From the Ramapough Conservancy:
Exciting news!!! Here is our more detailed description of the construction which will start any day now at the Van Allen and Stream Houses in Oakland NJ. George Washington, if you are listening, we are fixing up your old headquarters from July of 1777.
For the Van Allen House, we plan on removing all wood shingle roofing and we plan on installing a vapor shield type temporary roofing system over new thin plywood sheathing. We also plan on installing temporary tarps and repairing the flashing where severe deterioration exists at the chimneys (some of this we already completed in the winter of 2012-13); we also plan on repairing some wood areas at sheathing.
For the Stream House, we plan on installing cables (approximately six) at top plates on the walls; we also plan on removing all of the roofing and installing new plywood over the entire roof and new rolled roofing. We also plan on sealing over the doors and windows that are currently open.
We also plan on taking down the orange fencing and putting up a new fence to both beautify and protect the vulnerable areas of the building.
With demolition, engineering and architectural costs included, the total cost for this first stage of our stabilization is $63,700.00.
This project was assisted by grants from the Bergen County Historic Preservation Trust Fund, a part of the Bergen County Open Space, Recreation, Farmland and Historic Preservation Trust Fund.
We do still, however, need your donations to match grants we are receiving now for next stages, and for operating costs (insurance, printing, administrative and regulatory fees, telephone, postage, accountants, etc.) Our address is Ramapough Conservancy, Inc., P.O. Box 1205, Oakland, NJ 07436.
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For those residents who don’t know much about the Stream House, it was built for Edward Dey Page and his Vygeberg Farm, an integral part of Oakland’s foundation in 1902. Hopper St. in Oakland is named for our first mayor (1902 – 1909), Amos Hopper, while Page Drive is named after our 2nd mayor (1910-1911), Edward Page. Mr. Page was instrumental in the start of Oakland’s Fire Dept., as he commissioned his carpenter, Gideon DeWitt, to construct the original firehouse on Yawpo Ave. He also insured the establishment of the first public school in Oakland, which is today the Board of Education building. His profession before moving to Oakland was in the woolen clothing industry in NYC where he was a businessman involved in providing the large amounts of wool necessary to clothe New York and New Jersey’s rapidly growing populations. He started his large produce and dairy Vygeberg Farm in Oakland at the same time as Francis Lynde Stetson, the owner of Skylands Farm property in Ringwood and George Crocker, owner of the Crocker Mansion in Mahwah were establishing various large ranches and farms in the Ramapos. Many local farms were needed to provide food for New York City and Paterson’s growing workers’ population. He brought Oakland into the 20th century while still maintaining its country atmosphere. Mr. Page was intrigued by the Van Allen House and restored it for use as he built sturdy stone and stucco houses up Page’s Hill (Hiawatha Blvd.) for his family and many farm employees. ‘Chapel Hill Estates’ by the Hiawatha Blvd firehouse is where he built a stone chapel for his wife. The building became a Country Club house until it burned down in the 1950’s. The Stream House can still become a charming public museum.