Preservation Plan for THE FERRACUTE MACHINE COMPANY SITE BRIDGETON, CUMBERLAND COUNTY, NEW JERSEY Owned by the City of Bridgeton, New Jersey Preservation Plan prepared for the South Jersey Economic Development District Millville, New Jersey Funded in part with a grant from the Garden State Preservation Trust Fund Administered by the New Jersey Historic Trust Prepared by WATSON & HENRY ASSOCIATES Bridgeton, New Jersey Project 04-009.1 OCTOBER 2007 Michael C. Henry, PE, AIA Penelope S. Watson, AIA NJ PE#25633 NJ RA#11115 NJ RA#10019 TABLE OF CONTENTS COVER TABLE OF CONTENTS Page i PROJECT DIRECTORY Page iii PRECIS Page v BACKGROUND AND HISTORICAL ANALYSIS x Introduction Page 1 x Historic Designation Page 1 x Legal Authority for Ownership and Stewardship Page 1 x Historic Name Page 1 x Location and Setting Page 1 x Architectural, Cultural and Historical Significance Page 2 x Architectural Description Page 2 x Historic Overview Page 4 CHRONOLOGY OF CONSTRUCTION x Introduction Page 14 x Methodology Page 14 x Overview of Site Chronology Page 14 x Office Building Page 15 x Main Machine Shop Page 15 ANALYSIS OF EXISTING CONDITIONS x Introduction Page 18 x Methodology Page 18 x Overview Page 19 x Climate Contest Page 20 x Site Page 20 x Exterior Masonry and Foundations Page 21 x Structure and Framing Page 21 x Roofing and Moisture Protection Page 23 x Windows and Doors Page 24 x Overview of Interior Page 26 x Building Systems Page 27 RECOMMENDATIONS x Introduction Page 29 x Preservation/Restoration/Rehabilitation Philosophy and Guidelines Page 29 x Community Assessment of Adaptive Reuse Potential Page 32 x Architectural Assessment of Adaptive Reuse Strategies Page 35 x Life Safety and Code Requirements Page 37 x Barrier-Free Accessibility Page 37 x Technical Recommendations Page 38 x Main Machine Shop Recommendations Page 38 x Office Recommendations Page 39 x Project Phasing and Conceptual Costs Page 43 PRESERVATION PLAN Ferracute Machine Company Site, Bridgeton, New Jersey Watson & Henry Associates Page i October 2007 Table of Contents BIBLIOGRAPHY PHOTOGRAPHS x List of Illustrations and Photographs x Figures 1 through 19 APPENDIX A x Existing Arrangement Sketches: Office: Plan SK 1.1 Machine Shop: Key Plan SK 1.2 Machine Shop: Partial Plan, Bays 8 through 15 SK 1.3 Machine Shop: Partial Plan, Bays 1 through 7 SK 1.4 Machine Shop: West End Wall Elevation SK 1.5 Machine Shop: Typical Bay Elevation SK 1.6 Machine Shop: Typical Section SK 1.7 APPENDIX B x Concept Sketches for 25 July 2007 Workshop Concept Sketch 1 SK 1.8 Concept Sketch 2 SK 1.9 APPENDIX C x Secretary of the Interior’s Standards for the Treatment of Historic Properties, 1995 APPENDIX D x Graphics for 25 July 2007 Workshop Ferracute Then and Now Site Arrangement Machine Shop Plans Site Maps End of Table of Contents PRESERVATION PLAN - DRAFT Ferracute Machine Company Site, Bridgeton, New Jersey Watson & Henry Associates Page ii January 2006 PROJECT DIRECTORY PROJECT Preservation Plan for the Ferracute Machine Company Site 429 East Commerce Street Bridgeton, New Jersey 08302 OWNER City of Bridgeton East Commerce Street Bridgeton, New Jersey 08302 Phone (856) 455-3230 James Begley Mayor Sandi Zapolski Director of Economic Development CLIENT South Jersey Economic Development District 226 High Street Millville, New Jersey 08332 Phone (856) 765-970 Gordon K. Dahl Executive Director Judith Arnold, Esq. General Counsel FUNDING The preparation of this Preservation Plan has been made possible, in part, by public funds from the Garden State Historic Preservation Trust Fund administered by the New Jersey Historic Trust. INVESTIGATING TEAM Watson & Henry Associates Preservation Architects and Engineers 12 North Pearl Street Bridgeton, New Jersey 08302 Phone (856) 451-1779 Fax (856) 451-0471 Penelope S. Watson, AIA Principal Architect Michael C. Henry, PE, AIA Principal Engineer/Architect Maria Cerda-Moreno Associate Architect Katherine Switala-Elmhurst Senior Graduate Engineer Carlos Fajardo Graduate Engineer Jaime Bustos Intern PRESERVATION PLAN Ferracute Machine Company Site, Bridgeton, New Jersey Watson & Henry Associates Page iii October 2007 Project Directory The statements and opinions contained herein are for the use and information of the South Jersey Economic Development District. The opinions reflect the judgment of a Professional Engineer and Registered Architect performing with the care and skill ordinarily used by other Professional Engineers and Registered Architects when dealing with existing structures at the same time and in the same or similar localities. Conclusions drawn in this report are based on those conditions and surfaces accessible to the unaided visual observation of the Architect/Engineer. No warranties or guarantees can be inferred from, or implied