Ocean Grove is a small, square mile town on the Jersey shore. It prides itself on being 'God's Little Acre' and having a large assortment of Victorian architecture. We found OG thru our friend Vic and soon bought a cute Craftsman style house....we then found out it was a dry town....no liquor served in any of the restaurants although the rules had been relaxed since the 80's when cars couldn't even park in town on Sundays. You don't own the land there, it's leased for $ 1.00 per 99 years in perpetuity and they make you sign all these waivers that you won't invite 'undesirables' ....... it must have spoken volumes on the state of the town when Methodists sold to gays.... the town was dotted with rainbow flags, now = flags.......as the rainbows have been co-opted.....lol
In the 90's it was a little like living in a David Lynch movie, lots of characters and equal parts ancients, gays, religious fanatics and like us....true heathens. equal parts charm, horror and side show.
One of my favorite Italianate loggias
There are still some wonderful Victorians that haven't been redone within an inch of their lives.
This was our little house. The railings have been changed and sadly so have the the proportions. Most of the houses were originally painted white, but the town wants to become 'Victorian'....our poor Craftsman has been tarted up. As most houses in the Grove this was originally a tent, there's still an extensive tent village around the Temple.
There was a lucky fire next door to us and the house came up for sale.....honest, someone in an oxygen tent decided they needed a cigarette!!!!!! we bought it and had it taken down and then we put in a large garden, which was a real luxury in Ocean Grove. Sadly when we sold the cottage we offered the lot to our two neighbors so they could each retain a garden, but they declined and another new 'Victorian' was put in it's place.
There are some great porches and altanas with lacework detailing, but many have been over decorated.
This is an example of a horror story. It was a rather sever classical house but was bought by a fancy architect who prides himself on being an 'historical designer'....if ever there was a case for historicism rather than the tripe that passes for 'restoration'. Everything about this garish structure is to my eye, ridiculous and none of it was restored as it was not there to begin with!
A nice house right off the beach
Another horor. This was put up by the town's prominent builders with the approval of the historical society. OG has strict guidelines as to what can be built, what materials can be used and the colors a house may be painted.....Everything about this house is wrong, it's neither historic or historicist....just poorly designed. There are no correct details, the scale is off not to mention that it's just entirely out of place in this town......a pure example of the power of knowing the right people.
A typical beach block
The Centennial house is a museum in town and the prime example of what the town is supposed to look like.
One of my favorite houses in OG. A stick style cottage with a great porch. I used to walk in front of this house all the time and never saw the owners and it turns out that it belongs to one of my favorite people, the uber stylish Van of Van Gregory and Norton.
Another great house owned by designers.
There's a fine line between being historically correct and looking foolish and in Ocean Grove the foolish always seem to have the upper hand. Most of the houses are being tarted up and gingerbreaded regardless of their style. To make matters worse it seems that the Historical committee and the Building Commission don't speak! and have entirely different agendas. I hadn't been back in a while but luckily there are still quite a few beautiful homes there. I hope they don't all get ruined by historical 'correctness'.
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