Duke Farms and the Demolition of the Former Main Residence

By Duke Farms

An open letter to the community. As we look forward to our second meeting with the Hillsborough Historic Preservation Commission this evening, we wanted to share some additional information with the community on how and why Duke Farms Foundation came to make such a proposal.

Several commenters have recently suggested that Duke Farms is engaging in a poorly conceived and ill-advised plan to demolish the former residence of Doris Duke without adequately considering a full range of alternatives, so we wanted to offer some additional details on the foundation’s thinking on the subject.

First, we completely agree that a thorough consideration of possible adaptive uses should always be the first appropriate step before considering demolition. We went through a 10+ year process of looking at alternative uses for the building that began with our 2005 master plan. These potential uses included renovating the building for our offices and visitors center, but ultimately the decision was made to renovate the Farm Barn for those purposes as it was a much more versatile structure. We also considered using the former main residence as a conference center and workshop, but opted instead to renovate the Coach Barn for this purpose for the same reason. Other uses, such as a bed and breakfast, restaurant, or hotel, or even a home for artists, were more commercial in nature, were rejected for several reasons, including poor alignment with our mission, our discomfort with commercial activities at Duke Farms, and a strong desire to create a tranquil space by keeping vehicular traffic out of the park. As the main residence consists of many small rooms, we did not see the value in expending tens of millions of dollars on renovation costs if it would not serve the needs of the foundation’s mission and programming, which requires larger program spaces. So, after many years of considering options while maintaining the building, we reluctantly concluded that there was no feasible mission-related use for the former residence.

Second, our trustees and staff scrupulously followed the instructions and process envisioned in Doris Duke’s Last Will and Testament. Mindful of her specific wishes to turn two of her other homes into museums, but to use Duke Farms as a way to protect flora and fauna, and to promote agriculture and research, the trustees adopted a new mission for the property as a model of environmental stewardship and sustainable agriculture, including the adaptive reuse of historic buildings whenever feasible.

Next, we retained an architectural historian to assess the historical and architectural significance of the building. That expert advised us that the building has been so renovated and remodeled over time as to lose its original significance, such that the building is no longer even recognizable as the one purchased by James Buchanan Duke. We were advised that, standing on its own, the building would not meet the criteria for listing on either the National or State Register of Historic Sites, even though all of Duke Farms is within a historic district adopted by Hillsborough Township. We have already renovated many other historic structures on the property, including the Farm Barn, the Hay Barn, the Orchid Range, and numerous other old buildings, farmhouses, barns, stone walls and waterfalls, and we are in the process of renovating the Coach Barn. We strongly believe that all of these buildings and structures have much higher significance in order to preserve the legacy of Doris Duke and the Duke family, and that the preservation of the oft-remodeled former main residence should not be a priority. .

Lastly, we looked at how the main residence and the area surrounding it would best serve Duke Farms. Our mission of environmental stewardship, education and cost-free public access to the land was the most important factor in this decision. The demolition of the building will allow the foundation to restore this area, to create new public access to the gardens, fountains and waterfalls found there, as well as provide new access to Duke Farms from Raritan Borough and the north via a trail and bikeway from the restored historic Nevius Street Bridge. It will also allow us to use our resources on the other structures – like the Coach Barn – which are more far significant from a historic perspective, as well as much more supportive of our environmental mission.

We understand that this is an emotionally charged issue for some of our neighbors, and we very much appreciate and respect the community’s comments on this proposal, as well as their input into the decision of the commission. We would like to assure the community, however, that we have not come to the decision to request approval to demolish the former main residence lightly or hastily, and we have thoroughly considered all practical alternatives. However, we remain sincerely convinced that this is the best possible use of the main residence area and that the benefits will clearly be seen by visitors to an even better Duke Farms in the coming years.

Thank you for all of your interest in and support of Duke Farms, and we hope that this statement clarifies our intentions.

Photo Caption: Frog Lake (above) as seen from the proposed Meditation Garden.