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New Jersey Art Deco & Streamline Moderne Buildings

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East Orange:
apartment building

Edison Memorial Tower
Edison, NJ
Altenburg Piano House
Elizabeth, NJ
The Edison Memorial Tower was built in 1935 on the site of Edison's Menlo Park laboratory. The tower is 131 feet tall and is surmounted by a 14-foot-tall incandescent light bulb. The bulb is made of pyrex and was produced by Corning Glass Works. It was once lit and acted as an airplane beacon. For more, see these websites: 1 and 2. [map]

The Altenburg Piano House was established in 1846 in Germany. The family moved to New York City and opened a factory there in 1855. The company opened its first store in Elizabeth in 1906. They moved to this location in 1929. The sign was refurbished sometime after 2008. These photos are from 2011. It appears the sign panels are replicas of the originals. For more, see this website. [map]

Gloucester City:
War Memorial

Sears & Roebuck
Hackensack, NJ
This Sears & Roebuck department store was built in the early 1930s. There are other still-existing, similar buildings built around the same time in Chicago, IL, Brooklyn, NY, Minneapolis, MN, Miami, FL, Indianapolis, IN, Cincinnati, OH, and Los Angeles, CA. [map]

Jersey City:
A. Harry Moore School
Hurwitz Building [map]

WMCA transmitter building
Kearny, NJ
This WMCA transmitter building was built in 1940. In 2022, the neon sign, which originally had neon tubing, was relit with LED tubing. For more, see this website. [map]

Jersey Central Power & Light Company
Keyport, NJ
The Jersey Central Power & Light Company's Art Deco facade was added to an older brick building in the 1930s. In 1951, the JCP&L moved to a new location and the building was converted for use as a police department and courthouse. [map]

Pennsylvania Station
Newark, NJ

Pennsylvania Station was designed by McKim, Mead & White, the same architects responsible for New York's original Penn Station. The station opened in 1935. It is a Art Deco masterpiece and still fully functioning, well-maintained train station. Plaques around the Main Waiting Room depict the history of transportation, globe lights are encircled by astrological signs, and benches still bear the inlaid logo of the Pennsylvania Rail Road. For more, see this website. [map]

Paterson:
Temple Emanuel: 1, 2 [map]

former Casa Lido Bar & Grill
Trenton, NJ
The former Casa Lido Bar & Grill was built in 1948. In the 1980s, the Casa Lido letters were removed from the facade. Similar letters were added for Maxine's Restaurant. Maxine's closed around 2010. When these photos were taken in 2012, the place was about to reopen as the Big Easy restaurant. The building now houses the Rio Sports Bar & Grill. The Maxine's letters remain. For more, see this website. [map]

Art Deco Buildings
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