North Trenton - Buildings

Buildings

Until the first decade of the 20th century, much of North Trenton was made up of working farms, orchards, and large estates. After 1910, however, industrial development and population growth led to rapid development. By 1920, the North Ward was home to approximately a quarter of the city's population. North Trenton attracted a large middle-class, professional population, which coincided with the construction of modern, 'planned' neighborhoods situated around parks and green space. Several commercial districts, such as the Five Points (or Battle Monument Square), were established, and thrived from the 1920s to the 1960s. According to a New Jersey Historical Architecture survey, approximately seventy percent of all existing homes and buildings in North Trenton were constructed between 1919 and 1940.

Despite decades of economic decline, North Trenton still boasts a diverse range of noteworthy architecture — again, constructed primarily between 1919 and 1940. This 21-year period constitutes the area's 'golden age'. During this time North Trenton attracted a large middle-class population, and a variety of immigrant groups primarily from southern and eastern Europe. Many of the homes in the area between Brunswick and Princeton Avenues were developed by the British-born builder Samuel Hilton, and are considered architecturally significant.

In the 1930s, Project Buildings, or federally subsidized housing similar to those in New York City were developed between Brunswick Avenue and Perry Street. The area around the Trenton Battle Monument, the heart of North Trenton, still retains blocks of once-fashionable row-houses built in the Queen Anne and Edwardian styles. The Trenton Orthopedic Hospital, which still stands at the corner of Brunswick and Cavell Avenues, was built in the 1920s and is a superb example of Art Deco style. The hospital served as an important polio treatment center in the 1930s, 40s, and 50s, and continued to operate as such until it was closed in 1970. Many of the buildings in the Battle Monument area were abandoned in the 1960s, and eventually torn down.