Old Meeting Hall building in Trenton NJ

In and Out Social Club, Trenton New Jersey

Date added: January 24, 2024 Categories:

The In and Out Social Club was incorporated on September 2^nd, 1889, for "social, intellectual, and recreative purposes". The original meeting place was at 728 S. Broad Street. City directories list the officers of the club during the first decade, and these men were mostly small businessmen, like grocers and tavern owners, or white-collar workers, like clerks, foremen, paymasters, and in one case, a fire commissioner.

Social and fraternal organizations have been important in Trenton since before the Revolution, when a Masonic Lodge was established in 1730. In the earlier periods, informal groups gathered in the public rooms of local taverns to discuss political, financial, and social news. As Trenton grew during the industrial era, both the population and their activities became more varied and extensive. Those sharing similar backgrounds, interests, and tastes banded together and formed regular organizations. The earliest of these appear to have been singing societies organized by music-loving Germans. Later clubs, like the Lotus and Lochiel Clubs organized in the 1870s, were founded by business and professional leaders to promote literature, science, and social intercourse, although these often focused on fine dining, choice liquors, and male camaraderie.

As the Chambersburg area of Trenton grew along with the development of the steel and wire rope industries, clubs began to play a prominent role in the community, a tradition that continues to this day. In 1929, the In and Out Social Club was described as "a club that has long been exceptionally popular in the Chambersburg section. This was never actually a political organization, but most of the political leaders of both parties have been members, as well as lawyers, doctors and businessmen."

Within three years of its founding, the club had 125 members and had outgrown the meeting space it borrowed from one of its members. In February 1892 it purchased the 25' by 100' lot at 714-716 South Clinton Avenue for $950 from Melinda Goulding. She had purchased it in 1886 as a subdivision of the George Blackford estate. The club apparently began construction of the building almost immediately, as its opening was announced in less than one year. The Sunday paper on January 7^th, 1893, carried the announcement that "The In and Out Social Club took possession on Sunday of its new home on South Clinton Avenue. The building cost about $12,000. It is three stories in height and has all the modern improvements needed in a club room building. The first floor is partly occupied by a gymnasium. On the third floor is the parlor, meeting room, etc."

The building was obviously designed to express the club's prosperity and importance within the community, rising above the two-story houses along the rest of the block with a prominent cornice proudly announcing the date of erection. Other details, including the main entrance with the club's initials etched into the glass doors, the long stairhall, and the high ceilings, all reinforced this display. Unfortunately, the members may have bitten off more than they could chew. The construction appears to have been financed in part by a mortgage, dated August 12^th, 1892, held by a woman named Hannah Brian. In December 1896, Mrs. Brian foreclosed on the mortgage, with an outstanding balance at the time of $5683, and the property came into her possession. Whether the club vacated the building at this time or leased it back for a period remains unknown. Mrs. Brian sold the property in 1902 to Rudolph Kuser, who worked for Peoples Brewing Company.

The club apparently purchased another property at 137 Genessee Street, from a woman named Julia Toth, who held a mortgage for $300 in 1912. It thrived during the next two decades and had grown to 270 members by 1929, with a meeting place on Hudson Street. Both of these subsequent locations are within one block of 714 So. Clinton Avenue, indicating the importance of remaining within that community. The club survived into the 1950s, with the latest reference appearing in the 1955 Chamber of Commerce Directory.

The use of the property within the first decades after the club's relocation remains uncertain, although long-term residents in this neighborhood recall its use as a tavern when they were young. Because of his connection with the brewery, Kuser's possible use as a tavern seems appropriate. He and his wife held it until 1921, when they sold it to John Zsizeri, whose use is undocumented. Joseph Zielinkski, who was in the real estate and insurance business, purchased it in 1928, subject to existing leases. He sold it to Helen Winowicz in 1938 with two mortgages, for $6,000 and $8,000. Jennie Seitz purchased it in 1941, assuming a $6,000 mortgage. City directories at this time did not list women, and there are no references for either of these.

Joseph Pierce purchased the property in 1946 for $4,000 and used it as a storage facility for his moving business. The lower sale price and the warehouse use indicate that its original condition and suitability as a public building had declined. Pierce's son, Robert, sold it in 1968 to Edna McQueen Huse, whose husband maintained an electric motor repair shop in the building until 1986. According to Robert Pierce, the building was erected by a Trenton builder named Steve Clayton. Clayton built many housing and commercial structures in Trenton and Bordentown, with a reputation for quality construction.

The second lot on this parcel, which had also been purchased from the Blackford estate in 1886, was resold in February 1892 for $950, to Joseph Pattison. John A. Roebling's Sons Company (JARSCO) purchased the lot from Pattison in 1901 for $1350, and paved it with Belgian blocks as a side entrance to one of its Chambersburg parcels. JARSCO sold it in 1947 to Joseph Pierce, who used it for parking and exterior storage associated with his warehouse business in the club building. Since that time, the two parcels have been linked as one.

