Corrections or additions?
These stories were published in U.S. 1 Newspaper on
December 9, 1998. All rights reserved.
This Old House, Part II
So close and yet so far. James Hollingsworth spent
$20,000 and countless hours of labor to take apart the old yellow
house on Mapleton Road and move it to Tennessee, but he ran out of
money and is working full time in Memphis. Yet, as described in a
U.S. 1 cover story (August 26) just one more week’s work, plus the
cost of transportation was needed to finish the job.
Princeton University, which owns the property and needed that acreage
for the new Marriott Suites motel, stopped short of sending in a
demolition
crew to raze the site and has been trying to have some party, any
party, continue what Hollingsworth could not finish. At first the
university hoped to get rid of the building without spending any
money,
but no takers emerged.
Now the university will pay to have it removed. It is on the verge
of signing a contract with someone who makes a business of selling
dismantled houses. “In the spirit of what James was doing,”
says the source, “we want this to get taken apart and erected
somewhere.”
The house next to the yellow house will also escape the wrecker’s
ball and is also on the verge — 30 days away — of having a
signed sales contract, presumably to be leased commercially. The
university
is not acting totally selflessly in saving this house. It had promised
Plainsboro Township that, in return for letting one house be
demolished,
the neighboring house would be kept. Located across from the
headquarters
of Ford Farewell Mills & Gatsch, it is zoned as office/commercial.
Officials at Picus Associates, which runs the university’s commercial
real estate operation at Forrestal Center, believe that the university
probably acquired the old yellow house and the house to its north
as part of the 1951 purchase of the Rockefeller Institute lands, which
became available when the medical research institute, established
in Princeton in 1915 and now known as Rockefeller University, moved
to Manhattan after 1948. Until fire code problems shut it down three
years ago, the old yellow house was used to house graduate students.
Hollingsworth, 35, bought the house for $1. He is an architect, and
for three months, with his own hands, he systematically deconstructed
the 6,000-square-foot house, piled up the doors and windows and
flooring
and siding and structural elements neatly in the yard, and covered
them with plastic.
“You just can’t get this kind of material anymore,”
Hollingsworth
said of the structural timbers, some of which measure nearly a foot
around. “Any house today is built of pine. Here the smallest
member
is true three by five and hardwood. It’s just so amazing working on
a project that was actually crafted by craftsmen, not just by some
guy who hired a bunch of laborers.”
Closing in on the university’s August 31 deadline for having the house
gone from the site, Hollingsworth had hired a crew of six to help
him get the job done. The projected cost, not including the value
of Hollingsworth’s time was supposed to be just over $40,000 plus
the cost of a site in Tennessee. By the time he quit work and headed
back to Memphis, he had already invested $20,000. He could not be
reached for comment.
WSA Alliance/ Silverberg Associates, 195 NassauStreet, Second Floor, Princeton 08542. Paul Silverberg, principal.609-921-1867; fax, 609-921-8326. Home page:https://www.wsa-alliance.com.Bell Atlantic’s 911 system needed a weatherproof call center, andthat was renovated by Paul Silverberg of Silverberg Associates, andthe WSA Alliance, a consortium of 14 engineering and architecturalfirms. They renovated Bell Atlantic’s Network Operations Center nearPiscataway. This center is the “brain” of the east coastemergencynetwork and, if a storm should take out any phone lines, it mustreroute911 traffic.”The WSA Alliance has succeeded as an effective braintrust fortelecommunications facilities,” says Silverberg,”cross-fertilizingtalent on various technologies. We’re delivering cutting edgeprojects.”His firm was formerly known as Silverberg Rose Associates.Top Of PageExpansionsSPX Corporation, 1075 Cranbury South River Road,Forsgate Technical Center, Jamesburg 08831. 609-395-7728; fax,609-395-8121.The autodiagnostics division of the firm based in Kalamazoo has openeda sales office here. It sells emission testing equipment and employsabout 20 people.Top Of PageCrosstown MovesA+ For Kids Teacher Network, 214 West State Street,Trenton 08608. Joyce Kersey, executive director. 609-656-8500; fax,609-656-8570. E-mail: carmen7@ix.netcom.com.The nonprofit education network moved from 2 Village Boulevard atPrinceton Forrestal Village to Trenton. It awards grants to publicschool teachers for curriculum, professional education, and itpublishesa teachers’ catalog.American International Communication, 1040PennsylvaniaAvenue, Trenton 08638. Robert Wu, vice president. 609-392-8833; fax,609-392-8844.This manufacturing firm moved from 39 Everett Drive to Trenton, Thisis the headquarters of the 10-person firm that assembles and sellspay phones for clients, says Wu, that include Bell Atlantic. Phoneand fax are new.Executive Imaging Systems, 9 Wall Street, Princeton08540. Joseph Mantano, branch manager. 609-520-8880; fax,609-520-8678.The Cherry Hill-based office equipment company moved from 29 EmmonsDrive to Research Park. It sells copiers, computers, and fax machines.Top Of PageLeaving TownFund for Public Interest Research, 119 Somerset,New Brunswick 08903. Alison Thornton, director. 732-214-8272.In the fall this office closed and consolidated with one in NewBrunswick.It employs college students to raise awareness and campaign for causessuch as the Sierra Club or issues sponsored by the Public InterestResearch Groups .Sandler Sales Institute, 357 Kilburn Road,Langhorne,PA. 19047-1949. John S. Punyko, president. 215-757-5644; fax,215-757-7923.E-mail: jpunyko@ix.netcom.com.John Punyko moved his sales training firm from 600 Alexander Roadto Langhorne.New Horizons in Autism, 600 Essex Road, Neptune07753. Michele Goodman, executive director. 732-918-0850; Homepage: https://orion.webspan.net/~horizons.The social service agency has moved from Prospect Plains Road inCranburyto Neptune, and has a new phone number. It has community-basedspecializedprograms providing residential, vocational, and family supportprograms.Top Of PageDeathsSusan Elizabeth Karr, 52, on December 1. She was a programadministratorat ETS.Corrections or additions?This page is published by PrincetonInfo.com— the web site for U.S. 1 Newspaper in Princeton, New Jersey.
