Wilson Building - Camden, NJ
N 39° 56.759 W 075° 07.106
18S E 489882 N 4421768
To an ordinary eye, this is a regular, old-fashioned apartment building with nothing to attract ones attention. In fact, for years the only attraction of this place was the liquor store located on the ground floor facing Cooper Street.
Waymark Code: WM7YND
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 12/23/2009
Views: 2
While attending Rutgers University in the mid 80s, I recall buying beer for my frat house here at the Wilson Building. The building has been placed on the Register for reasons unbeknownst to me. I believe it was protected to ensure not all of old Camden was razed while the city was undergoing its "rebirth" in the 90s. Like the other 20 or so historic buildings in the 4 block radius, this too was added in the 1990s. I guess the historical society or whatever powers that be made a concerted effort the year or two before to think ahead to protecting some of old Camden before the developers had their way.
To get to this building from the west, one must cross the Admiral Wilson Boulevard. Naturally, one would assume this building was named after the same fellow. But, it seems this 12-story building was constructed in 1926 by John O. Wilson and Joseph Bernhard (at a cost of approximately $1,000,000). Maybe the building was named after John WIlson?
When I visited the entire street in front of the building was cordoned off and coned so traffic could only slip by on the far side. I spoke to the construction workers who were very suspicious of my presence at this building on the approaching Sunday evening. What the heck do they care! They are gutting and refurbishing the inside and doing some work on the outside and then they will let out business space. I looked for the cornerstone but the worker told me the stone was removed during construction.
The building is a dingy brown brick with stone on the bottom. The store referred to earlier was called Weitzman Liquors. What a horrible place for a liquor store; so dangerous. One would be taking their life in their own hands. The rest of the building was used for offices, some of them by renown Camden businessmen and government officials, judges, etc.
I found a narrative on this building created by Phil Cohen on a fabulous website created by him which has secured and protected the history of late 18th, 19th and 20th century Camden. It is the most comprehensive site i have ever seen for Camden and for Camden County.
The 12 story Wilson Building was built in 1926 by John O. Wilson and Joseph Bernhard at a cost of approximately $1,000,000. The building housed stores on the first floor, including for many years Weitzman Liquors. The rest of the building contained offices. Many persons and businesses of note maintained offices there over the years, including lawyers Samuel P. Orlando, Angelo Malandra, Ralph W. Wescott, and Judge Albert E. Burling.
In 1929 the building was sold to the West Jersey Trust Company at a $150,000 profit, and the building was known as The West Jersey Trust Building in the 1930s. The Federal Deposit Insurance Corporation took the building over in 1939, and it was later sold to a Baltimore MD based group, the Broadway-Cooper Corporation.
The July 2, 1948 edition of the Camden Courier-Post reported that the building was sold to Dr. Joseph Waldman, of Wilmington DE.
The building became vacant in the 1990s. As of February 2004 the building stands vacant. Camden's Board of Education has designs on the site, but it remains to be seen whether they will be allowed to demolish the building and adjacent properties currently in use.
SOURCE
The posted coordinates are for the Broadway Street entrance on the west side of the building.