Cook School could be saved from demolition
An infamous city eyesore heads for either demolition or redevelopment as discussions ramp for ending decades of concerns about the dilapidated building.
William G. Cook Elementary School, a crumbling redbrick structure located at the intersection of Cuyler and Walnut avenues may have potential despite decades of deterioration.
John Hatch, a city-based architect, resident and partner at architectural firm Clarke Caton Hintz as well as at the development company HHG Development, said hold off on demolition discussions.
“I’ve been texting back and forth with the Mayor (Reed Gusciora) about the Cook School. I think it’s savable,” Hatch said yesterday during a tour of the expanding HHG and Clarke Caton Hintz redevelopment project that already has produced an upscale chic residency know as Roebling Lofts.
“The Cook School has some significant structural problems but if the integrity of the masonry has not been breached, and from initial observations the masonry seems to be in good shape, then by all means save the building. It’s a beautiful structure that has many options.”
Dave Henderson, who represents the other H in HHG and shares a life relationship as Hatch’s husband, said despite decades of roof issues at Cook School, the building may stand as a sound structure and investment.
“A roof collapse or being burned off is a slow process in terms of how it impacts the structure. This building we’re standing is essentially the poster child for how solid masonry work can withstand decades of a roof being missing from a building,” Henderson noted.
Hatch and Henderson Wednesday offered a tour of Building 110 a massive structure completed in 1906 that served as the carpentry shop for Roebling Industries. The building offers amazing wood trusses, brick walls and heavy timber framing.
This redevelopment effort will gain recognition in a future article. Let’s focus on the Mayor Gusciora to contact Hatch about the Cook School. No doubt Gusciora made the call based on the fact that Hatch has expertise in architecture and owns a history of success with numerous projects.
Hatch, who has 25 years with Clarke Caton Hintz, owns a development footprint with numerous projects, including
Glen Cairn Hall at Thomas Edison State University, the new School of Business at NJCU, the restoration of Morven, the former governor’s mansion in Princeton, the Roebling Complex Redevelopment, and multiple phases of the Roebling Complex Redevelopment.
Hatch voices old-school ideas, and not just for the old Cook institution.
Offered a choice between building destruction or redevelopment, “I’m almost always going to side with saving building that can be saved. I’m not big on demolition,” Hatch noted.
Cook Elementary school closed in 1977 then reopened a decade later as an alternative school. In 1990, Cook School housed offices for a District child study team before school officials again used the deteriorating property for alternative education five years later.
District officials fielded numerous complaints about regarding building safety. Cook school closed and the City of Trenton purchased the building for $1.
For the past 23 years, residents have watched Cook School crumble while trespassers robbed the building of copper and other sellable items.
The Cook school roof caved while glass windows and numerous bricks cascaded from a once successful school which opened in 1891.
Another well-publicized cleanup effort is planned as Mayor Gusciora heads a Saturday, August 18 event that starts at 9 a.m. More importantly, Hatch expects a walk through the building before he renders an assessment regarding the building’s structural worthiness.
The City of Trenton needs more involvement from long-time residents who hold expertise and knowledge on specific subjects and life works. Of course, gossipers and social media wonks deliver their negative perspectives about Trenton and some residents, expected behaviors in this small city.
The future of Trenton depends on people who own vision, a track record that brims success and an understanding that this city stands on the brink of revitalization, frequently demanding that we preserve buildings, improve neighborhoods and participate in the restoration of people.
In other words, a city that birthed a “Trenton Makes, The World Takes” slogan, now moves forward and upward with a keen awareness that buildings constructed hundreds of years in the past and left for dead, have life, especially when placed in the hearts, hands and mental framework of Henderson, Hatch and the Clark Caton Hintz firm.
Don’t write off Cook Elementary School. And Trenton? We may need a new slogan.
Trenton Builds Dreamers.