{"id":148276,"date":"2026-02-28T11:55:30","date_gmt":"2026-02-28T11:55:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/148276\/"},"modified":"2026-02-28T11:55:30","modified_gmt":"2026-02-28T11:55:30","slug":"new-walking-tour-of-jersey-citys-powerhouse-hopes-to-build-support-for-restoration","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/148276\/","title":{"rendered":"New Walking Tour of Jersey City\u2019s Powerhouse Hopes to Build Support for Restoration"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"JerseyJohn Gomez holds up a historic photo of the powerhouse. Photo by Darren Tobia.<\/p>\n

The sight of construction workers at the historic H&M Powerhouse in Jersey City is always a welcome sign to John Gomez.<\/p>\n

For one, it means the concern about its potential collapse<\/a>, news of which came from Mayor James Solomon\u2019s office, had subsided \u2014 for now.<\/p>\n

\u201cObviously, the road is open now, so there is no emergency,\u201d Gomez said.<\/p>\n

It also means that the work of emptying out the structure could soon be complete sometime in December, reaching a long-awaited milestone when the city government can finally begin planning its future.<\/p>\n

In big cities, large-scale historic preservation projects take a lot of money, work, and public support. For the last few weekends, Gomez, founder of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy, has been leading $15 walking tours of the neighborhood in an effort to drum up excitement. The next tour is on February 28. Other dates can be found at the conservancy\u2019s website<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"JerseyThe H&M Powerhouse in downtown Jersey City. Photo by Darren Tobia.<\/p>\n

Standing in front of the Hudson & Manhattan Railroad Powerhouse, built in 1908 to power what would later become the PATH trains, Gomez holds a binder with tour-related materials. Among the pages is a photocopied image of him posing near the building in 1999.<\/p>\n

\u201cI had hair back then,\u201d he joked.<\/p>\n

Saving the powerhouse is what started Gomez\u2019s career in preservation. A school teacher by day, he brought about the formation of the Jersey City Landmarks Conservancy in 1999. The conservancy had a victory early on authoring the nomination that landed the building on the National Register in 2001 and prevented its demolition. But the advocacy since then has been an \u201cuphill battle,\u201d largely because Port Authority is still leasing it until the December deadline.<\/p>\n

Today, the building is surrounded by skyscrapers, such as the 69-story 200 Greene Street<\/a>. Others are proposed,\u00a0such as the one at\u00a0100 Bay Street,<\/a> which\u00a0could reach 90 stories. The city doesn\u2019t need another skyscraper on the site of the powerhouse, Gomez said, although a different times in the last that has been pitched as a way to save the building.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt has to be first and foremost a cultural space for the neighborhood,\u201d he said. \u201cThere also has to be open space.\u201d<\/p>\n

The need for a cultural space here is important when you learn about what happened at 111 First Street<\/a>, the historic Lorillard Tobacco Company warehouse that was once home to an artist\u2019s enclave, helping build the neighborhood\u2019s reputation as an arts district. In 2007, a Manhattan developer demolished it for a skyscraper that was never even built. The neighborhood was supposed to be protected as a historic district, but the owners fought that and won. In the end, all the city gained from that fight was an abandoned lot in front of the powerhouse. Though plans to build a 90-story skyscraper on the site finally reemerged this year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The historic district was never established, but the fight with the owners of 111 First Street awakened local residents to fight for better development.<\/p>\n

\u201dIt was a lesson learned,\u201d Kathryn Moore of the Powerhouse Arts District Neighborhood Association, who attended the tour. \u201cWe realized that we couldn\u2018t just let the process happen naturally. We had to stay on top of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

With the help of the neighborhood association\u2019s oversight, the Powerhouse Arts District neighborhood has seen a number of adaptive reuse projects at places like the former Manichewitz Factory at 151 Bay Street \u2014 the future home of the New Jersey Symphony \u2014 and Modera Lofts<\/a>. It has given preservationists hope that something similar could happen at the powerhouse.<\/p>\n

\"JerseyA mural of the powerhouse inside the building at 25 Christopher Columbus Drive. Photo by Darren Tobia.<\/p>\n

Meanwhile, the neighborhood continues to thrive through its association with the powerhouse. The tour points out murals of the building that grace the walls of luxury buildings. One of the Powerhouse Arts District\u2019s newest apartment buildings, Gomes pointed out, is even named The Oakman after the powerhouse\u2019s architect, John Oakman. But the namesake building that gave the neighborhood its sense of identity and cachet remains roofless and boarded up with plywood.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe Powerhouse Arts District has risen around that building,\u201d Gomez said. \u201cIronically, it\u2019s the one that\u2019s rotting there, and we hope to change that.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"JerseyOne of the many skyscrapers that have sprouted up around the historic powerhouse. Photo by Darren Tobia.<\/p>\n

The broader theme of the two-hour tour, visitors will discover, is about urban renewal and the ongoing fight to right the wrongs of misguided urban planning. This is a subject that is near and dear to Gomez. Growing up on First Street, he witnessed urban renewal happening at his doorstep. In 1975, his father, Kenny Gomez, fought against the bulldozing of brownstones on Marin Boulevard. \u201cI remember listening to this at the kitchen table,\u201d he said. \u201cIt was my first experience with preservation.\u201d<\/p>\n

As the tour group stood along Greene Street, the powerhouse appeared swallowed up by modernity. It is the only structure visible from this angle that hints at the neighborhood\u2019s illustrious industrial past. With its towers, arched windows, and ornate masonry, Gomez would argue it is the most beautiful building in sight.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019re not going to see a building like this anywhere in the metro area,\u201d he said. \u201cYou\u2019ll see other power stations in New York \u2014 but not like this.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"John Gomez holds up a historic photo of the powerhouse. Photo by Darren Tobia. The sight of construction…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":148277,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[36],"tags":[98,100,99,14507,56500,62157,62158,9,24,63,20719],"class_list":["post-148276","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn","tag-brooklyn-headlines","tag-brooklyn-news","tag-downtown","tag-hm-powerhouse","tag-jersey-city-landmarks-conservancy","tag-lorillard-tobacco-company","tag-new-york","tag-new-york-city","tag-nyc","tag-powerhouse-arts-district"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148276","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=148276"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/148276\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/148277"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=148276"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=148276"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=148276"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}