A Shopping Center?

The Story of Murray Hill Square

Life is a bit different for some 50 families in the Murray Hill section of New Providence. Their homes form part of a historic village, surrounded by beautifully landscaped courtyards, tree-lined brick walkways, and antique streetlights with copper tops and cast iron posts. A two-tiered fountain graces the courtyard, and a cobblestone road leads to an octagonal house. It is known as Murray Hill Square.

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The story of how that happened is fascinating, and one that will capture your imagination and your heart.

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From Grain Mill to Colonial Shopping Village

It all began with a dreamer, Nat Conti, a New Providence resident at the time, and owner of Conti Construction Co. Nat had visited colonial Williamsburg many times and loved going to nearby Frenchtown, Lambertville, New Hope, and Lahaska, towns rich in the history of early America. He envisioned a historic village like this right in his hometown.

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And so the project known as Historic Murray Hill Square, a cluster of small specialty shops and professional offices based on a colonial theme, was born. Nat hired 26-year-old architect Alexander Bol, a recent graduate of Pratt Institute, and working together, the two of them made history come to life.

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The project took shape in 1972 when Nat bought the land and buildings close to the Murray Hill railroad station. Within a year, he started reconstructing and restoring the old Crane Brothers Feed and Grain Mill, a series of barns and sheds once used to store oats, wheat, and corn, and the coal hauled from railroad freight cars. The project also included the Crane and Baldwin houses, and all were transformed into shops reflecting the warmth and charm of the past.

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Next came the restoration of the abandoned Thompson-Gallo House on the other side of the street. And then, in less than 18 months - groundbreaking was January 16, 1975, and the grand opening June 26, 1976 - Conti and Bol researched, designed, and built the 14 new structures comprising Phase I of the shopping village. Two of them were brick, modeled on Williamsburg's Millinery Shop and Tarpley's Store. Another was based on an old house along Route 202 in eastern Pennsylvania. All the others were exact replicas of historic buildings in the New Providence area, including the Bassinger house that once was home to retired clergy, the Burnett Cider and Grist Mill, the Elkwood Avenue Train Station, and the Academy that later served as New Providence's first Borough Hall. Authentic to the smallest detail, each was carefully researched from old photographs, glass negatives, newspaper clippings, interviews with local families, and frequent consultations with the local Historical Society.

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A Labor of Love

New buildings seldom look old. So, where did Nat find materials to give the Square its old-world look? He took down 13 buildings in New Jersey, among them 10 old barns in Califon, Chester, and Chatham, and salvaged 20-inch-wide barn siding, old rough lumber, hand-hewn beams, flagstone floors, hardware, and even corn cribs that later served as chair rails. When Conti Construction completed an urban renewal project in Morristown repaving Spring Street, the 25,000 old bricks were used in the courtyards and walkways of Murray Hill Square. The Morristown bricks are easy to spot- they have a 1" beveled edge that gave horses a grip as they went up and down the steep street. The bluestones and cobblestones were from another renewal project in Newark. Streetlights that once lined the streets of Philadelphia came from an antique store in Lahaska where the owner was happy to sell them because they were so heavy no one else was interested. Nat sent his construction trucks to haul them up to the Square.

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Nat hired local tradesmen to work on the project. They took pride in their work and gave it their best. "They lived the job," says Conti. He's quick to add that they used to joke about Murray Hill Square serving as "Conti Tech." After all, in the 1970s, when modest split-level homes were in demand, not many workers had experience designing finials and pendants, cutting the intricate patterns for ornate cornices, or installing clay tile roofs.

Other workers learned on the job as well. Nat hired high school students, both boys, and girls, to prime the paint, seal the knots in the wood, clean windows, and hand-cut the 18,000 cedar shingles for the roof of Tarpley's Restaurant. They loved working for him and Nat and the kids had great respect for one another.

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Conti involved the community in other ways. Murray Hill Square's logo was the pineapple, the symbol of hospitality in Colonial times, and the symbolism carried forward with Nat making everyone feel welcome. He provided meeting space for clubs, service organizations, and business associations. He sponsored flower shows, juried art exhibits, and antique car shows. Even while Phase I was under construction, Nat organized special events. On Thursday evenings and Saturday afternoons, On the Square programs featured artisans demonstrating arts and crafts of Colonial times, from calligraphy and needlework to furniture restoration. In December 1975, a Yuletide celebration attracted 8,000 people. A 35-foot Christmas tree decorated the central courtyard, and the Square was bustling with strolling minstrels, hosts, and hostesses in authentic hand-made costumes, and the high school students again, this time serving food and cleaning up.

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The award-winning architecture varied from carpenter gothic to Georgian colonial and included an octagon-shaped house, as well as buildings that were either copied from original Williamsburg designs, historic structures from the area, or original designs conceived by the in-house architectural staff. Almost all of the work was executed by company personnel, with the exception of specialty work such as licensed plumbing and electrical installations.

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The importance of the period styles also had a large influence on the building's interiors. In fact, the structural components of the "Grist Mill" building actually utilized mortised and tenoned solid wood beams and columns salvaged from old barns slated for demolition. Patterned tin ceilings were installed to mimic turn-of-the-century general stores. Even the roof utilized a wide variety of traditional materials such as slate, clay tile, copper, and wood to provide the finishing touch to this quaint "village". One of the subtle but important design features of Murray Hill Square was the deliberate and wonderfully successful concept of creating different chimney designs and fireplaces for each of the buildings, such that no two are alike. All chimneys were functional and were constructed of either brick or stone. The project even included one traditional fireplace that was large enough for an adult to walk inside.

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In addition to the detailing and craftsmanship that went into the architectural components, Murray Hill Square was complete with its own cobblestone road, bluestone curbing, brick and bluestone sidewalks, solid stone walls, wrought iron fences and balustrades, and plush landscaping. Most of these traditional materials were salvaged from construction projects in older sections of Morristown and Newark, which provided a patina of age that cannot be replicated.