The architectural style of the building's facade shows a mix of both Romanesque and Neo-Classical influences. The Romanesque aspect is evident in the triple grouping of windows on the second and third floors, with overriding crown arches made of brownstone. The Neo-Classical aspects are evident in the use of modillian blocks in both cornices, on the segmented fan arch over the main entrance, and on the parapet with its projecting base and infill sections. Other details are typical of Trenton building during that period, including the corbelled brickwork pilaster and cornice, and the brownstone sills and lintles.

The design reflects the building's original purpose, with "all the modern improvements needed in a club room building". Of the two large rooms on the first floor, the rear one originally served as a gymnasium, with entrances from the hall and the rear of the property. The front room probably served as the club's dining or tap room, with entrances to both the street and the more private portions of the club. The second floor has four small rooms in three different sizes, the larger ones with pressed-metal ceilings providing space for private parties and meetings, with the smaller ones in between possibly serving as club offices. The door and separate hall to these rooms on the second-floor landing allowed them to be closed off from the more public access to the third floor. The third floor has a large hall, 23' by 40', which provided space for large club functions. Several older neighborhood residents recall dances in this hall in their youth, which would be after the I&OSC's occupation but no doubt reflecting its use as well. The layout of the rest of this floor, with a reception area, powder room, and a small room, provided ancillary space to the large hall.

Alterations from the original are fairly minimal: on the exterior there is a replacement door and brick in-fill panel on the glass-front entrance, stucco on the ground story of the south and rear sides, and replacement double doors on the rear; on the interior, there are recent partitions and a drop ceiling within the front room on the first floor, a recent partition, and a replacement door between this room and the hall, and an opening and partition on the second floor to accommodate a small elevator. Beyond these changes, the building is remarkably intact from its original construction. Some original wallpaper and the grain-painted finishes survive in the vestibule and stairhall.

Several other important buildings survive in Trenton from historic social or fraternal organizations. These range from the Masonic Lodge built in 1793 on Front Street, to the Elk Hall built on Warren Street in 1912.

Building Description

The In and Out Social Club is a three-story brick structure with a flat roof built right to the sidewalk line on South Clinton Avenue. The building is rectangular in shape, covering two-thirds of the original 25' by 100' lot, with a small yard in the rear extending to Midwood Alley. The second lot comprising the property is a full driveway, 25' by 100', extending from South Clinton Avenue to Midwood Alley.

The west facade has an asymmetrical first story with two entrances capped by a full-width cornice, while the upper two stories and the roof cornice are symmetrical. The main entrance comprises the northern one-third portion of the first story, and a glass front entrance comprises the remaining two-thirds southern portion. These two portions are defined by brick pilasters, two bricks wide, on top of rough-faced brownstone foundation piers roughly two feet in height. At the top of each pilaster, the pressed metal cornice has double corbels which begin on the brickwork and extend to the crown molding level with rosettes on the top edge. The cornice has modillion blocks between the corbels and a segmented arch with fan detailing over the main entrance.

The main entrance is recessed back from the masonry surface, with a single brownstone step extending the full width between the pilasters. The entrance has double doors with single glass panels above two raised wooden panels defined by projecting applied moldings. The side and top jambs have similar raised panels with four large and small sections by the doors and four large sections around the transom. The transom consists of a stained glass fanlight, with a floral motif repeated in each of its four sections, and raised panels in the upper corners.

The glass front entrance is divided into three sections, with a 12-light glass door (not original), a single glass panel transom, and a brownstone step in the center. The southern section, which appears to be original, has three glass panels over a rough-faced brownstone sill at the doorsill level, with a wooden sill molding separating the bottom and middle panels. The bottom third of the northern section has been infilled with bricks.

The second and third stories, which are similar except for window heights, are divided into three window openings. The central windows consist of three one-over-one double-hung windows topped by a four-part fanlight with colored opaque glass. Above the full brick arch there is a projecting crown molding made of brownstone with carved blocks at the impost level. The window sill is a single piece of dressed brownstone. The side windows have one-over-one double-hung sash with eight-light transoms and rough-faced brownstone lintles and sills.

The masonry on the upper stories consists of gauged brown-colored bricks laid in butter joints. Brick pilasters resting on corbelled bricks at the lintle level begin on the outer edges of the facade on the second story, and between the windows on the third story. Closely spaced brick corbels between the pilasters at the top of the third story support a frieze projecting brick courses. The pressed metal cornice has a facia section with garland swags above the three window sections, and double modillion blocks above the four pilasters which support a projecting crown. Above the crown, the cornice forms a parapet divided into three sections, with rectangular base sections over the pilasters capped by pyramidal finials. The central section has a projecting panel with a raised inscription, "A - 1892 - D", capped by an arch with a sunburst motif.

