Newark CNJ Terminal To Be Torn Down

From today's Star Ledger.

Railroad concourse torn down for arena
Thursday, April 07, 2005
A piece of Newark history came crashing down yesterday, as the city and New Jersey Devils pushed forward with demolition work for the Newark hockey arena.

The concourse of the old Central Railroad terminal, once a bustling hub for passenger trains, was brought down by demolition crews early yesterday afternoon.


Advertisement




Local history buffs, including members of the Newark Preservation and Landmarks Committee, had fought to keep the concourse intact with its sprawling open spaces and turn-of-the-century design. At a hearing in January, the state's Historic Sites Council had also asked the city to preserve the building, making a feasibility study of incorporating the concourse into the arena a condition for approval.

However, the concourse sits just outside the designated Four Corners historic district that comes under the council's purview, and last month the city decided the concourse could not be saved without drastically altering the arena plan.

Newark Preservation and Landmarks Committee Executive Director Douglas Eldridge said yesterday his group was disappointed the concourse was demolished, but took heart in knowing the city would still preserve three historic facades facing Broad Street, including the front section of the railroad terminal.

"We're sorry about it, that's for sure, but they did compromise on other structures and they are going to save the Broad Street facades," Eldridge said. "It was a great, great space and it's just a great loss."

A bit premature. The concourse framework and some brickwork are still standing.

Here is the Ledger's latest article on the Arena and the use of the CNJ facade.

http://www.nj.com/news/ledger/jersey/in ... arena.html

Here is a good picture of the Arena model, but not from the CNJ terminal entrance side: http://www.newjerseydevils.com/2005/htm ... 040705.php

AndyB wrote:Does anyone realize that the Graphic Arts building just north of the parking lot is the CNJ freight station. When built, it was one of the largest concrete buildings in the world. The entire second floor had enough tracks inside to hold 48 freight cars.
I believe that this building is the largest standing building left from the CNJ and no historic designation.

Is the freight station in the area that is being torn down?

No. The Graphic Arts building, as it is now know, is in use and is not being torn down.

Today was one of the rare times I drive in to work, so looped around the block to look at the demolition. Appeared that about 1/3 to 1/2 of the main concourse room is gone. A the north wall brickwork was still more or less intact. Probably be all gone within a few days, other than the corridor leading to Broad Street.

After seeing the circus train depart northern Elizabeth from the NEC into Lane Interlocking, I drove to see what is going on with the station. I got a few quick photos of the demolition status. To me it's very sad to see another piece of CNJ (and NJ) history disappear.

I just wish I would've gone up there sooner to get a photo of the intact station.

Found this on another forum:

Not much left:

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ene=342276

CRB wrote:Not much left:

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ene=342276

Even a bit less than that photo shows by now. There is some of the north wall of the concourse in that photo which is probably since gone. All that is to remain is the facade shown in a prior post photo and the hallway from there east to the rear wall of the adjoining commercial buildings.

The parking lot is entirely gone, as most of the site has been regraded and footings for the Arena are being put in place. Supposedly, steel work is set to begin in about 3 or 4 weeks, depending on whether the Devils get their financing in time.

The CNJ bridge over the NCE and the CNJ freight house still stand. The freight house being the large concrete building just west of the NCE.

Could this be the largest CNJ building still standing?

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ene=342276

Well, that did not work the way I thought it would. Keeps going back to the station area.

Scan about three blocks to the right till you hit the NCE. The CNJ bridge should be right there and the freight house is alongside it. Use the view direction arrows the best view is from the north.

Maybe someone better at this can post a direct link.

AndyB wrote:The CNJ bridge over the NCE and the CNJ freight house still stand. The freight house being the large concrete building just west of the NCE.

Could this be the largest CNJ building still standing?

http://local.live.com/default.aspx?v=2& ... ene=342276

The CNJ bridge was in the plans to be used for pedestrian access from the arena to Penn Station platorms, escallators, stairs to be built. The graphic arts building is still in use, or was a few months ago, anyway. That is outside the project area and would be very expensive to demolish I would think. The CNJ rails of a siding on the south side of the building are still intact.