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The Van Houten House located within Westside Park was individually surveyed as part of a broad project of the Works Progress Administration in 1935 and was listed on the New Jersey Register of Historic Places in 1972, and on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. It was listed under Criterion C as an outstanding example of Dutch-American vernacular architecture and under Criterion A for its significant historic associations with one of the nation’s and Passaic County’s founding Dutch-American families. Although the house was recognized as among Paterson’s and Passaic County’s oldest standing buildings since its listing, it was not formally listed on the Paterson Register of Historic Places until 2014 (Res.14:022). Soon thereafter, as part of the overall master planning effort for the City of Paterson in 2014-2016, and revision of the City’s historic preservation ordinance, the entirety of Westside Park, which includes the Van Houten House, was also listed on the Paterson Register of Historic Places and in the Paterson Master Plan’s historic preservation element.
The designation of the Van Houten House on the National and State Registers did not, however, include the rest of Westside Park. Following the municipal designation of the entirety of the park, in 2016 the Historic Preservation Commission (HPC) through the Division of Historic Preservation solicited the State Historic Preservation Office (SHPO) through a formal process with a preliminary nomination of Westside Park to be designated (“listed”) on the NJ State and National Registers of Historic Places.
The effort to obtain a COE for Westside Park, however, was stalled by SHPO after the park’s assumed historic association with the renowned Fredrick Law Olmsted firm was debunked by historic research performed by consultants of the RBA Group while working on the Westside Park Master Planning effort in 2016-17. The matter was put aside until more in-depth research required by the SHPO to further support the nomination could be completed.
This opportunity came recently with the City’s partnership with New City Parks to redevelop Westside Park. Grant applications to both State and Federal agencies for this project’s funding required more in-depth research to be conducted both in the field and through documentation to assess the park’s historic significance, integrity and National Register eligibility from a variety of vantage points and disciplines. The cultural resources firm Hunter Research was engaged by New City Parks to carry out in-field and documentary studies that were presented to the SHPO for review.
Conclusions of the SHPO review of the Hunter reporting completed in 2023 established the archaeological significance of both the Van Houten House and its surrounding area, as well as the non-extant Abraham Van Houten House located in the vicinity of the current baseball field. Both of these are directed to be formally entered into the State’s database of archaeological sites. Two still-standing features within the park were determined to be register eligible, including the pavilion (c1890s) and the pedestrian bridge crossing the Passaic River linking the park to McBride Avenue.
Concerning the archaeological sensitivity of the area surrounding the Van Houten House, a NJ State Historic preservation Office letter dated May 30, 2023 states:
“Phase I archaeological testing has delineated an irregularly shaped area of archaeological sensitivity around the Van Houten House, approximately 180 feet across in its maximum dimension. This area is largely contained within the one-third acre defined limits of the National Register of Historic Places-listed Van Houten House property but extends roughly 30 feet beyond this boundary to the south and north of the house. According to the consultant, the archaeologically sensitive zone contains intact cultural deposits (a buried A horizon) at depths of between 0.3 and 1.5 feet or more below the present-day ground surface which have yielded late 18th- and 19th-centmy domestic artifacts associated with the occupation of the house. This zone includes the site of a water pump, which corresponds to a historic well, located roughly 20 feet south of the house’s southeast corner, while other shaft features (e.g., privies, cisterns, trash pits) and remains of domestic outbuildings may also survive in other locations around the house. The various features and artifacts projected to lie within the archaeologically sensitive zone contribute to the historical significance of the Van Houten House property and can yield important information about the living habits and socio-economic status of the Van Houten family and subsequent occupants of the house. According to the consultant, the area of archaeological sensitivity is confined to the house environs since subsurface testing shows the locations of the property’s associated farm buildings further to the north to have been extensively disturbed by park-related land alteration.”