Sunday, March 30, 2014

Genesis Towers/ Roseville Imperial Towers

Construction was competed on this ten story residential fortress in 1938. Standing high over this notoriously violent section of Newark, the Genesis towers boasted a classy renaissance revival exterior. The massive building held 273 units, making it one of the largest "project" buildings in the city at just under 230,000 square feet.




Just yards from the train and major interstates, the neighborhood is the only thing holding back the development of this property. The building has been shuttered for decades, causing a number of structural issues. One such issue is the heavy iron fencing along the roof line, which has been falling down over the years and has since been mostly removed.




 When we entered the building, our footsteps echoed down the hallways, across the courtyard where trees continue to grow. It became quickly apparent that nobody had been inside this building in years. There was no graffiti, no signs of squatting, and no garbage.








 As we made our way to the roof, we developed a sense of fear; what could be the reason that nobody has visited this massive structure, which is clearly visible from Rt. 280? As we were wondering this, we decided it may be time to head out, before we run into a pissed off caretaker or owner.



However, it is very hard to find your way around buildings like this. It all looks the same. After finding a window to exit through, my girlfriend discovered the reason the building was never entered; a lone Rottweiler was sitting by the front entrance to the building. We had failed to notice all of the "ATTACK DOG ON PREMISES" signs outside of the building. 




 As she sat there, half of her body hanging out the window, a neighbor spotted us through his window. Clearly he wasn't happy with the two people who were hanging out inside this ruin. We quickly backtracked to our entrance and hastily walked back to our vehicle. We had enough of the towers.


After seeing somebody post on Reddit that they were working on the building, I decided to take a trip back down to Roseville. I discovered that the metal along the roofline had been mostly scrapped, the building was re secured, and a pit bull was inside with the Rottweiler.




We got lucky when we ran into the rotty, but this pit bull was mean. Really mean. He had a killer look in his eye as I looked in from the sidewalk. I decided to move on and check out some other things in the area,




The towers are supposed to be renovated to once again be put to residential use. While that would be better than demolition, I cant help but feel like I will one day find myself stepping quietly through this building again.

14 comments:

  1. I used to live in buildings very similar to these. I figure they are down or up the tracks from here a little ways. We lived on the 9th floor and the dang elevator was out most of the time. The halls and stairwells were dirty.
    My brother was not very nice to me and as a toddler I didn’t understand. He got me to hang out the window with him holding me then coached me to do it when no one was home! It created quite a stir and my sister had horrible reaction to seeing me hanging like that. She ran up the 9 flights and pulled me in. I don’t recall it well but have been told often enough. I went to a preschool or kindergarten nearby but only for a little while as the people who ran it didn’t like me and made me sit in the hallway. When my mother found out she had a huge fight with them that day and I never went back after that.
    It was a big deal in our family that we ended up living there. Both sides shunned, shamed and humiliated us.
    One day I can’t recall exactly when I was flipping channels and on one I saw those buildings, they had a different color brick, and I stopped. Then in about 5 or 6 seconds the buildings started to collapse. They were being demolished. It was cathartic for me though I didn’t really know why at the time. It took a while, before it occurred to me what that place was to me, thus explain why it would cause that reaction in me.

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  2. Someone is parking mini-buses on site

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  3. Wow I too grew up in buildings very similar to these. We called them the Dayton street projects but were officially the Kretchmer public housing development. I too was one day randomly channel surging and I came upon a news channel showing the buildings I grew up in being demolished. I too felt it to be anti cathartic. Like it was no big deal. But then I later thought to myself, I realized I will ever be able to show someone where it was I used to run around where I played.

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  4. Dogs are not my thing but hell that is very intimidating way to secure a property. Christ!

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  5. I lived here when I was 7 until the age of 10...I believe this building went by another name "The Macavoy Court". It once had a pool and pent house on the very top floor of one of the units. I lived on the 9th floor but can't remember which building/unit I lived in... I can be honest ...I have recurring nightmares of this place. It just wasn't a good place..at that time...the elevator would always be out of order. We would go into another unit and take the elevator to the 9th floor. When we got off we would use the exit to access the roof..we then cross the roof to get to our unit. I was just a kid..but we didn't want to walk up all the flights of steps. Eventually it got worst..new management..they rented to anyone. Drugs..rapes(one of the little girls I played with who lived in the building)..break ins...Someone climbed down from the roof in to our window ..remind you the 9th floor!!! This person attacked my sister who had fell asleep in the living room. We eventually moved out right after that... I always fear this place but I felt I just needed to see what it look like again..not sure why..I'm 42 now..but I felt I needed to face it again in some way by looking at these photos. Thank you to the person brave enough to visit this place!

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    1. Facts the Mac lol I remember this place still as if it was yesterday. I lived on the 6 floor and I believe the 9th or 10th too...It was crazyyy when I was growing up stolen cars all.....The Mac in the early 90s was the best time

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    2. My aunt & cousin lived there in the 90’s and I remember it being a fun place to go visit, especially with the pool on the roof, but I had to be really young. Maybe 5 or 6. What’s crazy is that I’ve lived in North Newark for majority of my childhood, & I never considered it to be so bad or unsafe. I thought it was the best place ever. We always passed that building to go to the chicken shack Detroits.

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    3. Wow, I didn’t know how bad it was back then. I guess I didn’t notice those things as a kid visiting relatives. I pass the building often even now & I get so nostalgic about it & have the urge to want to see the inside. Thanks for sharing your story!

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    4. If you left at 10 and you are about 45 now (2023), then you left at around 1988?

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  6. The buildings has 9 Pitbull's living there with a full time security team I wouldn`t try that again. If you enter it is on your own risk.

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    1. honestly, haven't ever run into an issue, been at least half a dozen times in the past 6 months haha

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    2. Wow, I didn’t know how bad it was back then. I guess I didn’t notice those things as a kid visiting relatives. I pass the building often even now & I get so nostalgic about it & have the urge to want to see the inside. Thanks for sharing your story!

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  7. You should make sure you wear protective boots and clothing. I survived a dog attack which left my leg disfigured. Be careful.

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