The south wall, like the north and rear walls, is built of standard brick laid in an American bond consisting of five stretcher courses and a single header course. The first story has been covered with stucco and has no windows. The second story has two one-over-one double-hung windows in the middle. The third story has two similar windows above these, and two additional windows towards the front and rear which have two-over-two sash, eight-light transoms, and brick-arch lintles. The top of the wall line slopes from the front to the rear, and there is a chimney towards the rear with corbeled brick courses that flare out at the top. An old painted sign for Quaker Oats remains partially visible across the upper 2 stories.

The first story on the east side is stuccoed and has a single two-over-two double-hung window on the southern portion and a pair of large warehouse doors (not original) on the northern section. The two upper stories have similar fenestration: three equally spaced two-over-two double-hung windows with eight-light transoms and brick-arch lintles. The second-story windows are taller, however, than those of the third-story. The rear facade is capped by a wooden projecting cornice.

The west portion of the east facade forms a party wall with the adjacent two-story semi-detached row house. The remaining brick masonry matches that of the south wall, but there are no windows.

The sidewalk in front of the building is made of large bluestone pavers. There is a steel sidewalk door to the basement by the south portion of the facade. The bulkhead is outlined by bluestone curbing. The adjacent lot is entirely covered by Belgian block, including the sidewalk apron.

Much of the original detailing remains on the interior, though some have been obscured by drop ceilings, or new partitions. Certain details have been affected by the building's conversion to warehouse use, such as alterations on the first and second floors to install a small elevator, changes to the storefront on the south side, and large rear doors on the north side.

The first-floor plan consists of an entrance vestibule and a stair hall on the north side, a large front room on the south side, and a second large room with an L-shape that spans the full width of the building at the rear. The woodwork is chestnut and both rooms have tin ceilings.

The entrance vestibule has 3" x 6" dark brown wall tile capped by a chestnut molding at a height of 4 feet. Wallpaper, which may be original, survives above the tile, over the doors, and on the ceiling. On each of the side walls, there is a large 30" x 40" paper panel depicting Italian palazzo scenes. The floor has remnants of the original polychrome tile, which was laid in a geometric pattern of 2" octagons and rectangles. The inner vestibule double doors are chestnut with beveled glass panes on the upper half and raised wooden panels on the lower half. The glass panes are arrayed in a geometric pattern with large rectangles in the center which have the letters "I & O S C" etched into the glass. Above the doors, there is a fanlight transom with four stained glass panels in a floral motif. The door casings are 5 inches wide with turned corner blocks.

The stair hall has a door leading to the south front room, and a narrow hall leading to the rear room. The staircase against the north wall is 42" wide with a 6" square starting newel, turned balusters, and a large handrail, all in chestnut. The hall has matched board wainscotting which continues up the stairs to the third floor level. On the first rise to the second floor, the wainscotting is grain painted to match the chestnut, while on the second rise to the third floor, it has a natural finish.

Both first-floor rooms have pressed tin ceilings and pine strip flooring. The opening in the partition between the two rooms has been enlarged, and the rear room has large double doors on the northern side of the rear wall which were installed for warehouse use. Below the stairway in the rear is a small hall with wainscotting that leads to the basement stairs.

The stair hall has a landing on the second floor with a narrow hall east of the stairs leading to a bathroom under the rear of the stairs. A door on the south side of the landing leads to an east-west hall which provides access to the four second-floor rooms. The landing and hall have grain-painted wainscotting. The doors on this floor have five horizontal panels and are also grain-painted. The front and rear rooms have pressed tin ceilings and wainscotting. The front room extends the full width of the building and has three windows facing west. There are interior shutters built into the jambs of all the windows, and the central window has a fanlight with colored opaque glass (Figure 33). There is also an early light fixture on the ceiling. The rear room has three windows with transoms overhead, and doors leading to the bathroom in the northeast corner and to one of the middle rooms. The bathroom has wainscotting, a single window facing east, and a closet under the stairs. The two middle rooms have single windows and closets along the south wall.

A landing at the top of the stairs on the third floor has a single window providing light for the stairhall and a door leading to a small room with a single window at the rear of the building. This room provides access to a bathroom in the southeast corner, to another small room along the south wall, and to a large 23' x 40' room towards the front. All the rooms on this floor have wainscotting and grain painted five-panel doors. The large front room has three single windows along the south wall, and three along the west wall which match those in the room below. There is a skylight in the center of the ceiling with a large light shaft covered in matched boards similar to the wainscotting.

The basement has one large room along the south wall which is spanned by 3" x 12" hemlock joists that make up the first floor. The walls are 18" thick stone masonry and a partition runs the full length of the building on the north side, supporting the hall partitions on the floors above. This partition has three 5' wide openings with brick arches. The westernmost opening leads to a small room which appears to have been a wine cellar. The other two openings lead to a hall with an interior stair to the first floor. There is also an exterior bulkhead stair in the southwest corner.