PARAMUS — A 250-year-old Dunkerhook Road house with links to the county’s early African-American community will remain standing — for now.
Neighbor Theodore Manvell, who filed suit to prevent the demolition of the Zabriskie-Wessels Board slave house, received his wish when state Superior Court Judge Alexander Carver ordered by consent of all parties last week that the home not be razed pending a court decision. A September trial date has been scheduled.
Manvell, who named developer Quattro 4, the Planning Board and the house’s owner as defendants, said he is relieved that he and others have received time to try to save the house. Forming the Dunkerhook Stone House Preservation group, they hope to raise funds to have it relocated, find a buyer who will maintain it or convince the developer to incorporate the house into the plans.
Quattro 4 plans to subdivide the 48,000-square-foot property to make way for two stucco and stone houses with flourishes such as pillars, archways and cottage-style gables.
The Planning Board “regretfully” approved the application, saying it “deplores the fact that the structure on the premises will be demolished” and acknowledging the historical value of the stone-and-clapboard house, which is listed on the local and national historic registries. Unless a buyer emerged who was willing to match the price the developer agreed to pay, members said they could not stand in the way of the plans. No one has come forward with an offer.
Borough officials had said municipal funds were not available to buy or relocate the property at 273 Dunkerhook Road.
Representatives of one of Quattro 4 owners, Sal Petruzzella, have maintained the home’s historical value has been compromised by decades of neglect and renovations that have obliterated its original features. The developer purchased the home from Margaret Horton, who needed the money provided by the sale.
Manvell argues in the July 6 suit that the board did not do enough “to ascertain possible interest in moving the historic house at the premises to another location” or “to examine or consider alternative subdivision layouts that allowed for preservation in place.”
It also claims that while the borough created a historic preservation commission — charged with advising the planning board on historic homes — it never appointed any members to the body, said George Cotz, Manvell’s attorney.
“This structure is most valuable in its original location, or failing that, moved to another spot; but demolished it’s no more than a pile of rocks,” Cotz wrote in court papers.
John Ten Hoeve, the planning board’s attorney, said the board wanted a historical agency or buyer to come forward to save the house.
“That’s why it delayed the hearings for as long as it did,” he said.
Horton’s attorney declined to comment.
Mark Sokolich, the developer’s attorney, said tremendous efforts were made by both the planning board and applicant “to make sure that everybody had more than ample opportunities to come up with alternatives to demolition.”
H. Gelfand, an assistant history professor at James Madison University who grew up in Fair Lawn, said options for the group of preservationists, neighbors, historians and descendants of the original owners are: finding a buyer, moving the house to county or town-owned property; or having it folded into the developer’s plans.
“If you put a stone house on the market, people snap these houses up immediately,” he said.
The house was constructed by the wealthy Zabriskie family, then later used as tenant housing for African-American farmers. It is one of only four historical slave house resources in Bergen County.
It is one of 29 properties listed in the borough’s historical preservation ordinance, which requires a six-month review period before a structure can be demolished.
E-mail: sudol@northjersey.com