Bulldozing Cape May

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before the mall Washington Street, pictured in the 1920s, had been Cape May’s main business district since the mid-1800s Don Pocher

bulldozing How Urban Renewal Tore Cape May apart – AND THE BATTLE THAT STOPPED IT BEFORE IT WENT TOO FAR Story Ben Miller

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T

he concept of Urban Renewal can be difficult to grasp, especially in a town like Cape May that is so anchored in the past.

I have often been asked about the project that redefined Cape May by modern visitors who find it hard to believe. The word ‘urban’ seems to be the sticking point, as they find it hard to imagine the charming old village as anything but the pristine resort they see today.

So many Victorian structures, renovated and restored to a brilliant luster, only serve to add to the confusion. It’s easy to look at all the homes and businesses that were built a decade or more ago and think the city must have always looked this way. It didn’t.

Try to picture Cape May without the Washington Street Mall, all those restored Victorian homes, landmark hotels like Congress Hall or the Inn of Cape May, gourmet restaurants on every corner… you get the picture.

Before you cull ‘Mulligan’ on the absence of Congress Hall and the Inn of Cape May, consider that three of the resort’s biggest hotels were leveled during the early stages of urban renewal.

The nearly 100-year-old Elberon Hotel, which sat across the street from Congress Hall, was demolished to make way for the Victorian Motel. The original Lafayette Hotel, built in 1884 and boasting 125 guest rooms, fell to the wrecker’s ball in 1970 and was replaced by the Marquis de Lafayette.

Then there was the four-story Baltimore Inn, built in 1894 and spanning a city block from Jackson to Decatur streets. Even with the hotel’s immense size it was reduced to a pile of twisted lumber within days.

Congress Hall was next on the docket and developers were vying for the large, oceanfront property. The founders of Cape May’s Urban Renewal movement, Mayor Frank A. Gauvry, City Manager David Teel and City Planexit zero

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COLLIER’S OLD NEIGHBORS Collier’s Liquor Store on the right of the photo is still standing, but the two other buildings were demolished and replaced with parking lots.

Don Pocher saving the pink house The Eldridge Johnson home, or Pink House, right, was moved to Perry Street from its original site on Congress Place, after it was slated for demolition.

Ben Miller

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ner John S. Needles, were not going to stand in the way. Their original intent with the project was to beautify the city and rejuvenate the local tourism industry, which had severely waned.

Preservation was not a concern in the beginning of the project. Rather than renovating the many old structures that were in less than pristine condition they were simply knocked down with a bulldozer. The remains of all those buildings were then trucked to the school and temporarily stored in big piles on the front lawn.

Needles, who became the new Director of Urban Renewal, met with officials of the Department of Housing and Urban Development (HUD) in early 1966, joined by Gauvry and Teel.

They proposed a plan to turn Cape May into a sort of Victorian theme park. The cornerstone of their design was the creation of a 77-acre ‘Victorian Village’ in the center of town, made up of a pedestrian mall, restored buildings and fake Victorian facades.

It wasn’t so important that the buildings retained their historical integrity, as long as they looked good. Their

proposal was solid and it seemed to be a good way to bring Cape May back into the good graces of visitors. Before you judge them, remember they didn’t have the luxury of knowing what we do now about the success of Cape May’s Victorian renaissance.

Back then the pedestrian mall and Victorian Village were considered cutting edge. It was a one-of-a-kind project, the first in the country. HUD chose to back the city’s plan and in 1967 they approved a five-year plan, financed by $3 million of federal funds. Mayor Gauvry proudly proclaimed, “We think this will make Cape May a year-round resort, much as Virginia’s Williamsburg is.”

Along with the mass demolitions

myth of the baltimore

For many years people believed a rumor that the gargantuan Baltimore Inn on Jackson Street had been moved to Cape May from Chicago. When the hotel was demolished during the Urban Renewal movement, workers were able to verify that it was built locally and finally put the rumor to rest. The site is now home to the Tides condominium development.

Greater Cape May Historic Society

A small group of local citizens joined forces with self-described ‘cottagers,’ who owned second homes in Cape May. They vowed to fight the demolition. exit zero

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the city quickly went to work replacing traditional street lamps with Victorian gas lamps and getting things ready for the new pedestrian mall. Carpenter’s Lane was built on land that once housed private homes and businesses, as was Lyle Lane and a double stretch of Mansion Street.

An entire neighborhood was erased from the map and replaced with Rotary Park, while the old Washington Street train station and nearby businesses were razed to facilitate extending Ocean Street northward. Prior to urban renewal, Ocean Street did not extend beyond Washington Street.

It was around this time that the Sylvania Hotel, which had gone by many different names over its lifespan, was also leveled and replaced with a retirement home called Victorian Towers.

Next up was the development of a large Washington Street property just a couple blocks east of the center of town.

Developers eyed a large piece of land known as the old Ralston property that was littered with rotting structures and a broken-down mansion. Plans were submitted to the city calling for the

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demolition of all buildings and the construction of tract housing on the land.

The old Ralston property is now known as the emlen Physick estate and the development plans turned out to be a step too far. A small group of local citizens joined forces with self-described ‘cottagers,’ who owned second homes in Cape May. They vowed to fight the demolition and put a stop to what they considered an affront to the city’s genteel character.

The cottagers were led by an architectural historian named Carolyn Pitts, a remarkable woman who had actually been brought to Cape May by the city.

She had been given the task of cataloging the many historic structures around town and as she was doing it Pitts was struck by all the history being lost to the wrecker’s ball.

Pitts and her cottager friends began to fight back and founded the MidAtlantic Center for the Arts (MAC), a not-for-profit group tasked with saving the Physick estate. The city responded by making it clear that they would no longer heed any advice from the historic District Commission. Some argued that

CHANGING CAPE MAY

they had already made that point by allowing the construction of the ACMe supermarket and a number of demolitions, over the objections of the commission.

The fight took a different turn in December of 1970, when Pitts and edwin C. Bramble were able to get the entire city placed on the Department of the Interior’s National Register of historic Places. Mayor Gauvry and other leaders were flabbergasted when they learned of the designation, since it was done without their approval or any notification to the city government.

The new designation meant that no property within the historic limits could be modified without federal approval, if state or federal funds were to be used in exit zero

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This gas station on Washington Street (opposite page) was removed, along with an old train station next door, and the property is now home to the Washington Commons Mall stores.

Don Pocher Mayor Frank Gauvry and other city officials touted the “Victorian style” of the Cape May Convention Hall that was built in 1962 (top) when they proposed their Victorian Village idea to officials from HUD. The Emlen Physick Estate (above) was close to being demolished and became the flashpoint in the battle between the city council and preservationists Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and Humanities

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the process. With their bold and unprecedented actions, Pitts and Bramble had halted urban renewal in Cape May. Mayor Gauvry and his fellow city council members were removed from power in the next election and replaced by new Mayor Bruce Minnix and a city leadership team comprised of other preservationists. They continued to fund beautification projects in the city and promote the renovations of hundreds of Victorian structures around Cape May. Former Director of Urban Renewal Needles’ fear that, “We’re not going to survive if it’s going to be just Victorian architecture” proved to be false, as did his warning that, “You can’t get people to stay in a Victorian structure because they’re concerned about fire.”

Under Minnix’s leadership, Cape May saw a renaissance that turned the sleepy seaside town back into the Queen of the Seaside Resorts. Cape May’s summer population has nearly doubled since the change in direction, going from 25,000 in the early 1970s to nearly 46,000 people in 2007, the last year it was estimated.