New Jersey Ave School

New Jersey Avenue School was built in 1925 to replace a smaller structure. The old school was racially segregated, while the new building was meant to be integrated. It offered kindergarten all the way through eighth grade. 

The building was designed to be open to the public for concerts and various civic events. Because of this the classrooms were all on one side of the building, apart from the gym and auditorium.

The 350 seat auditorium was beautifully decorated. The stage spanned almost the entire width of the room, while chandeliers hung from the ceiling. 

The gymnasium was tucked away behind stage.

Students from New Jersey Avenue were relocated to the new school on Pennsylvania Ave in 2012. The city intended to fix up the building and put it back to use, but before that could happen superstorm Sandy came through and flooded it. 

I pulled up to the school about a decade later at the end of a long day exploring around the state. I was tired and had no idea how I was going to get inside the building. To my absolute shock the main front door had a missing window just feet from the sidewalk. 

The city police were notorious among local explorers for their swift response to alarms, so seeing the easy access set my nerves at ease. 

The city left everything inside the school when it closed, and after the flooding during Sandy everything was deemed a loss. 

Power had been left on for several more years after the closure, powering the alarms and preventing burglars from getting inside. Unfortunately once it was cut the scrappers wasted no time ripping the place apart looking for copper. 

It was announced that the school would be demolished in 2025 and replaced by a new administration building for the Board of Education. A press briefing was held outside the vacant school featuring several lovely former staff members, as well as the scandal plagued superintendent of schools La'quetta Small. 

During the early stages of the demolition process the building was accidently set on fire by one of the workers. The blaze was so severe several local news outlets reported on it, which is how I found out the school was being demolished. 

The school is now part of a growing list of historic educational facilities demolished across the state in the last decade. I'm grateful I was able to see the building and document it so it doesn't get completely forgotten to time.

First National Bank of South River

 

Source

First National Bank had established a branch in South River by the turn of the century, but the building we know was built in 1916.

The new building was crafted of buff colored brick with limestone accents. Four 30 foot tall Corinthian columns flanked the brass double doors. 

Inside the teller counters lined both walls, with marble counters and brass and glass teller windows. Two massive vault doors sat at the rear of the room, one for safety deposit boxes and one for the banks reserves. 

Several different banks ended up using the building after First National. One of them heavily dressed down the building. The brass doors were removed and replaced with cheap aluminum ones. The huge windows were removed and replaced with a combination of small aluminum frame and glass block. In an effort to reduce heating and cooling  closts the original glass tray ceiling was removed and covered over from above. A drop ceiling was installed at half height, completely hiding the lovely plaster ceiling which had been punctured several times to hang the grid. 

PNC was the last bank to occupy the space, but they left at the end of 2020. Around the same time, the town started to see a huge construction boom. The building sat vacant for just a few years before a redevelopment plan was announced that called for the entire building to be leveled. 

The building was entirely demolished in October of 2025. Its the first major chunk of Main Street to be erased in decades, so its loss is immediately felt by all who pass by. 109 years of standing proudly just to to eventually end up as fill material somewhere. Such a shame. 

Grace Lutheran Church

Livingston's Grace Lutheran Church was built in the early 1960s, replacing a farmstead that stood on the same land. 

The building consisted of a small chapel with a single story schoolhouse attached to the right side. The Sanctuary was clad in a cedar clapboard painted barn red, which contrasted nicely against the large green lawn. 

In 2011 an article in the Livingston Patch described how a Spanish speaking Lutheran congregation was to began sharing the space with the existing worshippers. 

Unfortunately even with the new worshippers the church couldnt afford the maintenance and upkeep required to stay open. By 2021 the church vacated the building. The property sold quickly for $3.55 million.

The building was vacant for several years before it was eventually declared an "area in need of redevelopment". Town officials were interested in moving the nearby West Essex YMCA out of their aging building and into a new, state of the art facility. There was quite a bit of community pushback, citing increased noise and traffic concerns. Despite that the plans went ahead, and the building was demolished in 2025. 

257 Upper Mountain

257 Upper Mountain Ave was a large Colonial Revival home on an acre of land. 

The exterior of the home was wrapped in cedar clapboard and capped with a slate roof. The interior was equally simple. 

The original portion of the home was built in 1889, with a large sunroom added to the right side of the building.

The home had an unremarkable history and was redecorated several times over the next century. 

In 2021 the home was purchased for $1.25 Million. It was left vacant without a security system, so neighborhood kids started hanging out on the property. 

They smashed a bunch of windows out which eventually got boarded over. The fresh plywood caught my eye while driving past, and before long I made a trip over to try and get inside.

