Building Description Hereford Lighthouse, North Wildwood New Jersey
The Hereford Lighthouse is a stick style frame building, located near the beach at Hereford Inlet. The lighthouse is constructed in 2 block parts, which intersect at right angles. On the south side, a 2 story section is surmounted by a shallow pitch roof with a forward facing gable. On the north side a one story section is surmounted by a similar pitch roof, whose gable faces the side (north). There is also a 4 story tower, which grows out of the one story south section. It occurs at the point where the one story portion adjoins the 2 story (south) portion. The tower actually abuts the south portion, near the rear of the building. The entire lighthouse building rests upon a high basement.
The rear (east side) of the building has a one story porch which runs the entire length of the building. It is contiguous with the roof of the north one story section. Running its length, it also cuts the southern section in two, separating the upper story from the lower story. The front (west) facade is modified with the following condition. To the left of the southern 2 story section is a lateral shed roof addition, which extends the left eave of the frontal gable down to the level of the roof of the north one story section. Just left of this addition is the main entrance. There is also a small forward extension on the front of the south section.
The tower has 3 exposed stories. The bottom story is surmounted by a wide molding. The top 2 stories have windows on all sides, except for the west. The tower is surmounted by a platform on brackets, with a modern railing and a beacon mounted in a metal cylinder with open sides.
The windows, most of which are covered over, are arranged as follows. The gabled front and rear walls of the south 2 story portion have a double window on each floor. The north 1 story portion has 4 bays. The south end gable of the north portion has a central chimney with a window either side. There is also a chimney at the south end of the building. The detailing is worthy of note. The eaves are supported by exposed and cleanly articulated rafters. The roofs project forward of the gables and are supported by simple brackets- with framing principals. The aforementioned rear porch is particularly fine, with turned Eastlake columns with 45 degree angle struts near the top. Beneath these strut brackets the columns have block capitols with rosettes. The columns are doubled up either side of the 2 story south portion. These pairs of columns frame the north portion forming one large bay. These doubled columns have one additional embellishment. Between each pair of columns, in the area above the capitols, (where struts would normally occur), there is a pair of struts forming an "X" shape. Other decorative embellishments include, tie beams near the tops of the gables, and wide vertical boarding in each gable, which contrasts with the narrow gauge clapboarding of the rest of the exterior. Finally each window or door is surmounted by a flat wooden hood on struts.
The Lighthouse is situated in an open field near a more modern Marine Police station. It is no longer directly adjacent to the sea owing to subsequent landfill.
