Cathedral House

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Cathedral House was built in 1941 as a parochial school for the nearby Trinity & St Phillips Episcopal Church.

Prominamt Newark architectural firm John and Wilson Ely designed the school in the popular Collegiate Gothic style. The father & son duo were responsible for some of the most iconic buildings in the city, most notablely the Newark National Tower. 

 The new school included three levels of classroom space, a 600 seat auditorium, and a chapel with stained glass windows and 20 foot ceilings. 

After the rebellion of 1967 Cathedral House was used as a venue during the National Conference of Black Power. Delegates from more than 120 cities convened in Newark to discuss a range of issues affecting the black population of the US. The timing was more or less coincidental, as the conference had already been scheduled. The event was more important and interesting than I could ever summarize, so I recommend reading up on it at Rise Up Newark.

When the New Jersey Performing Arts Center was built, a number of significant historic buildings were demolished to make space fpr it. The organization agreed to sign a protection agreement that stated they will not demolish more historic buildings in the area, including Cathedral House.

By 2001 the building underwent significant renovations to accomidate programs being offered by NJPAC. Arist Paula Scher installed her Supergraphics piece on the facade of the building, fully transforming the 60 year old structure into a modern learning space. 

For whatever reason, they never remediated the asbestos throughout the building as they were legally required to under N.J.S.A. 34:5A-32 passed almost 20 years prior. 

Despite the renovation NJPAC announced plans to demolish the building in 2022. They acknowledged the signed protection agreement from 1993 but claimed asbestos remediation would cost too much.  After a wave of outcry from residents and preservation officials, they backed off the plan and offered a modified proposal that would have preserved a large portion of the building. The new plan was well received among city officials.

However just four years later the organization once again stated they intended to demolish most of the building they intentionally left vacant. They once again cited the asbestos they illegally left inside the building as one of the main factors. After a vote from the preservation commision, many of whom had long personal ties to the arts center, the new plan was approved 5 - 2. 

Preservation New Jersey listed the building as one of their 10 most endangered histpric buildings of 2026. Unfortunately by that point the most significant architectural features of the interior of had already been irreparably damaged by demolition prep.

By the fall of 2026 the building was gone, with just one small section of the front entrance surviving. With this, NJPAC continues their legacy of being one of the most destructive forces towards the city's history. 

Thanks for learning with me. 

McCorry Brothers Funeral Home

Cliffside Park is one of a handful of small Hudson County towns that has been stuffing people into every corner for nearly a century. As the population continues to grow, longtime institutions are being pushed out in favor of more high density housing. The McCorry Brothers Funeral Home is one such example. 

Raymond and Clarence McCotry entered the funeral business in 1927. At that time they were operating out of a storefront along Anderson Avenue.

By 1942 the brothers moved their practice to 780 Anderson Ave. The new home had a dedicated prep room as well as a living space on the second floor.

They brothers expanded the building in the 1960s, adding new chapel spaces along Edgewood Lane.

The brothers announced in 2026 that they would be leaving their longtime home in Cliffside Park and consolidating services with the Hunt - Stellato funeral home in Fort Lee.

The McCory Brothers Funeral home was demolished in September of 2026, just a few short months after the move. 

Thankfully the families legacy will continue into the future at the new location.

Thanks for reading.

88 Glen Alpin Road

The lot at 88 Glen Alpin Road at one point held a lovely little residential compound with a home that dated back to 1885 as its centerpiece.

In addition to the house there was also a chicken coop and a shed building on the two and a half acre lot.

The home had sat vacant for ages before being purchased in 2021 by a new owner who intended to demolish and rebuild the main home. The historic preservation commission stepped with some concerns, even after touring the home and seeing the poor condition it was in. 

The new owner was eventually granted their permit and the main home was demolished in early 2026. The new home was rebuilt mostly on the same foundation and to a similar scale. 

While I'm always disappointed losing an old building, the home was definitely beyond any sort of reasonable salvage. Having the outbuildings saved and the proportions of the lot maintained is a very reasonable compromise. 

Thanks for reading.

Milton Gilbert House

Most of the houses built in Alpine these days are tacky, boring, and oversized. It wasn't always that way though. The residences built in the '60s and '70s often blended into their wooded surroundings, using natural materials often found on site. The plastic homes built today utilize the maximum square footage allowed while clear cutting and leveling the property, making an eyesore of a once lovely boro. A few older homes skirt the line of opulence and passivity. 11 Autumn Terrace was the best of the best. 

The Milton Gilbert House was a 12,600 sq. ft. mansion built in 1976 on 4 acres of land at the highest point in Alpine. 

Chicago born architect Norman Jaffe designed the home in a style uniquely his own. Jaffe was renowned for his innovative designs, most of which were out in the Hamptons on Long Island. 

The home had all the flourishes one would hope to see in a Jaffe design. Large windows stretched from the floor to the ceiling, which was also pierced by skylights. The natural light perfectly complimented the earthy finishes of the interior. 

