The Dr. William Barrow Mansion is located at 83 Wayne Street between Barrow Street and Jersey Avenue in

Downtown ''Downtown'' is a term primarily used in North America by English speakers to refer to a city's sometimes commercial, cultural and often the historical, political and geographic heart. It is often synonymous with its central business distric ...

Jersey City Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.Hudson County Hudson County is the most densely populated county in the U.S. state of New Jersey. It lies west of the lower Hudson River, which was named for Henry Hudson, the sea captain who explored the area in 1609. Part of New Jersey's Gateway Region in ...

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

, United States. The mansion was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on May 2, 1977, and is located within the Van Vorst Park Historic District, which itself was dedicated on March 5, 1980, and is roughly bounded by Railroad Avenue, and Henderson, Grand, Bright, and Monmouth Streets. The house was one of two similar homes constructed by

Cornelius Van Vorst Cornelius Van Vorst (March 7, 1822 – November 19, 1906) was the twelfth Mayor of Jersey City, serving from 1860 to 1862. Biography The kitchen step of his mansion was known to be the slab of marble that was originally the base of the statue of K ...

, a founder of the Township of Van Vorst and

mayor of Jersey City The Mayor of the City of Jersey City is the head of the executive branch of the government of Jersey City, New Jersey, United States. The mayor has the duty to enforce the municipal charter and ordinances; prepare the annual budget; appoint depu ...

from 1860 to 1862. The Van Vorsts were a prominent family who trace their North American roots to the third superintendent of the

patroonship In the United States, a patroon (; from Dutch ''patroon'' ) was a landholder with manorial rights to large tracts of land in the 17th century Dutch colony of New Netherland on the east coast of North America. Through the Charter of Freedoms a ...

Pavonia, whose

bowery The Bowery () is a street and neighborhood in Lower Manhattan in New York City. The street runs from Chatham Square at Park Row, Worth Street, and Mott Street in the south to Cooper Square at 4th Street in the north.Jackson, Kenneth L. "B ...

was located at nearby

Harsimus Harsimus (also known as Harsimus Cove) is a neighborhood within Downtown Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, United States. The neighborhood stretches from the Harsimus Stem Embankment (the Sixth Street Embankment) on the north to Christoph ...

. The family lends its name to the nearby

Van Vorst Park Van Vorst Park is a neighborhood in the Historic Downtown of Jersey City, Hudson County, New Jersey, centered on a park sharing the same name. The neighborhood is located west of Paulus Hook and Marin Boulevard, north of Grand Street, east of t ...

which was part of the township. Cornelius Van Vorst's sister Eliza was married to Dr. William Barrow. Built between 1835–1837 and also known as the Ionic House, the wooden Greek Revival structure has five Ionic columns gracing a two-story portico. The columns divide the building into four equal bays, effecting an offset center hall. As the columns are evenly spaced, the front door is not in the center, but set off to the right The interior of late Federal-early Greek Revival style with some Victorian décor features a ballroom, carved Italian marble fireplaces and twelve-foot ceilings. The mansion stood alongside the Van Vorst Mansion, separated only by a lawn, and near the Van Vorst family farmhouse. In 1874 Van Vorst sold his home to Dr. Benjamin Edge and it was later demolished in the 1920s. The Y.M.C.A. bought the Barrow Mansion in the 1890s, adding a rifle range and gymnasium. St. Matthew's Evangelical Lutheran Church purchased the residence in 1897 and used it as a parish house. The pistol range was converted to a two-lane bowling alley in the basement. The following year St. Matthew's Church was built on the lawn between the Barrow and Van Vorst mansions. The church flourished until the 1920s and the former mansion and parish house became a lively and popular social center. As the neighborhood changed in the post-war era, the mansion fell into disrepair. In 1984 the Barrow Mansion Development Corporation was founded to renovate the mansion and operate it as a center for community service. The BMDC's board is composed of members from St. Matthew's Lutheran Church and the wider community. The BMDC leases the mansion from church, and received grants in 1992 and 1995 from the New Jersey Historic Trust and other grantors for building restoration. The mansion currently provides office space to small businesses and non-profits, is home to the Attic Ensemble theater company, Jersey City Children's Theater and is host to Hudson County's largest number of Twelve Step groups and other community meetings (over 1100 in 2010).

References

External links

View of Barrow Mansion
via

Google Street View Google Street View is a technology featured in Google Maps and Google Earth that provides interactive panoramas from positions along many streets in the world. It was launched in 2007 in several cities in the United States, and has since expa ...

Barrow Mansion websiteJersey City Landmarks website re: Barrow MansionCity of Jersey City website re: Van Vorst Mansion
{{NRHP in Hudson County, New Jersey Buildings and structures in Jersey City, New Jersey Houses in Hudson County, New Jersey Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey History of Jersey City, New Jersey Houses completed in 1837 Historic district contributing properties in New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Hudson County, New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places

See also

References

External links