The crown jewel of the Monmouth County Park System, Thompson Park Visitor Center in Middletown, which was destroyed by a fire in February 2006, will begin its rebuilding phase.
FILE PHOTO Firemen fight the blaze at the Thompson Park Visitor Center, Middletown, in February 2006. M&M Construction, Union, submitted the lowest of nine qualified bids to rebuild the 20,000-square-foot colonial revival mansion.
The Monmouth County Board of Recreation Commissioners awarded a $7.1 million contract Monday, Nov. 5, to M&M Construction that will be covered by a November 2006 insurance settlement between the Hartford Fire Insurance Co. and the Board of Chosen Freeholders.
The bid came in under the county’s preliminary construction cost budget estimate, but the insurance payment will cover the actual cost of the reconstruction, according to a press release from the Monmouth County Park System.
Insurance will also cover the cost of replacing furniture, office equipment, architect fees, construction management and other related costs.
“We are eager to get this rebuilding effort under way as we look forward to seeing the new and improved Visitor Center take shape,” Freeholder Deputy Director Lillian G. Burry, liaison to the Park System, said in the release.
“The new Thompson Park Visitor Center will be rebuilt on the original mansion site and will have similar architectural character with an enhanced and slightly larger rear wing. These improvements will provide additional public program space and be fully accessible.”
The exterior of the reconstructed visitor center will include replicas of the windows and doors on the old building and chimneys and porch elements that were salvaged from the fire.
It will be painted to match the yellow and dark green color scheme of the original building and feature the same white Doric columns in front.
Though the design comes from the former structure, it will be modernized to include accessibility on all levels, an elevator and a full sprinkler center, according to the press release.
Farewell Mills Gatsch Architects of Princeton developed the plans in conjunction with the park system staff “to create a facility that will serve the needs of a growing county in the future,” the release states.
On Feb. 6, 2006, the 110-year-old Geraldine Thompson mansion was set ablaze in a fire that destroyed the entire visitor center. A $3 million renovation was nearing completion at the time.
According to fire officials, subcontractors using a torch to install gutter downspouts were responsible for the fire.
The visitor center at the time had 15 permanent employees in the building, 10 of which were on duty at the time of the blaze. No injuries were reported by park employees or from the more than 120 firefighters present on the scene.
Beginning in the western wing of the building, the fire spread throughout the entire building within hours.
All six Middletown fire companies, as well as assistance from Red Bank and Tinton Falls, Holmdel and Colts Neck EMS, were called to assist at the scene.
Efforts to combat the blaze were complicated when, 40 minutes into the rescue effort, the water supply was accidentally cut off due to a radio error, forcing all of the firefighters to evacuate.
Thompson Park was donated to the Monmouth County Park System in 1967 by Geraldine Thompson, a political activist who made significant political achievements years before the suffrage movement recognized the right of women to vote.
The 40-room colonial revival mansion was built in 1896 and was the centerpiece of the Brookdale Farm, property that would eventually become Brookdale Community College, the Lincroft School and Thompson Park.
The Visitor Center had reopened to the public only 11 months prior and had been closed for renovations since October 2000.
The mansion included an entire floor devoted to public use as historical galleries and rooms for the many public programs the park offers.
It was the first fire at the building since 1923.
A recovery plan for the mansion began later that year, through which pieces inside and outside the mansion, including a chimney and objects from the porch, were salvaged.
No timetable has been set as yet for the reconstruction.