Meadowbrook Village (Union County) and Meadowbrook Neighborhood (Somerset County) both from the Mali Estate

Just a skip across the Green Brook is Meadowbrook Village in Union County. Once the location of the former Mali Estate Mansion (now Barlow elementary) the former Gatehouse still exists opposite Johnston Ave.    

Originally it was planned as SFH (Single Family Housing), like Meadowbrook neighborhood on the Somerset county portion of the estate.  Instead the NIMBYs in Plainfield didn't want the zoning to go from A zone to B zone for these smaller home lots but rather to keep the 'estate atmosphere'. 

Whereas in North Plainfield it was a zoning upgrade from fields and riding trails to taxable ratables in the form of homes. 

So two years after the opening of Meadowbrook neighborhood, in the face of the 1937 Recession, with zoning objections holding up work the investors wanted their money working asap... plus it didn't help that the FHA approval process was redlining nearby areas making building any SFH very unlikely ... 

So, what else fits on the same size lot as an Estate Mansion?  

Spoiler alert: Garden apartments. 

Not every nearby mansion owner was able to sell their home due to FHA down grading the value and some missed the opportunity to sell to an apartment builder which is why so many large homes seem sprinkled in between the various apartment complexes on Front Street. 

There's a nice historic marker out front of Meadowbrook Village recognizing the venture as one of the first Garden Apartments so that's neat; 

Also it was featured in a few architecture case studies of the era, so it was quite the triumph in that regard.

 

 

Not sure when they closed up the pool... 

but the pool was fairly operational to the 60s far as I can tell from 'lifeguard wanted' ads.

Interesting is this 1944 ad, not just advertising the SFH (Single Family Housing) in Meadowbrook on the North Plainfield side, but also it lists the former gate house, across from Johnston Avenue, 901 East Front Street, as a property under Meadowbrook Inc. listings.

I like the concept of the Garden Apartment, it seems equitable and environmental friendly, but suppose the footprint isn't as scalable these days.

Pierre Mali of Mali Drive

I moved in a few years ago and thought, 'hmm, I wonder why this is named, 'Mali Drive'?" I did some research and I found Mr. Pierre Mali, born August 19, 1856 in Belgium He passed away 4 October 1923. (I meant to post this earlier in the month of October and forgot; sorry, my bad.)

from his passport....

Pierre helped as the Belgium Consulate General in NY with getting aid to Europe during World War 1.

He is on the far right in this image....

So then how did Pierre get a road in central NJ with his last name on it?

Well, Pierre married Frances "Fanny" Johnston May 1, 1892.

They were married at the family home in NYC

Well, "Fanny", as she was known, her dad was John Taylor Johnston (JTJ). He was the First President of the Met Museum but that was more of "side hustle"... his "day job" was being the President of the Central Railroad of NJ. He connected "the road" as they called it, from PA, through Somerville, to Communipaw Terminal in Jersey City. He also made improvements, like elevating the tracks in Plainfield and moved the train station at Scotch Plains to a new a station called... can you guess where from these 1860 articles?

Gosh, if I owned a railroad, I might name a new station after a family member.... hmm.....

JTJ also owned a large summer estate and farm in NJ called, the Netherwood Estate, but often was referred to as the Johnston Estate. When he died, he passed the Estate down to Frances and because she was married to Pierre the Estate was then known as... The Mali Estate. You can read more about it here.

Pierre passed away 101 years ago, 4 October, 1923... here are some neat obit details written about him.

Pierre and Frances now "reside" near Woodland Ave you can see their large boulder monument from the road but it easier to just stop in and say hi at Hillside Cemetery in Scotch Plains.

Frances Mali passed away December 7, 1928 so I'll put something up then about her later in the year. The Mali heirs continued to live in Manhattan and in 1936 they sold the Estate to be developed into what is today our neighborhood, as well as the Watchung Square Mall, all the way up to Johnston Drive in Watchung. But thanks to Pierre's last name, we have a unique name for a rounded road...

... you might say, after viewing this 1956 photo, that we've come "full circle".