Friday,
January 09, 2004
WILDWOOD: Doo-Wop architecture and
preservation make for a HOT Wildwood real estate market.
Diane Fiske, a Philadelphia-based architecture
writer, wrote a great piece in ARCHITECTURE WEEK in November
2001 about Wildwood and the Doo-Wop effort that could save
the town.
Over 2 years later, in 2004, Wildwood
real estate is hot.
Indeed, thousands of clients use www.smarteragent.com
to find and buy real estate in what was once a town on the
ropes.
Here are excerpts from Diane's piece that
give insight in how what's old and funky, if there is enough
of it, can be preserved and become the core of revitalization
and economic development.
EXCERPT:
"The blue-collar summer resort of Wildwood
reached its pinnacle of popularity when Cadillacs had fins
and television was novel."
Steven Izenour, a principal architect
with Venturi Scott Brown & Associates, "called the 1950s and
60s architecture "Doo-Wop" after the a cappella singing style
of the period, and he led efforts in its study and preservation."
In the article, an architect, Mr. Stokes,
explained to Diane: "The most important part of the Doo-Wop
style is the signage - neon signs in lollipop colors. The
motels pick up the colors of the signs, and it is these signs
and colors that make the buildings different."
Stokes adds: "The style shows a period
in our history when there was a lot of interest in the space
age so motels were given names like 'Satellite' and 'Astronaut.'
Many people had recently acquired automobiles and they to
wanted to be able to see their cars from their motel rooms.
The 'motor hotel' was a new concept at the time; you could
drive to the door of your room."
"Wildwood's Doo-Wop style should be preserved,"
says Stokes, "because it is unique and has not changed since
the 50s and 60s. The resort suffered a decline in the 1980s
and became 'tacky' or 'unreal' to some because of the heavy
use of plastic for everything from furniture to palm trees."
In "Learning from Wildwood" Izenour advised
planners and architects to "look at the area and evaluate
the taste and needs of the people who use it and not to indulge
in further homogenization of the culture with the architects'
or design professionals' own aesthetic values."
Diane ended with noting, "The revival
of Wildwood is being taken seriously. When the Starlux motel
was dedicated last spring, former New Jersey Governor Christie
Whitman, who is now U.S. Secretary of the Environment, came
to the ceremony and "planted" a plastic palm tree.
A robust Wildwood helps all the adjacent
towns such as North Wildwood and Wildwood Crest. Check it
all out here!
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