Historic 1880 OG home has two finials–historically correct and approved for our remodeling plan. And a Beersheba Award winner by the Historical Society of Ocean Grove. 113 Mt. Hermon Way.
As we have seen from the evolution of a new design for the historic OG pier, you really don’t need to get any approvals to make striking changes. The CMA is going ahead with changing Stoke’s pier design into something else. Even Stokes, who brought the camp meeting concept to this part of theJersey shore, did not conceive of the pier being anything but a functional place. First it was part of a primitive sewer system, but for the next 140 years or so, it was for tourist pleasure and for fishing. In fact it’s traditional name is “OG Fishing Pier.”
It was so important to the image and design of Ocean Grove that large sums of money were spent to rebuild it the same way after every destructive storm.
Now the CMA was somehow able to plan their new pier design without running it by the town’s historians and the HPC, much less we the people who pay taxes here and thus should have a voice in how well we maintain the historic treasures which have been recognized nationally.
When we turned our house (1880) from a miserable 1920’s era duplex into a Victorian reproduction worthy of a Beersheba award, we did that with great attention to all the historic details including consultations not only with the HPC, but also with the Historical Society of OG.
So what are we to think now that the historic pier is to be replaced by a non-historic design?
This is a double standard, and no loophole can convince me that we shouldn’t skip the historic preservation process for our home if an exception can be made for the pier.
I am going ahead and replacing both our finials with 6 foot bananas. I hope you all enjoy it. It will be a major tourist attraction and it will welcome visitors to the Grove.
Paul Goldfinger, MD, Editor Blogfinger.net.
BAILYS LUCKY SEVEN. Roaring Twenties Music