It’s been quite a journey for Pete and Nancy Zerbe.
Four years ago, they made the decision to purchase 443 Middlesex Ave. on a whim.
“We wanted to work on this project to save this beautiful house,” Nancy said. “But it’s also a project to encourage other people to consider saving Metuchen’s beautiful homes.”
The existing home is within the Middlesex Avenue-Woodwild Historic District, which was added to the National and New Jersey Register of Historic Places on July 31, 2017. It sits essentially as a gateway of a stretch of five lots facing Middlesex Avenue with larger homes.
This is the second part of Metuchen 08840’s look at Middlesex Avenue-Woodwild Park Historic District – the borough’s first nationally designated historic district, which consists of 168 properties, on approximately 76 acres of streets.
In our fall issue, we looked at the two parks included in the district – the approximately 3.6-acre Woodwild Park at the eastern end of the historic district, and the 0.9-acre Martin Luther King Jr. memorial park at the western end between the Borough Hall parking lot and the Metuchen Public Library.
In June, borough officials officially unveiled signs at the entrances to the Middlesex Avenue-Woodwild Park Historic District. One of the signs is located on Hillside Avenue near Robins Place and the other can be found on Oak and Maple avenues.
The project has been bittersweet as Nancy is one of the original members of the Metuchen Historic Preservation Committee. She is coming to the end of serving her 16th year, nine as chairperson.
The Committee was instrumental in working to create the historic district and getting the grants.
“I presented [the proposed district] to the state review board on behalf of committee,” Nancy relayed.
And as Nancy and Pete gear up to find tenants for the home, they are happy with all the work that went into restoring the 1890 home.
Four years ago
Plans to demolish the three-story home, subdivide the property and construct three single-family homes was met with a bit of divine historic intervention in May 2020. Siding had already been stripped and was awaiting asbestos removal.
And even when the Zerbe’s expressed interest in the property, the developer, Anthony Rosamilia of Aros Development LLC, had been moving forward.
“It was really close,” Pete recalled. “We were talking to the developer about buying it while he was simultaneously moving on preparing for demolition. First by getting the siding taken off and one-by-one he was getting the utilities disconnected.”
The gas company was scheduled for last and “it was raining.”
“We came [to the house] for some reason and Elizabethtown Gas was here and they were sitting in their trucks,” Nancy said, saying they immediately called the developer.
The Zerbe’s decided to buy the home after Nancy had met with the developer to tour and document the site for historic purposes. Hours of discussions and negotiations ensued.
History
Among the remnants of Dr. Peter Fries’ pediatric office from the 1970s and previous tenants as recent as April 2020 is the interior historic beauty of what was once a single family dwelling built by Nathan Robins in 1896, just in time for Thanksgiving that year.
Robins had lived in the home with his wife and family. His two daughters inherited the home after their parents died.
In 1943 the Zoning Board of Adjustment approved building permits to convert the single-family home to a multi-family building of five modern apartments to relieve housing pressure at the time.
The third floor was renovated in the 1980s.
The first tenants after the conversion in July 1944 were Frank and Dorothy Poandl and their 11 children – six daughters and five sons. They lived on the first floor.
When one of their daughters Caroll married Peter Trecolis, a former borough councilman in the 2000s, they lived on the second floor. In the 1970s, Peter Freis bought the property and moved his pediatric practice into the first floor. He married Kathleen Poandl.
The Zerbe’s found a lot of things in the house.
“There were personal things and so we went through a lot of paperwork,” Nancy said.
She had recalled Dr. Fries had told her he had seen an old fire insurance map that showed the print of the home; however, he could not find it.
“I just feared it would be thrown away,” Nancy said.
Trecolis had left a filing cabinet full of papers. He had two daughters, one of whom went into some form of military and was stationed in Maryland, Nancy said.
“There was a whole file of her letters home to dad,” Nancy said, saying she didn’t read the letters, but set them aside. “It turned out that next door Diane Cammarano was in touch with her so we just gave them to Diane to pass on to the daughter.”
The Zerbe’s also found the daughter’s mother’s birth certificate. Pete added they even inherited a Robins shipping trunk – a steamship trunk – from the1800s when people migrated from Europe to the U.S.
“We can’t throw that out for sure,” Nancy said.
All of Dr. Fries’ medical equipment that was left was also donated.
The Zerbe’s, with the time and investment spent, are looking into a preservation easement for an exchange for a tax write off as well as some peace of preservation mind.
“What we also gain is future owners would be prohibited from knocking down the site,” Nancy said, noting there will be required preservation standards. “All the work and if we sell it, we would cry if someone would be able to knock the house down.”
