>Case is made against historic house
Saturday, February 5, 2011
BY STEPHANIE AKIN
THE RECORD
STAFF WRITER
PARAMUS — The original structure of a house linked to Bergen County’s historical freed slave community is in such poor condition that it would be almost impossible to preserve, an architect representing a developer testified on Thursday.
A developer wants to build homes on the site of the Zabriskie-Wessells-Board house in Paramus, which housed freed slaves.
Speaking in support of a plan to raze the so-called Zabriskie-Wessells-Board slave house on Dunkerhook Road, architect Peter Wells said that renovations and neglect during the building’s 250-year history have diminished its historical value.
“It doesn’t even actually resemble the way it was originally built,” Wells said.
The testimony was among the first since developer Sal Petruzzella’s proposal was submitted to the borough in March, inciting opposition from preservationists and descendants of the original occupants as far-flung as Baltimore.
https://www.northjersey.com/community/115349934_Case_is_made_against_historic_house.html
