Former Seth Boyden Housing Projects

 




It recently hit me that the abandoned Newark Seth Boyden Projects were being demolished to make way for 16,000 apartments in the area spurred by the incumbent Mayor of Newark Ras Baraka. I explored the Seth Boyden projects in 2019 with a penciled-in return for some time later. Well, that future next time never materialized. So into the archives I dug and found what I was looking for. 

Seth Boyden was Newark's first public housing built in 1939 after the Great Depression. Seth Boyden or Dayton Street Houses comprised 12 buildings totaling 530 apartments when it was closed down due to high maintenance costs and public safety issues in 2015.

During my time in the area, the grounds were evidently the dumping grounds of illegal dumpers and an inordinate amount of graffiti. Locals also used the wide-open projects for quicker access from one street to the next. A majority of the buildings were mostly empty and picked apart by long-gone copper scrappers. 

Now future development holds the promise of mixed rate and affordable apartments for Newark residents.


Status: Demolished Feb/Mar 2022






























































Source:


1. Eyewitness News, "Demolition begins on Newark's first housing project", February 17, 2022, ABC7NY

2. Yi, Karen, "Newark's demolition of South Ward housing project comes with promises of new development", February 18, 2022, Gothamist

Location: 741 Frelinghuysen Ave #811, Newark, NJ 07114, USA

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