March 10, 2010 THE VILLADOM TIMES II • Page 7 Area John Fell House purchased by conservators by John Koster Last week, Concerned Citizens of Allendale signed the check and picked up the keys to the John Fell House, the venerable 1760s mansion that neighbors and friends saved from being bulldozed and turned into condominiums with a last-ditch legal objection. The building will now be restored to its former grandeur. “From the very start, it has been simple,” said CCA President Pat Finn. “We set out to save the historic Fell House, which was threatened by plans to build 11 townhouses on this environmentally sensitive site.” A huge, sprawling mansion with a fireplace in almost every room and a porch with an impressive row of columns, the John Fell House was the home of a man descended from one of the Dutch settlers who built the wall that gave New York City’s Wall Street its name. Fell was a supporter of George Washington, and was said to be a great hunter of Tories until he was captured by the British at the Fell House and imprisoned in New York City during the Revolutionary War. He kept a secret diary that described the brutal treatment the British meted out to American prisoners. Fell, freed through his daughter’s entreaties, became a member of the Second Continental Congress. He was famous for his personal integrity and lack of vanity. He retired to lower New York State at the end of his life. He later helped with the ratification on the United States Constitution. Washington’s troops marched past the house in 1781 and the house is considered an important “witness site” on the Washington Rochambeau Revolutionary Route, known as the W3R. The word that the 2.8-acre site with its outbuildings was about to be sold to a developer – a consortium of investors based in Fort Lee – galvanized the Allendale residents to raise consciousness and funds to save the house. The developer was stopped when George Cotz, a Mahwah attorney, was hired by the objectors. While conducting research on the case, Cotz learned that, when the nearby condominium tract had been built in 1983, the terms stipulated that all condominium owners must be allowed to indicate their approval of any future expansion. When Cotz was able to ascertain that the developer had not contacted the owners of the existing condominiums, the Allendale Planning Board dismissed the site plan application without prejudice. The developer appealed the planning board’s decision in court, but ultimately dropped the appeal. The March 4 closing on the property took place with an $800,000 grant from the Bergen County Open Space Trust Fund and a $500,000 grant from New Jersey Green Acres. The site includes some wetlands, and Susan Gulick, Kim Arestad, Pat Finn, Holly Norton, and Carol Anton raise the ’76 flag in honor of John Fell, who served in the American Revolution and whose house now belongs to the Concerned Citizens of Allendale. is the habitat of a rare wood turtle. However, an additional Open Space request obtained only $50,000 instead of the $300,000 the group hoped for. As a result, the group intends to raise the remaining $250,000 it needs for the $1.6-million purchase price with a series of events now in the planning stages. Allendale third-graders in the schools have already donated the proceeds from their school’s Strawberry Festival. ������������������ Remodeling Renovations & Repairs ����������� ���������������� ����������� ������������� ���������������������� ���� ���������� �������������������������������� ���������������������������������������� ���������������������������������� �������������������������������� www.hawthornehandyman.com 973-949-4431