CRANFORD, NJ — The Cranford Preservation Award for 2020 was presented to the owners of 37 Algonquin Drive and the Cranford Theater. The award, sponsored jointly by the Cranford Historical Society and the Cranford Historic Preservation Advisory Board, is given annually to owners of a residence or a business who have helped preserve and maintain the history and character of Cranford.
Because of COVID restrictions, the award wasn’t presented at an in-person ceremony this year; certificates that cited both properties for their restoration efforts were delivered to the recipients.
Kathleen Carlson received the award for her sympathetic expansion of her house at 37 Algonquin Drive in Sunny Acres, working to preserve and maintain her house’s original design. Every year additions and modifications to the houses in Sunny Acres make the original designs undistinguishable. Rather than adding a floor or totally remodeling the house when she needed more room, Carlson chose to add an extension to the back of the Cape Cod house, keeping it looking virtually identical to the way it looked in 1942 when it was built.
Sunny Acres, a community of 172 residences that was developed between 1940 and 1943 by the Sears Modern Homes Division, was designated in 2018 as Cranford’s first Local Historic District. It consists of Cape Cod– and Colonial Revival–style houses in a variety of predesigned layouts.
There were 12 standardized, numbered designs or styles offered, but by the main body of the house being placed lengthwise or endwise to the street and the garage placement moving to either side of the house, set forward or back, with a breezeway added to detached garages, the houses were made to look different. The house at 37 Algonquin is one of the 19 homes built in Style No. 6.
The Cranford Theater was honored for its place in the community, as well as for the recent physical renovation that was done by owners Jesse and Doreen Sayegh. The theater abruptly closed in September 2019. During the time it was closed the citizens of Cranford realized what they had lost. After undergoing a full renovation, including new seats, drapes, floors, digital projectors, sound system and an upgraded concession stand, the Cranford Theater reopened on Nov. 8, 2019.
Cranford had a movie theater as early as 1909 at North Avenue and Eastman Street. On Nov. 29, 1926, on the site of the old township building at 25 North Ave. W., the Branford Theater opened, showing Noah Berry in “Padlocked.” Two months later, in January 1927, the “B” in the theater name was swapped out for a “C” and the Cranford Theater was born. The 1300-seat theater had both a stage and a Wurlitzer pipe organ, as most theaters of the time did, but it functioned primarily as a movie theater. The theater closed and reopened several times over the years, and ownership and operators changed several times. All the while the theater was a center of local activity and a good neighbor. In 1998, the theater was divided to house five screens.
With its recent renovation and rescue as an independent movie theater, the Cranford Theater is a valued resource to the Cranford community.
Photos Courtesy of Cranford Historical Society