by, the statements or opinions contained in this report. End of Project Directory PRESERVATION PLAN - DRAFT Ferracute Machine Company Site, Bridgeton, New Jersey Watson & Henry Associates Page iv January 2006 PRECIS This Preservation Plan presents architectural and engineering findings and recommendations for the Ferracute Machine Company site in Bridgeton, New Jersey. Built in 1904 following a fire that destroyed an earlier complex, the Office and Main Machine Shop are the primary surviving structures of the press manufactory founded, owned and operated by Oberlin Smith, one of the country’s leading industrialists and inventors in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. The company operated at the site until 1968; since then the buildings have been deteriorating through periods of vacancy and marginal use. The South Jersey Economic Development District commissioned this Preservation Plan on behalf of the property owner, the City of Bridgeton, to provide the framework and guidance for development of this important resource, including identification of major stewardship issues, and potential adaptive reuses. This report, the first step in the preservation of the property: x Reviews briefly the history and background of the Ferracute Machine Company, buildings and site; x Identifies significant characteristics of the buildings and site; x Documents the current state of the buildings’ architectural materials and overall structural condition; x Recommends appropriate historic preservation treatments; x Presents the outcome of a community workshop held to explore possible adaptive reuse strategies; x Presents an architectural assessment of adaptive reuse strategies; x Presents conceptual construction budgets for implementing the recommendations. The Background and Historical Analysis presents the background and historical context of the buildings and site. It includes an architectural description of both the Office and the Main Machine Shop and discussion of the buildings’ significance. The section concludes that the buildings and site possess national significance for their association with Oberlin Smith, in addition to: x Historical significance at the national level as the site of a company that perfected the operation of presses for cutting, punching, bending, drawing, stamping and coining of sheet metal, and that supplied the presses used in the industrialization of the United States in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. Ferracute supplied presses to such manufacturing giants as Western Electric Company, General Electric, Eastman Kodak, McCormick Harvesting Machine Company, Winchester Repeating Arms Company, International Harvester, J.P. Morgan Company, Victor Talking Machine Company, Ford Motor Company, General Motors, Studebaker, Packard, Cadillac, and Chrysler, among many others; x Historical significance for the part it played in the growing world dominance of American manufacturing in the late nineteenth and early twentieth centuries through its supplying of presses to countries throughout the world, including Australia, England, Holland, Hungary, Germany, Norway, Russia, Denmark, Sweden, Italy, Switzerland, India, Peru and Japan, and the supply and installation of entire minting operations in China and Bolivia; x Historical significance for its contributions to the war effort for both the First and Second World Wars, including supplying the bulk of the presses shipped to England on an emergency basis for the replacement of ammunition abandoned at Dunkirk; x Historical significance as the site of Oberlin Smith’s invention of the magnetic recording of sound; x Cultural significance for its pioneering role in the development of “scientific management,” theories that called for the development of the efficiency of each individual worker, and thus the overall efficiency of the manufacturing operation; x Architectural significance at a local level as an example of the architectural expression of a company of highly-skilled and experienced mechanical and manufacturing engineers. The Background and Historical Analysis section traces the history of the firm and the site including: x The firm’s founding in 1863 by a twenty-three-year-old Oberlin Smith; x Its expansion and move to the present site in the 1870s; x The exhibition at the Centennial Exposition in Philadelphia and Ferracute’s venture into the international market; PRESERVATION PLAN Ferracute Machine Company Site, Bridgeton, New Jersey Watson & Henry Associates Page v October 2007 Precis x The firm’s growth during the bicycle fad of the 1890s; x Its growth in the area of coining presses, including setting up entire mints in China and Bolivia in the 1890s; x The loss of the physical plant through fire in 1903; x The construction