Last week’s ‘Where” showed the decorative piece of stone- and brickwork atop 58-64 Broad Street in downtown Red Bank.
In “Images of America: Red Bank,” one of his three photo books on the history of the borough, prolific author Randall Gabrielan informs us that the structure was designed by Fred Truex and built, as the inscribed date shown in the photograph memorializes, in 1905.
Page 24 of the book has an old photo showing two of the four stores occupied by piano dealers; a third was home to Mrs. H. Gorey’s millinery shop.
There’s another view of the building on page 32 of Gabrielan’s “Red Bank in the Twentieth Century,” taken in 1911, showing a different store lineup.
The spaces are now occupied by Rok + Lola; a recently opened shoe store; and T. Berry Square. The fourth store, most recently home to A Peaceful Home, is vacant.
The structure is sometimes referred to as the Rocar Building for its longtime owner, but it was sold in 2005 to an entity called Morco LLC, according to property records.
Carl Colmorgen, Pete DeFazio, Dan Mancuso, Trish DePonti, Jennifer Diodato-Hernandez and Jackie Patterson all wrote in to say they recognized it, and we thank them for doing so.
Regarding this week’s image, be advised that what’s shown is not visible at all hours of the day; its partly obscured during regular business hours.
If you can identify the location or want to take a wild guess, shoot us an email, please.
