County Recognizes Citizens for Trying to Save Zabriskie House

Paramus' Theodore Manvell and Peggy Norris of Elmwood Park will be honored with a Bergen County Historic Preservation award next month for their leadership in the fight to save the Zabriskie Tenant House in Paramus, county officials announced last week.

Each year the county's historic preservation advisory awards recognizes outstanding historic preservation achievements by individuals, students, organizations and businesses.

Manvell and Norris will be honored for their preservation leadership in the citizens fight to save what was one of the last structures in Bergen County associated with the early history of the slaves and free African Americans who inhabited the house and lived in the area’s once thriving African American community.

The Zabriskie House was once home to the prominent Zabriskies, one of the county's founding families and the Bennett and Stewart families, slaves who built the structure in 1790. The house was located at 273 Dunkerhook Road and was known for its rare Dutch sandstone architecture.  The historic house was torn down last summer by a developer to make way for luxury homes.

The fight to save the home went on for two years. Manvell, who lived near the property on Dunkerhook, was joined by Norris in the fight against a developer's petition to subdivide the property and demolish the house since July 2010.

The 2013 Bergen County Historic Preservation Awards will be held on Thursday, May 9 at 7 p.m. at the historic “Church on the Green,” the First Reformed Church of Hackensack located at 42 Court Street.

The 2013 Awards are hosted by the Bergen County Historic Preservation Advisory Board. Awards will be presented by the Bergen County Executive, members of the Board of Chosen Freeholders, the Division of Cultural and Historic Affairs and the Board. 

This is the preservation awards program’s 31^st year.