Exposed natural stone walls rose from the white oak foors to support a ceiling made of clear tongue-and-groove cedar boards. Clear cedar is far more expensive than the knotty stuff, but no expense was spared for this home.

A large indoor pool took up a chunk of the north wing of the house. It was surrounded by a deck made of California Redwood and capped with the same clear cedar that ran throughout most of the home. Of course, a skylight allowed natural light to envelop the space. 

Although the Gilbert House was the first project to being Jaffe to Alpine he was commissioned to design four other projects in the small town over the next decade. Only one of these commissions was ever confirmed to have been built, the Karram House at 15 Marie Major Drive. 

The Gilberts left the home around 2003. It was then sold to a company called Canfield Enterprises. It was occupied for another decade before ultimately ending up vacant. 

A particularly annoying and amoral sub-sect of urban explorers, derisively known as "clout-bexers" developed a real fondness for extravagant vacant mansions around the time the covid pandemic was raging. These clowns unfortunately found and began trading the house around to each other so they could get attention on Tik Tok and YouTube. This caused a wave of vandals sweeping the building. The home was systematically destroyed over the course of just a few years as people smashed windows and left the doors to the house wide open. 

The mansion was sold again in 2022 to 11 Autumn LLC, this time for twelve million dollars. The new buyers decided the home was a total loss and needed to be demolished. Fortunately the property changed hands again in 2025 before anything happened to the home. The new owner added solar powered cameras to the property to put an end to the trespassing and vandalism.

Unfortunately the new security features were just prolonging the inevitable. The home got caught up in a wave of demolition that took out the Frick Mansion, 6 Charney, even 14 Autumn across the street. The Gilbert home was the last of this spate to come down in June of 2026. 

There will never be another home like the Gilbert House, especially not in Alpine. I would contend the loss of the home is the most significant unnecessary architectural loss the state has seen in 2026. I dread finding out what the next big loss will be.

Henry Clay Frick II Mansion

The Frick's are one of the most consequential families in American Industrial history. Henry Clay Frick and his partner Andrew Carnagie founded Carnagie Steel.While Andrew Carnagie built libraries for the underprivileged, his partner Henry did the opposite and invested tons of his money into art. He had more money than a person could spend in a lifetime, setting up a lavish family fortune. This wealth financed the construction of the home on Closter Dock Road that I'm discussing today. 

The home was built in the 1930's in an "English Manor" style on land that was owned by the Frick family since the 1800s. Behind house was a beautiful Victorian carriage house which almost certainly predated the home itself. 

In the early 1940s Frick attended Princeton University before graduating to the Columbia College of Physicians and Surgeons. He ended up going back to Columbia for work after some time working for the US Army medical corps. 

Frick got married to his first wife, Jane Allison Coates in 1945. Coates was also in the medical field, working as a nurses assistant at North Country Community Hospital on Long Island. 

In the 1960s Dr. Frick went to Vietnam where he volunteered in a field hospital during the war.

Coates and Frick got divorced in 1978. He ended up getting remarried in 1997 to Emily Troth Dupont. They continued to live in the mansion as the real estate market in Alpine continued to balloon. 

As Dr. Frick aged into his 80's he was diagnosed with Alzheimers. His property was so valuable developers were chomping at the bit to get their hands on it, knowing they could subdivide the huge parcel into several hefty pieces. A deal was made in 2006 to let the property go for $58 million which was the most valuable home sale in the entire country that year. 

There were two contingencies to the deal. Four fireplace mantels imported from Europe and valued at $400,000 were removed prior to the keys changing hands.

The other was that Dr. Frick would be able to continue to live out his life on the property in peace as his condition deteriorated. He passed away in February of 2007.

Developer Richard Kurtz had big plans for the Alpine property, and he got to work almost immediately building an absurdly large 30,000 square foot mega mansion southeast of the Frick home. 

By 2015 the home was back on the market, this tine on a much smaller lot. It was listed for $27.8 million, once again making headlines as the third most valuable listing in the state. 

The massive stone mansion which was built nearly a decade prior was still sitting vacant, as Kurtz was unable to find a buyer for the niche property. 

I was driving through Alpine one day in 2026 checking up on the home at 6 Charney when I drove past the old Frick mansion. I couldn't believe my eyes. 

The entire property had been torn up, the home had a big red X on the front as did the next four houses along Closter Dock Road. 

Heavy Machinery was actively chewing through the house next door, so I knew I didn't have long if I wanted to make it inside the 1930's manor. 

The demolition crew seemed focused on the home they were working on, so I carefully slipped behind the Frick mansion. 

The first thing I noticed were the incredible roses that enveloped the home. Im guessing they were planted by DuPont, as shes reported to have cultivated orchids in the greenhouse. 

I found an unlocked door out back which led me right into the foyer. I was shocked at how well kept the mansion was for such an old building. 

Unfortunately the mansion was unceremoniously demolished shortly after my visit. The three houses next door were also demolished. 

Its been pretty maddening to see firsthand the amount of money churning through the Alpine real estate market at a time when sp many people are suffering and hungry in this country. I'm sure this won't be the last multi million dollar mansion demolished this year.