Aerial photos taken from a drone show that most of the original part of the Doris Duke home remains intact, claims the group fighting the demolition of the house.
The drone photos, taken on Sunday, March 13, at about 10:30 a.m., indicate that while removal of the so-called Hollywood wing was significant, the older part of the residence building is largely intact.
Duke Farms has long blocked the 50 acres or so around the house from the public.
“Our estimate is that 95 percent of Doris Duke’s main residence was untouched by the demolition madness that Duke Farms perpetrated on the community last Saturday, March 5,” said Suzanne Ochse, a member of the group DORIS, an acronym for Demolition Of Residence Is Senseless.
“We are excited about how little damage has taken place, since it means that the main residence can readily be rebuilt,” she said.
Duke Farms had its right to demolish the former home — which has been closed since the 1994 and mothballed for at least 10 years— upheld March 4. Superior Court Judge Yolanda Ciccone rejected the opposition group’s request to force a township commission to rehear the application to allow the demolition of what opponents claim is a historic structure in the 2,500-acre estate in northern Hillsborough.
Duke Farms had a construction crew begin work on Saturday and DORIS secured an emergency stay from Superior Court Appellate Judge Allison Accurso at almost midnight Saturday to stop the work pending an appeal of Judge Ciccone’s decision.
David Brook, an attorney volunteering his time for DORIS, said Monday he filed a brief of 345 pages with a two-volume set of exhibits with commission hearing transcripts last Friday. Duke Farms and the township have until today, Friday, March 18, to submit rebuttal briefs.
“The fight now is to get the two judges to agree that we are likely to win this case in the end, so that they will make the stay of the demolition more long-lasting so that they can rule on the merits of our case,” Mr. Brook wrote in a note to members of DORIS.
“If we win this motion, then the case will be scheduled for briefing and oral argument on these issues over many months.”
Duke Farms maintains the residence doesn’t have a role in its mission of environmental sustainability and preservation. Michael Catania, the executive director of Duke Farms, said that Duke Farms intends to erect interpretive signs and “leave some vestiges of the building,” like bluestone terraces and the building’s stone walls that are both part of the foundation and near the house.
The roughly 50 acres around the house will be ultimately be opened to the public, he said, especially from a back entrance off the Raritan Borough side of the property.
Duke Farms Foundation wants to raze the 65,000-square-foot building and open that part of the property to the public.
Duke Farms applied in June to the township for a demolition permit. After three hearings, the Historic Preservation Commission ruled, 6-1, in October to allow the process to apply for the permit to proceed.
Duke Farms was granted the permit, but held off the final demolition until the court appeal was decided. As it waited, Duke Farms contracted with a company that has been “salvaging” items like mantels, fixtures and woodworking and selling them on the Internet.
If DORIS is successful in its appeal, the group says it will seek to have the court order Duke Farms to rebuild and restore the Hollywood wing or seek other means to compensate the community for its loss.
“Restoration of the main residential structure is something that DORIS and large numbers of the community are committed to pursuing,” said Ms. Ochse.
Mr. Brook said he delivered the original brief seeking a longer-lasting stay to the Appellate Division clerk in Trenton.
Since the court wanted papers delivered directly to each judge, it meant DORIS members drove to offices in Newark and Linwood, as well as the office for Hillsborough’s lawyer in Warren and the Duke Foundation in Florham Park.
