Can you pick out the oldest house on your block? How about the oldest house in your school district? How about the oldest house in all of Verona?
If your idea of an old house is something built before 1970, you might be surprised at how many really old houses there are in Verona. True, we’ve lost two gems of pre-1900 architecture in the last year, a Civil War-era house on Mountainview and a Victorian built for a world-famed industrialist. But by combing through property tax records and history books, MyVeronaNJ.com has uncovered as many as 70 houses that were built before the 20th century, and three that were likely constructed before the 19th century dawned.
Some of these houses do indeed look old, like the Enos Martin House or the Brower-Hathaway House, both reminders of a time when Verona was largely farms feeding the metropolis of Newark. Some are grand, like the brightly painted Victorian on Fairview Avenue above, but many are humble, like the clutch of small houses on Pine Street near what was once a busy railroad line. Some still have their original facades, like the Irma Ott House, but many of Verona’s oldest houses are effectively hidden in plain sight, behind new siding, expanded construction or use as a business. The barbershop we all know as Dino’s was actually built during the Civil War as the home of the Zabina Williams family. Often, the chimney stack is the only clue that the structure is anything but modern.
Though many of Verona’s earliest houses have been lost to fires (the new Grove Park is where Henry B. Whitehorne’s house once stood) or demolition, some were preserved by being moved from Bloomfield Avenue to side streets like South Prospect as the avenue changed from residential to commercial.
Some of these houses were the sites of key moments in Verona’s history, like the Mrs. King House on Brookdale Avenue. Its namesake gathered the books that became the original collection of the Verona Public Library. The stories of many others have been obscured by the passing decades, but Verona’s Landmarks Preservation Commission is working on a new historical survey that could bring them to light. (Verona does not forcibly landmark structures, but by working with owners the Commission has gotten designations for the former Erie Railroad freight shed and the Verona United Methodist church.)
We’ve gathered photos of most of Verona’s oldest houses in the video above, which is best viewed full screen so you can see the construction dates. The slideshow that starts on the next page has some of the more notable properties. If you want to know more about Verona’s history , a good place to start is Old Verona, a book by Robert L. Williams.
I found it very interesting to see the oldest homes in town and some were actually so beautiful but most were updated with vynyl siding and the history was washed away
The pictures are great but couldn’t the locations of these houses plus a little story about each of these houses.
I’ve left out the addresses because I wanted to balance history and a respect for the owners’ privacy. Some people have contacted me with stories about their houses and I’ll be writing up these stories over the coming weeks. You can already read this story about Verona Barber Shop, which was built as a single-family home in 1863. Also, the Verona Landmarks Preservation Commission has commissioned a survey of old properties in town, which may lead to more stories.
My grandparents moved into 80 Fairview Ave around 1910. According to your records the house was built around 1897. My father was about 4 yrs old at the time they bought the house. His two sisters were born there. There was a barn which was converted to a garage to the right of the house. It was later torn down and a 3 car garage was built by the present owner who renovated the house. After my grandfather died, my grandmother continued to live there until she sold the house to the Verona Jewish Center. Rabbi Kriegel’s family lived there for many yrs. That is all I know, but I do remember being in that house and I saw pictures of my father with a horse in the yard.
Bunny Kaplan Klein. (West Orange, NJ)
PS. I also grew up in Verona, on Manor RD.
What fabulous memories, Bunny. Thanks for sharing !
My Grandparents, Margaret Fowler Lewis and Sidney Palmer Lewis bought a house on Elmwood Road raising my Mother Marion, Edwin and Margaret. They lost that house at some point and moved to Grove Avenue. In 1945 my Grandparents and my Mother & Father (Marion & Frank Ruggiero) purchased the 2 Family house at 773 Bloomfield Avenue on the southwest corner of Forest Avenue & Bloomfield Avenue. I remember being told the original structure was over a hundred years old and it had been added on to in increments over the years. My family lived there from 1945-2002. When my Mother passed we sold it. Verona and the House was such a wonderful place to grow up. My Mother’s parents lived upstairs and we downstairs in a pretty much identical layout. Very bright and breezy with the scent of Lilacs and Lily of the Valley flowing through the air in May ~~~ a GREAT place to grow up and have a fantastic childhood!!! Selling that house was hard but even harder was seeing pictures last week of what has happened to the house and what used to be a lovely yard with grass and my Mothers gardens in the front and back … the disrepair it has fallen into is so sad and rather heartbreaking. Well, IF anyone has any historical information about this home please respond. I’d appreciate it.
Well, you’ve identified another house that should have been in the story on Verona’s Oldest Houses but wasn’t. According to state property tax records, it was built in 1896. So that structure would not have been 100 years old when your grandparents bought it, but who knows what was there before then. You might get more information by checking the deed that would be in the Hall of Records in Newark.
I enjoyed your slide show SO MUCH! I grew up in “Cook Villa 1875” house. I went to go re-visit the my back in the 2000’s and found that the family that moved in after us ruined the charm. They added a section to the house that was modern and didn’t go at all with a Victorian house. Have no idea why they did that. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/181-Sunset-Ave_Verona_NJ_07044_M57979-34729