A 2020 view of the Dublin House courtyard on Monmouth Street. (Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
By JOHN T. WARD
A plan to alter the century-old facade of the Dublin House Restaurant and Pub in Red Bank calls for “nothing crazy,” an owner told the borough Historic Preservation Commission last week.
Still, the agency put off a decision until it gets a closer look.
A rendering shows the proposed changes, including the enclosure of a porch and balcony and addition of a courtyard bar at lower left. Below, patrons celebrating St. Patrick’s Day on a balcony in 2016. (Rendering by Michael Savarese Associates. Photo by John T. Ward. Click to enlarge.)
The proposal by owners Eugene Devlin and Sean Dunne calls for enclosing the existing first-floor covered porch and the balcony. Both are to the left of the main entrance from Monmouth Street.
A bay window to the right of the entrance would also be expanded to serve as stage for performers, while the balcony above would be enlarged.
The changes will make room for two additional dining tables on the first floor and three on the second, architect Michael Savarese, of Little Silver, told the board.
Also as part of the plan, a new outdoor bar would be created to expedite service to diners in the existing front courtyard on Monmouth Street.
Here are the plans in detail.
In addition to bars and restaurant seating on two floors indoors, the Dub features a highly popular outdoor bar, known as Temple Bar, to the rear of the property abutting the White Street parking lot.
“There’s really no change to the look of the building,” Savarese told the commission at its meeting last Wednesday. “The only thing we’ve lost is the railings on the left side, but replaced them with French-style windows that are prevalent in that type of architecture.”
But HPC vice chairman Kal Pipo moved that the hearing be tabled so he and other board members could compare the proposed changes to existing details “with our own eyes.”
“It’s hard to think of a facade on a building in Red Bank that’s more iconic,” Pipo said. “I certainly appreciate that you tried to give it the same look and feel” of the building as it now stands, Pipo said. “But I feel I need to stand right there and look at it.”
“It’s nothing crazy that we’re doing,” replied Devlin. He said the changes would simply enable the use of “wasted space.”
“We’re putting a beautiful front on it, and still have the three columns” that distinguish the building, Devlin said.
The commission approved a motion to resume the hearing next month after Devlin agreed to arrange a meeting at the site.
The building has had a peripatetic existence. It started life as a house in Middletown, and was moved across the Navesink River to Red Bank, “likely between Front Street and Mechanic Street,” around 1840, according to a history on the Dub’s website.
After the Civil War, it moved again, this time to 60 Broad Street, now the site of a two-story building of stores and offices. There, the owner gave it a makeover in the Second Empire style, the account says.
According to local historian Randall Gabrielan, the structure was moved a third time, in 1905, to its present location, and converted from residential to commercial use in 1971.
The “Dubliner Pub,” which owner Kevin Lynn had operated at 62 Bridge Avenue for seven years, took over the then-vacant Monmouth Street space in 1990, according to a 2004 retrospective feature in the Hub.
Devlin and Dunne bought the building and business that year.
