• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to footer

Preservation New Jersey

Promoting the economic vitality, sustainability, and heritage of New Jersey’s diverse communities through advocacy and education.

  • About
    • About Us
    • Board of Directors
    • Staff
  • Programs
    • Building Industry Network
      • BIN Resource Directory
      • Renew/Join
    • Educational Programs
    • 10 Most Endangered
    • Awards Celebration
    • Annual Meeting
      • 2020 Annual Meeting Recap
    • 1867 Sanctuary
  • 10 Most
    • About the 10 Most Endangered Places
      • Nominate an Endangered Place
    • 2022
    • 2021
    • 25th Anniversary
    • 2020
    • 2015 – 2019
      • 2019
      • 2018
      • 2017
      • 2016
      • 2015
    • 2010-2014
      • 2014
      • 2013
      • 2012
      • 2011
      • 2010
    • 2005-2009
      • 2009
      • 2008
      • 2007
      • 2006
      • 2005
    • 2000-2004
      • 2004
      • 2003
      • 2002
      • 2001
      • 2000
    • 1995-1999
      • 1999
      • 1998
      • 1997
      • 1996
      • 1995
  • News
    • PNJ Newsletter
    • PNJ in the News
    • Advocacy
      • Historic Tax Credits
    • Events
  • Support Us
    • Membership
      • Individual
      • Business/Organization
    • Donate
    • PNJ Supporters
    • Volunteer
  • Contact

Asbury Park Boardwalk

February 10, 2017 by

Year Listed: 1996
Status: Endangered
City: Asbury Park
County: Monmouth

Additional Features:


UPDATES:

12/2020: The Casino Building and Carousel House still have no set year-round use. Fortunately, there is a significant amount of interest in seeing these buildings restored to their former glory. Current and former residents of Asbury Park, including actor Danny DeVito, have expressed their hope that the Casino will be restored. Potential uses include retail, dining, live entertainment, and museum space.

Recent Press:

June 2018 – https://www.app.com/story/opinion/columnists/2018/06/20/asbury-park-casino-restored-madison-marquette/691862002/ 

February 2019 – https://www.jerseyshorevibe.com/post/crumbling-into-obscurity-will-asbury-park-s-iconic-architecture-be-saved 

September 2020 – https://www.travelawaits.com/2553883/best-things-to-experience-in-asbury-park/

Madison Marquette’s brochure for the project – https://d3k1yame0apvip.cloudfront.net/website-1746/5dfd1113b53e3/APBoardwalk_Leasing_Packet_2019_v2.2.pdf 

8/2010: Revitalization is making headway, albeit slowly, in Asbury Park. Convention Hall has been completely restored and is now home to a number of boutiques and restaurants, and the Paramount Theatre, which is regularly booked with popular acts and shows. Howard Johnsons’ has been renovated and has reopened under a new name. Numerous new low-rise buildings have been built along the Boardwalk, hosting small shops, food stands, and amusements, including the Silverball Museum and Pinball Hall of Fame- a throwback to Asbury’s amusement heyday. The Casino Building remains vacant, although its arcade is now open and passable. The carousel building hosts summer theatre and the occasional festival, but remains without a permanent use.2004: Palace Amusements has been demolished. The New Jersey CAFRA permitting process failed to adequately protect this resource- the state issued the CAFRA permit, which included demolition of Palace Amusements, earlier this year.

The Asbury Park Boardwalk is listed as an official “Save Americas Treasures” project.

2002: Palace Amusements has been sold to Asbury Partners, the same developer that has just signed contracts with the city to oversee the Waterfront Redevelopment Plan.

12/00:  Boardwalk landmark Palace Amusements has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places.

8/00: The New York Times has published an article reporting that the Asbury Park real estate market has picked up due to new-found popularity with the gay community.

1996: The City of Asbury Park has received a $1.24 million NJ Trust grant for restoration of the water tower on Convention Hall. They have also funded a new organ for the Paramount Theatre with a $12,000 Urban Enterprise Zone grant.

DESCRIPTION:
In the early twentieth century, Asbury Park was the leading seaside resort on the northern New Jersey coast, surpassed statewide only by Atlantic City.

The Boardwalk, fully developed by the late 1920s, is the most tangible remains of this period. Convention Hall and the Casino, anchors of the Boardwalk, include a theater, two exhibition halls, two arcades through which the Boardwalk passes, and numerous shops. Convention Hall and the Casino are significant examples of civic oceanfront planning. Both were designed by the prominent New York firm of Warren and Wetmore, architects of Grand Central Terminal.

The City has been in a prolonged period of depression with a tax base greatly diminished in the years since WWII.

A major redevelopment plan for the beachfront area has resulted in the loss of nationally significant resources and more are in danger.

CONTACTS:
Lynn Wyckoff, Asbury Park Historical Society
PO Box 543
Asbury Park, NJ 07712
732-775-5121
history@asburypark.net

Werner Baumgartner
PO Box 557
Asbury Park, NJ 07712
732-988-2260
WernerAPNJ@aol.com

Jan Braverman
601 Bangs Ave
Asbury Park, NJ 07712

Footer

STAY UP TO DATE

Sign up to receive free updates.

  • Facebook
  • Flickr
  • Instagram
  • LinkedIn
  • Twitter

Search Our Site!

Tags

10 most 10Most 2021 Accessibility AIA Annual Meeting Architectural Details architecture Awards Brick Camden Cape May celebration Cumberland docomomo events Exterior Envelope Façade Restoration Gala historic Historic Sites Council HTC Hudson Masonry meeting modern Morris Murphy new jersey news Passaic Preservation preservation awards roebling Roofing Slate Structural Repair Sustainability Sustainable Construction tour Traditional Construction trenton Warren Wood Woodstown
  • About Us
  • Membership
  • Volunteer
  • Contact Us

Web Designer © 2023 Preservation New Jersey