Fairmount Apartments

The Fairmount Company of Jersey City purchased land at the southwest corner of Fairmount Avenue and Hudson County Boulevard (later John F. Kennedy Boulevard) in early 1909 for $18,500. The company announced plans to build an apartment style hotel at a cost of $50,000 on the site. The earlier, east building features stucco bays and geometric patterns of inlaid brick and mosaics. The bays of the second, west building are all finished in brick. The entrance to the first building, facing Kennedy Boulevard, is neoclassical revival in style, with fluted Corinthian columns and an arched doorway. Above the thrdr floor window of the entrance bay of each building is a terra cotta plaque inscribed "F" or "A" with a fruit tree motif. The hipped roofs were originally covered in green Spanish tile but are now asphalt; part of the original roof was a garden space. The single-story connection between the buildings contained the 1909 dining room.

A few notable early residents of the Fairmount Hotel included John Anness, an elderly, retired businessman in the local hardware industry and former assemblyman, who died while wintering in California in 1915; Timothy Kelly, superintendent of the New York City coal company Berwin-White and a former Hoboken alderman, who died in 1914; and Mary Jackson Beach, widow of Judge Marcus L. Beach, who died in 1916. And then there was the case of Clinton S. Dow, a New York stock broker, who owed the Fairmount two months rent after moving out. Dow claimed he was promised a larger apartment when one became available in 1910, because his wife was expecting a baby. In the lawsuit brought by the Fairmount for the rent, Dow's lawyers claimed in 1912 that he had been denied a larger apartment and was told by the hotel manager, Mr. Carrington, that squawking babies are annoying. When Dow replied that he would need to move, he reportedly was told that the Fairmount would be glad to have him move. The Fairmount countered that Dow was denied a larger apartment because of his habit of playing the piano loudly after ten o'clock at night, and throwing beer bottles out of the back window. One of the witnesses, Mrs. Ella Lohmeyer, testified that she was "compelled to move because the management objected to babies." A director of the Fairmount, Leslie N. Brown, admitted an objection to babies but "could not remember any ban on beer." The result of the case, in the Second District Court, is not known.

The hotel advertised in 1922 in a New York City newspaper that it offered furnished rooms to let, "attractively situated on the Heights, within 35 minutes of the heart of New York City; large, airy rooms, single or en suite, with bath; excellent table; terms moderate."

In 1962 an elderly, evangelist minister named Father Devine (originally named George Baker) bought the Fairmount from the Peter Stuyvesant Corporation, who had owned it since 1954. Father Devine and his wife, Edna R. Ritchings ("Mother Divine"), ran the "Devine Fairmount" Fairmount under strict moral codes. Men and women lived on separate floors, and no drinking, gambling, or smoking was allowed. Divine's Peace Center Church held services at the Fairmount several times each week. The residents ate at communal meals, some of which were open to the public for a donation. Father Divine died in 1965 but his family retained ownership until 1986, when it was sold to Gold Coast Realty. A company named Ingerman Group bought the vacant, dilapidated building in 1994 and renovated it into separate apartments. The Fairmount became a senior living community under the Birchwood name; it is one of twenty affordable Birchwood communities owned by Ingerman in the Mid-Atlantic.

Anonymous. "In the Real Estate Field...Apartment Hotel for Jersey City." New York Times (New York, NY) March 4th 1909.

Anonymous. "John Anness." Newark Evening Star and Journal (Newark, NJ) January 29th 1916. , Obituaries sec, 5-5.

Anonymous. "Obituary. Timothy B. Kelly." New-York Tribune (New York, NY) August 8th 1914. 9-9.

Anonymous. "Died. Beach." New-York Tribune (New York, NY) May 1st 1916. , Obituaries sec, 9-9.

Anonymous. "Barred Beer and Babies. Defendant Says Fairmount Hotel was Unreasonable." New-York Tribune (New York, NY) December 5th 1912. 7-7.

Fairmount Hotel Company. "New Jersey. Fairmount Hotel." New-York Tribune (New York, NY) July 16th 1922. , Classifieds sec, 6-6.

Ingerman. Birchwood at Fairmount Hotel, Birchwood, Ingerman Senior Communities. January 1st 2021. Accessed February 17th 2021. https://livebirchwood.com/communities/birchwood-at-fairmount-hotel/.

New Jersey City University. Fairmount Hotel Apartments, Divine Fairmount Hotel, Jersey City Past and Present. June 18th 2020. Accessed February 17th 2021. https://njcu.libguides.com/fairmount.

Powers, Robert. Fairmount Apartments, Jersey City. National Register. Washington, DC. National Park Service, 1994.

Zillow. 2595 Kennedy Blvd., Jersey City, Zillow. January 1st 2021. Accessed February 17th 2021. https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/2595-Kennedy-Blvd-Jersey-City-NJ-07306/2095062438_zpid/.