Mon. U to demolish Norwood Ave. home

80-year-old structure

has served as

president’s residence

BY SUE M. MORGAN

Staff Writer

In the summer of 2006, the president of Monmouth University could be watching students walk to and from classes from a new Norwood Avenue residence on a hill overlooking the West Long Branch campus.

Acting on the advice of as many as three outside architectural and engineering firms who deemed the present, deteriorating, three-story home at 10 Norwood Ave. beyond repair, the university’s board of trustees has decided to raze the existing, more-than-80-year-old structure and construct a smaller, yet similar residence in its place.

The cost of razing the old house, which has not been occupied since June 2003, and then rebuilding a new structure is estimated at $2.5 million, according to Patricia Swannack, the university’s vice president for administrative services.

After former university President Rebecca Stafford moved out upon her retirement 18 months ago, the university closed off the building to the public after architects and a structural engineer indicated that the building was unsafe for use, Swannack explained at a meeting with reporters at the campus last Thursday.

The new, two-story, 8,700-square-foot building, which like its predecessor, will serve in part as the residence for the university’s president. It will be named the Paul Doherty House in honor of the Monmouth graduate and former board of trustees chairman who has made a “very generous donation” toward its construction, Swannack said.

Doherty, retired from the board since June, remains a life trustee of the four-year university. Swannack would not disclose the amount of his contribution during last week’s meeting.

Though physically located not in West Long Branch, but in neighboring Ocean Township, the Norwood Avenue property is connected to the rest of the university by an asphalt walkway and small bridge running over the Whale Pond Brook.

Demolition permits from Ocean Township should be issued “any day now” with the actual razing of the 10,400-square-foot structure occurring by the end of the month, Swannack stated. Construction of the Doherty building on the existing home’s footprint is scheduled to begin next month with completion expected in June or July 2006, she added.

Because the use of the property is not changing, the university did not have to seek variances or site plan approval from the township, Swannack explained.

The Doherty House will be designed with a combination of Colonial and Victorian styles to resemble as much as possible the present-day building, which has two chimneys, numerous columns and a larger veranda wrapping around three sides of the home.

“The trustees wanted something comparable to what is there now,” Swannack said.

When finished and opened, the Doherty House will hold gathering space for university functions, meetings and receptions on its first floor. A commercial kitchen and restrooms compliant with Americans With Disabilities Act (ADA) standards will round out the first floor’s facilities.

Three suites, one to be used as the university president’s living quarters and the other two to house guests, will occupy the second floor. A separate elevator and stairwell will allow the president and guests to leave the home without interfering with any function on the first floor.

“We want to be able to make it as efficient as possible,” Swannack said.

A two-vehicle attached garage is one noticeable difference between the existing home and the newer home, according to an architectural rendering shown by Robert L. Cornero, the university’s associate vice president for campus planning and construction.

The unanimous decision to tear down the present-day home and replace it with a new building was made solely by the board of trustees after consulting with three different architectural and engineering firms including George Cooper Rudolph III, of Red Bank; Birdsall Engineering, of Tinton Falls; Kevin Summons, of Long Branch; and Cathy Daniels Zukerman, of New York, Swannack explained.

After reviewing cost estimates provided by those outside consultants of renovating the building compared to constructing a new house, the board decided it was more cost-effective to raze and rebuild, she went on.

“[The consultants] came back and told us we have significant problems,” Swannack said. “Everything we thought needed to be replaced needed to be replaced and more.”

The existing house lacks a full foundation and is in need of a new roof, siding, windows, heating and air-conditioning system, and electrical system, Swannack and Cornero said.

“The original electrical system is from the 1920s is still there,” Cornero said.

A fire alarm system and sprinklers need to be installed inside and a small, first-floor restroom is not compliant with the ADA standards, Swannack added.

The decaying brick that supports the columns in the house’s basement are held together by mortar mix using beach sand, which has softened over the years, Cornero explained.

“The building is being held together by compressed sand,” said Cornero, who later took reporters on a tour of the Norwood Avenue house.

Significant water damage marks the interior and exterior walls. Some walls are even cracked open as dripping water, probably from rain, and formed canals to separate them, Swannack continued.

The outside support columns, supporting much of the roof over the veranda, are deteriorating, an apparent casualty of aging and the elements, Swannack and Cornero noted.

Despite its age and history, the house is not listed on the state’s Historic Register or by the Ocean Township Historical Society as a century house, according to a fact sheet issued by the university.

Current President Paul G. Gaffney II, did not participate in the board’s discussions regarding the property’s fate, Swannack noted adding that such decisions are made by the trustees as a matter of protocol. Stafford, who lived in the existing house during the course of her decade-long tenure, did provide some suggestions to the board about what to do with the house.

About 50 West Long Branch and Ocean Township residents who live in the vicinity of the Norwood Avenue property came out to an informal informational meeting held Dec. 15 inside Woodrow Wilson Hall, Swannack explained. The meeting was not required by any governmental body, but was done as a courtesy to those neighbors, she added.

All of those in attendance welcomed the demolition and rebuilding plan, Swannack stated.

“It got a great reception. They absolutely love the new facility,” she said.

Most of the trees on the property will remain with one dead tree slated for removal, Cornero said. The house sits on just over five acres of land.

Built in the 1920s, the property was originally owned by Isaac and Lena Alpern who lost it to foreclosure in 1938, according to Swannack. The property was then sold to another family, the Levinsons in 1941, who in turn sold it for $1 to what was then Monmouth College in 1959, she continued.

From 1962 to 1983, 10 Norwood Ave. served as the college’s school of education before President Samuel Hays Megill moved in during his tenure. After leaving Monmouth in 1993, Stafford moved in.

The current driveway and gate will remain the same and a detached garage and nearby tennis courts will also remain on the property, Cornero said.