News
Waterfront Tour Amazes NYC Tourists: 100 Visitors Stroll Downtown Arts District
By Michaelangelo Conte for The Jersey Journal
"I learned the new parts of the Jersey City waterfront are only skin deep and as you go inland, the decades fade away," said Robin Lyn, a New York City resident who took the three-stop ferry tour organized by the Metropolitan Waterfront Alliance of New York City.
Lyn said she had only been to Jersey City once before, and that was several years ago.
"I'm amazed at how much new stuff there is," she said referring to Jersey City's waterfront development. "I think there are more and more reasons to come back to Jersey City, if the city preserves a balance between its history and development."
Yesterday's "Cultural Loop Tour" left Pier 78 in Manhattan at 11 a.m. and sailed to Jersey City's Harborside Ferry Landing where tour goers disembarked and John Gomez, president of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy, guided them on a walking tour of the district.
Gomez showed the group around the massive 97-year-old Hudson and Manhattan Railroad Powerhouse building, which the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy is fighting to preserve. The building, originally built as the main power source for the old Hudson & Manhattan Railroad - the precursor to PATH - now houses PATH-related electrical machinery. It was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 2001, and is considered an industrial architectural treasure because of its intricate brick facade and ornate interior ironwork.
The group then walked to 111 First St. and learned of the artist community using the building's lofts as studios.
Gomez led the way to Provost and First streets, where he pointed out a warehouse that was built in 1860, the oldest remaining building in the district. Across the street from that warehouse, Gomez pointed out the Atlantic and Pacific Tea Co. warehouse built in 1907.
On their way back to the ferry, Gomez pointed out the Buttler Brothers Building, a massive warehouse built in 1906 and slated for renovations that will accommodate businesses and artist studios.
After the half-hour tour, the ferry was scheduled to carry tour-goers to the Snug Harbor Cultural Center's Harmony Street Fair on Staten Island. From there, the ferry was to go to the Brooklyn Army Terminal. The MWA has conducted tours for about four years, but this is the first time it has hosted a Jersey City stop, said MWA program director Carter Craft.
"We were looking for the unique historical and architectural elements connected to the waterfront and the Powerhouse is a monumental relic of industrial architecture which should be appreciated rather than neglected," said Craft. "These old buildings have a palpable character that modern buildings just don't have."
Craft said that about two thirds of those on the tour had never been to Jersey City before.
The MWA tries to help residents in the region reclaim and reconnect with the harbor, rivers and estuaries of the New York and New Jersey waterfront. The MWA is funded by the Municipal Art Society of New York and a dozen other foundations, Craft said.
Julie O'Neil walked the littered streets of the warehouse district with her father Brian, 90, and mother Marge, 88.
"I find it very interesting," said Julie O'Neil. "I just love being in a town and learning of its history, its evolution."
Copyright 2003, The Jersey Journal