Oldest building at historic Hoboken Train and Ferry Terminal could face the wrecking ball

The Record Building, a unique, historic structure sitting parallel to the train tracks and fronting Observer Highway between Washington and Hudson Streets, could be facing the wrecking ball. The New Jersey Department of Community Affairs has declared the Record Building an “unsafe structure.” The State Historic Preservation Office has required New Jersey Transit to conduct an analysis of alternatives on the proposal to demolish the structure.

At the turn of the century, the Delaware Lackawanna and Western Railroad undertook its rail yard improvement campaign. The architect Frank J. Nies created a sophisticated and distinctive design for the Record Building, built in 1904, that today is the oldest existing structure in the historic Hoboken Terminal Complex. Three years later, the main train and ferry terminal were built, an extraordinary example of Beaux-Art style architecture. The terminal has a distinguished copper-clad facade with ornate detailing. The interior includes a series of Tiffany stained-glass skylights among many other distinctive features.

The terminal is recognized as a milestone in transportation development in the United States, and it originally combined rail, ferry, subway and streetcar service. The streetcar, of course, no longer runs but light-rail and bus service have been added. Today, 50,000 commuters use the Hoboken Terminal each day.

The Hoboken Train and Ferry Terminal is a national treasure protected by its listing on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places and the National Register of Historic Places. For the past twenty years, New Jersey Transit has worked to preserve and restore these buildings guided by Beyer Blinder and Belle’s Hoboken Terminal & Yard Preservation Plan completed in 1999.

The Preservation Plan details the unique features of the Record Building. Nies, the building’s architect, offers stylistic references to English Victorian Gothic Revival architecture with the articulated red brickwork and fanciful cornice and roofline. The turrets at the four corners of the rooftop are clad in copper. The building has features that are drawn from medieval fortress architecture: ground story windows are covered with heavy iron grills and iron shutters, and the narrow windows and doors contain rusticated lintels and stone sills.