2024-07-312024-07-312021-11-09https://hdl.handle.net/10929/137964In the last half of the 19th century Jersey City neighborhoods boomed propelled by population growth throughout the New York area. Lots were frequently acquired in bulk, and long rows of uniform houses were built not only around the park, but on blocks stretching in every direction. Built in 1866 by the heir of Cornelius Van Vorst Mortimer D. Conklin, a row of three-story brick houses were built on Mercer Street between Varick Street and Jersey Avenue. Constructed in the Italianate style, the homes feature three floors above full basements. Dramatic red brick facades are visually connected by a uniform stone course above their basements and the continuous cornice at their roof lines. Windows are topped with eyebrow lintels common for the period, while door lintels in a similar shape are supported by simple brackets. Note the photo of the brownstones on Mercer Street. These ten limestone-fronted townhouses were built speculatively before 1873 in the Italianate style. Notice the heavy balustrade, made up of large cast-iron components, on the stoop. The tall double doors replace the single door of the Greek Revival period, and glass panels in the doors replace the sidelights and transom. The basement level is set off from the upper floors by a stone treatment called rustication, in which the wide joints of the stone blocks are very pronounced at the lowest floor. Brackets are used extensively in the cornice and even support the sills of the windows. Here the facades are remarkably well preserved, owing to the limestone, a better selection of veneer than the more typical late-nineteenth-century brownstone.Original file name Brownstones of Mercer Street Collage_Fotor(7).jpg3600 x 2800Each photograph within this collection is protected by copyright and/or related rights. Therefore, these photos may only be used in a way that is permitted by copyright and related rights legislation. The following terms of use for State Library patrons shall apply. 1. Educational Institution/student use is permitted as long as such usage adheres to all copyright and related rights legislation. In these instances, these photographs may only be used for educational or historical purposes. 2. Non-Commercial use is permitted without permission from the rights holder, as long as such use adheres to all copyright and related right legislation. 3. Under no circumstances may these photographs be used for commercial purposes without the direct permission of the rights-holder. 4. Under no circumstances may these photographs be used for political purposes. 5. Users must always give appropriate credit to the photographer. The credit may not in any way suggest the right's holder endorses the user or their use of the photographs. 6. Photographs may be copied or redistributed in any medium or format as long as such use does not violate copyright and related rights legislation. 7. Users may remix, transform, and rebuild upon the original photographs as long as it does not violate copyright and related rights legislation.Jersey CityDowntown Jersey CityMercer StreetBrownstonesHistoric NeighborhoodGatewayThe Gateway RegionNJ Gateway RegionNew Jersey Gateway RegionNew JerseyNJJerseyThe Garden State