in the vicinity of McGinley Square. Not everyone has the same (Park) view
Adams conceded that there are neighbors who still do not quite understand historic districts. And she said some are adamantly opposed to the idea because of what she called a misconception that residents would be told how to maintain their homes up to historic standards both interior and exterior, when only the exterior would be affected.
Joyce Booker, whose family has lived at 22 Madison Ave. for many years, said she did not receive documents regarding the historic district.
"I believe [Adams] doesn't intend for everybody to receive," she said. "For those that she thinks that will definitely, beyond the shadow of a doubt, present some form of opposition, she didn't intend to be a recipient."
Booker said she attended one previous block association meeting where she learned about historic districts and came away unimpressed.
"What I was able to surmise based on what was stated [was] that the exterior of the buildings would have to coincide with the guidelines," said Booker. "There was no mention of compensation or any means of making grants available to make these necessary changes."
Booker also said that the historic district concept is not "advantageous to the community at large." But she said that if she received more information, she would consider changing her mind. Ricardo Kaulessar can be reached at rkaulessar@hudsonreporter.com
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