146 Broadway, Ocean Grove, NJ. September 2011. Paul Goldfinger photo. Reposted Jan. 2018.
By Eileen and Paul Goldfinger, Editors @Blogfinger. We used to report on OG homeowners who did such wonderful renovations on old houses in the Grove that they received a Beersheba award for their efforts. It seems a shame not to repost some of those articles for the 2018 generation to enjoy:
Jennifer Kapp is a trained architect who works in New York City as a code and zoning consultant. When she and her husband Keith Smith bought their fixer-upper 1890 house at 146 Broadway in 2007, she was ready for the hassles and issues which she knew would occur as they embarked on their plans to restore their new home. She was actually looking forward to the project saying “This is something I love.” The couple live in New Brunswick, but Jennifer has always been attracted to the Grove and the beach, and Keith wanted to learn to surf. Both of them had worked together on their home in Middlesex County, so they were prepared for anything.
Before: Photo courtesy of Keith Smith
When they first saw their Broadway house, they knew that it was the one. “It felt like a great little home,” said Jennifer. “It had good bones.” The sellers said that the house was from 1905, but Keith found an 1890 newspaper in one of the walls. It turned out that 146 Broadway needed a lot of work, had a lot of surprises and required multiple visits to the HPC. Jennifer was determined to have a historic restoration, so she spent a great deal of time researching the project. Most of the downstairs was gutted by her contractor Brian Kenney as the home was converted from two family to one. The two-story enclosed porches were demolished. The whole front end was redesigned and reconstructed, right down to the foundation, up to the roof. The upper porch was eliminated. Mr. Kenney found some porch rails from another old OG house and used them. The columns were re-done, but they had the old ones for comparison. It is the front exterior work that earned Jennifer and Keith a Beersheba Award from the HSOG.
The porch roof design was Jennifer’s, but she had help from architect Cate Comeford. An entire interior wall downstairs was removed, opening up a good sized living room. All the windows on the first floor are original, but Jennifer is fanatical about properly re-doing them (“I could spend my life on the windows alone.”) The window locks are meticulously accurate reproductions that cost $45.00 each. She rolled her eyes over this expense, but she said, “I’m insane over these.” Currently Jennifer is stripping the original front door which, she says, is one of the largest single front doors in the Grove: four feet by eight feet. She is also proud of the fence in the rear. They had found a tangled mess of an old Victorian metal hoop fence in the back, so Jennifer designed a new wooden fence (below) incorporating pieces of the original metalwork into the design.
Jennifer Kapp and Keith Smith. April, 2012. PG photo
Jennifer and Keith come to their OG house every weekend. They love the OG experience, especially the friendly neighbors and “crazy encounters” with folks walking by the porch. Keith says, “We know half the town.” In season they entertain, play tennis and he surfs. In the off-season they spend a lot of time working on their house project. Their two semi-unruly rescue dogs are Roxy and Cooper.
Rear fence can be seen from three streets. A special fence was essential. HPC are fence fussers. PG photo
DIANA KRALL: