Residents and local conservationists gathered at Sixth Street and Willow Avenue last week to hold a candlelight vigil outside Hoboken’s Church of the Holy Innocents, hoping to draw attention to a nine-story project proposed for part of the historic site.
If approved by the Zoning Board, the project would consist of a 50-unit residential and school complex in the area surrounding the church.
The church itself would be untouched, but the nine-story building would replace the 118-year-old rectory, where the priest lives.
According Rev. Geoffrey Curtiss, rector of the All Saints Episcopal Parish, which owns the property, the goal of the development is for the parish to better serve the community and the Episcopal Diocese of Newark.
He said that just as the All Saints Episcopal Day School and Trinity Church at Seventh and Washington streets has been serving school children and doing outreach to the housing projects, the Holy Innocents parish can do similar things.
Curtiss also stressed that the development plans were not final and that the parish was open to suggestions from members of Hoboken’s Historic Preservation Committee. They are scheduled to appear before the committee on Feb. 13.
They will present the project to the members of the Zoning Board on Feb. 20.
History and new development
Holy Innocents was completed in 1874 and added to the New Jersey State and National Registers of Historic Places in 1977 for its architectural and structural significance.
For many Hoboken residents, the church is known for the Christmas trees that are sold off the property every December.
The construction of the proposed complex will require the demolition of the 118-year-old rectory, unless someone is willing buy the property for only $1 and remove it from the site.
The current plans include the future school being located on the first three floors of the building and accommodating 190 students. The parish is currently considering whether to house Pre-K through fourth grade or kindergarten through eighth grade.
The plan will also include offering a pre-school program to working families in the area.
Current estimates for developing the site range between $24 and $26 million, according to Curtiss. He said that another developer would build the site, but the parish has already come up with a design.
If the Zoning Board approves the plan in February, construction on the site likely would begin within a year and is estimated to take between two and a half to three years to complete.
Additional parking
Except for some restoration efforts, the church will remain untouched, and the parish intends to keep the Parish Hall intact.
According to Curtiss, additional parking will be provided at another site in the city, although the exact location has not yet been determined. Previous plans of including parking on the site were rejected by the zoning officer, who did not want a parking garage on the site’s street level, said Curtiss.
The candlelight vigil
The candlelight vigil held last Thursday, Dec. 28, brought senior Hoboken natives together with Jersey City youths who hoped to alter the parish’s current plans for the site.
Many of the local residents present argued that the additional 50 units would add further stress to the district’s infrastructure, which they claimed is already plagued by floods and septic system problems due to overpopulation.
“The infrastructure can’t handle another building,” said Hoboken native Jim English, who lives a block away on Willow Terrace. “Developers should be obligated to pay for improvements to the infrastructure.”
Another Hoboken native who wished to remain anonymous echoed English’s sentiments, saying, “We don’t want to see another tower go up in Hoboken. What’s gone on in the city in the past 20 years is good for the city, but now it’s too much. It’s been overdone.”
Along with the residents, representatives from local organizations such as Hoboken’s People for Open Government, Jersey City’s Landmark Conservancy, and the conservationist youth group called SAVE, which stands for Sustaining Architectural Vitality in the Environment, based out of Jersey City’s McNair Academic High School, also attended the vigil.
“How many more condominiums does the city need?” said 16-year-old Janita Sawh of SAVE.
Not everyone at the vigil was opposed to the idea of developing the area. Some suggested alternatives for the parish to consider, rather than the market-rate condominiums currently being proposed.
“I understand money drives everything, but there’s got to be something better,” said Peggy Fallon, who lives on the same block as the church at Five Church Towers. “We should be thinking about those who have less and have some sort of spiritual awareness about the project.”
She suggested constructing an affordable, assisted living housing facility for seniors.
Michael Mullins can be reached at mmullins@hudsonreporter.com.
Church came from a typhoid case
Construction on the gothic, shingle-style Church of the Holy Innocents began on Aug. 11, 1872, two years after 7-year-old Julia Stevens, the daughter of Edwin Stevens who founded Stevens Institute of Technology, died of typhoid during a trip to Rome.
The church received its name from the day of Julia Stevens’ burial, which was on Holy Innocents Day.
The church was financed in large part by Martha Bayard, Stevens’ wife, who hired the renowned architect Edward Tuckerman Potter to design the church. Potter used as a model for Holy Innocents the famous Roslyn Chapel near Edinburgh, Scotland.
The church was purposely situated near Hoboken’s then tenement house section in order to service the city’s poor.
Due to the declining condition of the building, Holy Innocents stopped holding regular services in 1984. During the last 22 years, the church has been used once a year for a worship service and occasionally for other events of the parish’s ministry.
Curtiss said that if development is approved, the future site would serve the community by providing space for public events in a multifunctional community room, and possibly a children’s theater.
“How many more condominiums does the city need?” - Janita Sawh