If you’ve wandered through downtown Jersey City, you’ve likely come across the work of Jeff Jordan Architects – a local, award-winning architectural firm steps away from the Grove Street PATH station in downtown Jersey City.
Like the fabric of the buildings downtown, Jeff Jordan Architects’ team has work that spans both the old and the new: proposing a pedestrian bridge connecting downtown Manhattan with Jersey City, to reinventing historic facades on York Street.
“York Street is a completely new, but historically sensitive multi-family building in a historic district. It’s a product of our interest in modern architecture while paying respect to the fabric of a neighborhood,” Jeff said.
Originally from Michigan, work for the Architecture Research Office (ARO) and Gluck+ took Jeff Jordan to New York City after receiving his Master’s Degree in Architecture with High Honors from USC Berkeley. While teaching at NJIT, he opened his own firm out of this home on Coles Street in 2009, and rather than heading across the river, saw the opportunity in Jersey City – and made the decision to stay.
Since practicing, Jeff and his team have definitely seen a change in both the clientele in the area, as well as the work being requested. “I started my firm at likely the worse time to do so. People had less disposable income to spend on their dream home; but the market is investing now more than ever, the neighborhood has changed dramatically because of that.”
Full disclosure: Jeff and I worked together on my historic 1900’s multi-unit home in Hamilton Park. Part of Jeff’s role was to work with the Historic Preservation Commission – a notorious arm of city government many architects, contractors and developers are familiar with.
“Their requirements can be challenging, but the historic officers are charged with preserving the building fabric of downtown. This is a heroic task when you think about the rapid change that’s occurring in this area, and what they are up against on a daily basis. They are excellent resources – we’ve called on them time and time again to make sure we’re not only honoring their standards, but maintaining the integrity of what we’re trying to restore” says Jeff. “You’re working in an environment where your neighbors are on your property line. It can be difficult and they make it much easier.”
We concluded our chat by talking about Jeff Jordan’s style and his dream projects. “Our style leverages natural materials and timeless design within the interiors – you can put pretty much any furnishing style inside and it will look good.”
When asked about his dream projects: “Well, we did propose a bridge that connected JC to Manhattan…” [laughs] “…but a fantastic four story row house is what we love to work on. Clients who have a great piece of land in the mountains or on the ocean are fun too. For us, architecture becomes the vehicle between exploring and understanding your surroundings, and making the connection between the two. There’s something really fun thinking about where the skis are going to go. We did a project in such a remote location that we had to figure out how to get building materials to the site. The structural system had to be assembled as a frame off-site and brought in by helicopter!”