I only made the one trip to 257, and only shot it on my phone. By 2025 the home was entirely gutted and reborn as a new modern dwelling. 

Mater Dei School

Mater Dei was founded in 1961 as a part of St. Mary's School. 

A second school building was constructed on the property in the mid 1960s to house Mater Dei. This was actually when enrolment in private Catholic schools had reached its highest point in the US. 

After the high point of the mid 1960s, enrollment in Catholic schools began to trend downward. This was especially true in New Jersey, where catholic schools began closing in droves by the 2010s. 

In 2017 it was announced Mater Dei was being eyed for closure. Local families were outraged, demanding the archdiocese of Trenton reconsider. They ended up raising over a million dollars, which allowed them to remain open.

The reprieve from closure was only temporary. Talks of closing the school  began again, and by the end of the 2022 school year it was finally shuttered.

In 2023 the school was used as the "principal photography location" for the Mean Girls revival. For those like myself who aren't familiar with that term, its basically where a majority of the filming takes place. 

Demolition was announced and began swiftly at the end of summer 2025. Once the building is cleared the land will be re-dedicated as Mater Dei Park. 

The Griffith Piano Company Building

The city of Newark was a much different place 100 years ago. With both a booming industrial force and a bustling commercial downtown, the city was growing in fine fashion. Newark was a perfect place for the Griffith Piano Company to open their new factory and headquarters.

The limestone and yellow brick tower was constructed adjacent to the iconic Hahne Company Building in 1927. The site was already home to two buildings outgrown by the Griffith company. 

Griffith's new headquarters was a beautiful gothic edifice designed by city architect George Elwood Jones. The fourteen story tower featured an elegant facade clad in polychromatic terra-cotta tilework on the upper floors.

Behind the front doors was a handsome two story lobby. The walls on the first floor are marble clad, and the second floor contains a wraparound mezzanine. The ceiling inside the space was a gorgeous plaster design like one might expect to see inside a bank or post office. To call the space overwhelming would be an understatement.

Also on the second floor was the Griffith Recital Hall. The 50ftx75ft space had a seating capacity of 200, which made the room an ideal space to demonstrate new models of Griffith Pianos to potential buyers. The room had a hardwood floor and mirror clad walls. The ceiling had a beautiful plaster design and recessed stained glass light fixtures. The beautiful decoration seemed to come at you from every angle, making it truly one of the most remarkable office buildings in Newark at the tume. The finished structure topped out at 210 feet tall, making it one of the tallest in the city at the time.

At its time Griffith was one of the most successful piano companies in the country. Some of the greatest pianists of the time reportedly used Griffith pianos, including Sergei Rachmaninoff. This was largely in part to the pioneering efforts of Mrs. Lena Donaldson Griffith, who also went by Mrs. Parker O. Griffith. A firm believer in equitable resource access, she started the Griffith Music Foundation. 

The goal of the foundation was to draw some of the greatest musical artists of the time to Newark for performances that could be attended by people of every creed, color and class. In 1938 the foundation took over operations of the Mosque Theater, which would go on to become the Newark Symphony Hall.

Tragically, Parker O. Griffith passed away at Orange Memorial Hospiral on March 12th, 1960. Mrs. Parker passed away the following year. Griffith Piano Company continued to operate for just over a decade, declining until eventually going bankrupt in 1973. The city of Newark was experiencing a recession at the time, therefore the only tenant that could be found for the property was a discount dress shop which functioned inside the lobby. 

The tower was subjected to a decade of neglect, which decimated the interior of the structure. Despite that the building was snapped up by NYC real estate developer Sol Gillman in 1983 for $500,000. The purchase was so significant the New York Times ran an article about the purchase. To the city of Newark it was symbolic of a potential downtown renaissance. However, aside from being listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984 nothing became of Gillmans $2 million plans to restore the building. Newarks economic resurgence wouldn't be coming any time soon.

The building wouldn't change hands for another 19 years, but in 2003 the Cogswell Reality group entered into an agreement to purchase the tower. Unfortunately when the group toured their perspective purchase, they saw the significant structural degradation the interior of the building had faced, and they rescinded their offer for the property. 

Another thirteen years later the building once again changed hands, this time under the stewardship of the Berger Group. The group had already taken on and completed several large scale projects in the city, including the restoration of the adjacent Hahne building. Even the Bergers couldn't make it work, so they sold it to a newly formed LLC not affiliated with any established group. 

Somehow this new team managed to find a plan that seemed viable, and in 2019 the building underwent a  The Covid 19 pandemic took its toll on the building, causing the construction to last longer than expected. The newly reborn building, dubbed "The Griffith" opened in 2025 with a mix of retail and residential.

Another win for the city of Newark. Thanks for learning with me.