Empty Cloud Monastery

Sitting in the middle of a neighborhood, two blighted monastery buildings sat behind a large stone wall. The main building of the small complex found new use, while two residential buildings and the gatehouse crumbled with time.

I don't know when these beautiful buildings were built, but they are likely over a century old. When the monastery moved to the property they kept the house mostly original, with the addition of some Dalle De Varre windows and cross-lite doors. 

Every bedroom in the home had its own fireplace. 

Despite some peeling paint, the buildings remained in very good shape. 

I would drive by the buildings often, each time making sure to close any doors or windows I found open. I wanted to make sure the property didn't fall into serious disrepair. 

Thankfully someone purchased the property and began renovating the buildings. Before long they were occupied again.

The converted garage on the property had been heavily modified, unlike the home out front. 

But the second floor was much nicer looking. A furnished kitchen greeted me as I ascended the stairs, and the spacious dormitories mostly all had fireplaces as well.

It makes me so happy to drive by the structures now, as I was convinced they would inevitably be demolished. Finally a happy ending for once.

The St. Mark Church

This church dates back to 1827, when a local parish decided to spread out from their main building in Newark. Before long, the new group grew into the most wealthy offshoots from the main church.

In 1860, the parish began working on their building as West Orange began to change. A large steeple was built onto the front- left side of the building, as well as some other changes to the structure. The additions, which were in a Gothic Revival style, were designed by famed architect Richard Upjohn.

The church was very influential in the history of West Orange, operating the first elementary and high schools in town.

The group was dwindling by the 1960's, and they were running out of money. It was added to the NRHP in the 1970's, but without the money to properly maintain the building the church soon began to fall apart. Preservation New Jersey listed it as one of the top 10 most endangered historic places in the state in the 1990's.

Despite the church's conditions, different groups held services in the building over the next decade. The current signs on the church said that a Spanish congregation was occupying the structure. However, the tall grass and boards on the doors said otherwise.

The last group to occupy the building left in 2009, and since then water has worked its way into the structure. A section of the roof above the altar area had started to show signs of damage, shedding shingles and slowly buckling.

Signs of hope emerged though, as groups had been seen touring and doing work to the structure in late 2013. The building has been re- secured, and I believe most of the relics left by the last congregation were removed at this time. The church building was officially sold in 2015, and the new  owners did a bunch of work to the structure.  This included illegally removing several of the windows of the historic building. The beautiful old stained glass was removed and several tiny vinyl windows were installed as replacements.

Then on the first day of 2016, residents awoke to news that the church was being gutted by a large fire. Sure enough, the three alarm blaze completely destroyed the St. Marks Church. The renovation of the structure was supposed to give the building a new life. After the the brazen removal of the windows, it was clear to many that the buildings new life was not going to be what we expected. But we didn't anticipate it to  be so short. After the fire the congregation was ordered to completely rebuild the church exactly as it appeared outside. This included putting the windows back, however I believe they were either discarded or destroyed in the fire. Work has been progressing, and right now it just looks like any other abandoned church being restored. Hopefully the building can get a new life and shine once more.

J.T.'s Fun Zone

I remember going to J.T.'s as a kid, for birthday parties and such. It was always packed. The skating rink, the arcade, the pools; all filled to the brim with energetic young people.

It opened in 1995, a few years after I was born, so naturally I  found my way there quite often.

In addition to what was mentioned above, they had basketball and racquetball courts, a number of bars, a club, a skatepark, pretty much everything young adults do to fill their time.

As anybody can imagine, with all the danger associated with these activities, there were a number of health and safety standards violations. The indoor amusement park was in constant legal battles circulating around the fatalities and injuries incurred by those who partook in the buildings activities.

The building was shut down in 2003, due mostly to controversy regarding the nightclub housed in the venue. A young, under aged girl was sexually assaulted by a DJ and the club's assistant manager.

In addition to those charges, there were also a number of drug violations and underage alcohol consumption complaints. The venue's owner was issued a number of citations for these actions.

The building was reopened for a short time, but was closed once again at the passing of Jerry Turco, the buildings owner.

It wasn't until I had already been checking out these historical locations for a couple years that I remembered that the medium sized warehouse off of Pleasant Valley Way even existed. I recruited a friend and headed over to the building.

We peeled back a loose board and hopped inside the moldy, moist building. We walked around, took our photo's, and left.

Shortly after I posted the photo's online, I was asked about the place by a number of other photographers. People started flocking to the blighted recreation facility, and unfortunately the vandals came too.

In April of 2011, the building was set on fire by arsonists. The three alarm fire was the last straw for the town, who began to take matters into their own hands.

Demolition of the venue was paid for by the Estate of Jerry Turco, who passed away in the 2000's. It took a while for the building to be taken down, for reasons not clear to me. But by the end of 2012, it was nothing more than a dirt lot.

The plot is apparently supposed to be used to house a new power management facility for the town of West Orange. Not a whole lot has been accomplished on that front, however. While not a terrible loss in terms of lasting history and architecture, it was sad to see JT's go. Just another one of the locals childhood memories gone by the wayside in terms of "progress".