Verona’s Oldest Houses

I found it very interesting to see the oldest homes in town and some were actually so beautiful but most were updated with vynyl siding and the history was washed away

The pictures are great but couldn’t the locations of these houses plus a little story about each of these houses.

I’ve left out the addresses because I wanted to balance history and a respect for the owners’ privacy. Some people have contacted me with stories about their houses and I’ll be writing up these stories over the coming weeks. You can already read this story about Verona Barber Shop, which was built as a single-family home in 1863. Also, the Verona Landmarks Preservation Commission has commissioned a survey of old properties in town, which may lead to more stories.

My grandparents moved into 80 Fairview Ave around 1910. According to your records the house was built around 1897. My father was about 4 yrs old at the time they bought the house. His two sisters were born there. There was a barn which was converted to a garage to the right of the house. It was later torn down and a 3 car garage was built by the present owner who renovated the house. After my grandfather died, my grandmother continued to live there until she sold the house to the Verona Jewish Center. Rabbi Kriegel’s family lived there for many yrs. That is all I know, but I do remember being in that house and I saw pictures of my father with a horse in the yard.
Bunny Kaplan Klein. (West Orange, NJ)
PS. I also grew up in Verona, on Manor RD.

What fabulous memories, Bunny. Thanks for sharing !

My Grandparents, Margaret Fowler Lewis and Sidney Palmer Lewis bought a house on Elmwood Road raising my Mother Marion, Edwin and Margaret. They lost that house at some point and moved to Grove Avenue. In 1945 my Grandparents and my Mother & Father (Marion & Frank Ruggiero) purchased the 2 Family house at 773 Bloomfield Avenue on the southwest corner of Forest Avenue & Bloomfield Avenue. I remember being told the original structure was over a hundred years old and it had been added on to in increments over the years. My family lived there from 1945-2002. When my Mother passed we sold it. Verona and the House was such a wonderful place to grow up. My Mother’s parents lived upstairs and we downstairs in a pretty much identical layout. Very bright and breezy with the scent of Lilacs and Lily of the Valley flowing through the air in May ~~~ a GREAT place to grow up and have a fantastic childhood!!! Selling that house was hard but even harder was seeing pictures last week of what has happened to the house and what used to be a lovely yard with grass and my Mothers gardens in the front and back … the disrepair it has fallen into is so sad and rather heartbreaking. Well, IF anyone has any historical information about this home please respond. I’d appreciate it.

Well, you’ve identified another house that should have been in the story on Verona’s Oldest Houses but wasn’t. According to state property tax records, it was built in 1896. So that structure would not have been 100 years old when your grandparents bought it, but who knows what was there before then. You might get more information by checking the deed that would be in the Hall of Records in Newark.

I enjoyed your slide show SO MUCH! I grew up in “Cook Villa 1875” house. I went to go re-visit the my back in the 2000’s and found that the family that moved in after us ruined the charm. They added a section to the house that was modern and didn’t go at all with a Victorian house. Have no idea why they did that. https://www.realtor.com/realestateandhomes-detail/181-Sunset-Ave_Verona_NJ_07044_M57979-34729