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. 

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.