The Jersey City Historic Brownstone
The history behind the historic houses that line our Jersey City Streets.
Originally featured and published in Volume 1 of our Jersey City Coffee Table collection
“Properly preserved Jersey City brownstones are a treasure trove of intricate crown molding, elaborate ceiling medallions, marble fireplaces and antique fixtures. These details are a reminder of the burgeoning class of residents in the early 1900s that aspired for the elegance of limestone or marble but required a more financially accessible option for their home.”
The Brownstone is not just a place of residence but rather a piece of history ingrained in the fabric of Jersey City. The Italian architectural design of the infamous row house was a sign of the times in the early 20th-century prosperity of this manufacturing city.
Brownstone, a reddish-brown sandstone, was used extensively in the building of homes in the northeast because of its availability from quarries located throughout New Jersey conveniently located near railroads or canals owned and operated by Passaic Formation Quarries. Millions of years prior, as rivers carried sand-laden water over the lowland plains, this building stone was created, laying dormant and ready to be cut.
As cities began to expand, quarries were abandoned and the brownstone building material was used less frequently and reserved specifically, for foundations and window sills. However, the rowhouses originally covered with a brownstone façade remained a part of history.
Although some may refer to any townhouse or residences that are connected as “brownstones”, a true brownstone is one whose face is covered in this sandstone building material. Its distinct brownish color is still apparent on the house-lined streets of Jersey City and represents the industrial era in which the city was admired as a manufacturing and transportation epicenter.
It was said that a person’s wealth could be measured by the size of their stoop. Larger stoops indicated extra room for larger, more grandiose furniture - a sign of wealth in those days. Walking the streets of brownstone lined homes, one might conclude that the home with the largest stoop on the block housed the largest grand piano.
