Buildings
Far Hills Avenue Business District Building Types
For purposes of the study, the buildings of the Far Hills Avenue Business District have been divided into three types:
Residential: used to describe a building or buildings originally built as a house or houses, now being used for service or retail applications. This term also applies to any small building with residential details, such as a gable or hip roof or residential trim.
Commercial: describes a one- to two-story building built for business purposes, typically of the same scale as the residences in the area. Buildings that are connected through shared wall construction also fit within this category.
Large commercial: used to classify buildings built as retail and office space, which are of distinct proportions and lack pedestrian scale and detailing.
Features by Building Type
Residential. Buildings 2400, 2402, 2404, and 2545 are freestanding, single uses included in this type. These are buildings originally built as houses that are now being used for service or retail applications. By and large, these buildings were converted for use as businesses in the late 1920s, '40s, and '70s. Residential features of these buildings include the following:
- used as service and light retail
- multi-storied (2 to 2½ floors)
Freestanding residential
- single entry per store
- signage is pedestrian in scale, generally perpendicular and attached to building
- where signage faces Far Hills Avenue, there is one sign per house; where multiple stores per house exist, multiple stores appear on one sign
- setback from street vary
- most entrances exist at street level
- doors are either solid wood or wood frame with glass panes
- windows are residentially scaled
- gable roofs
- where awnings exist, they are placed solely over entryway
- one building has a porch
- landscaping is in-ground and consists of a mix of trees, shrubs, grass, and groundcover
- exterior trim is white or dark brown
- most have some sort of street furniture, such as benches, seating, or a table