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'.
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 ...
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.
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