Old schoolhouse, new look

July 06, 2009
Allison Pries
NorthJersey.com

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Old schoolhouse, new look

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MAHWAH — It has been 40 years since it was used as a school.

Buying it took four years.

And by the time work begins later this year, the owners of the Darlington Schoolhouse will have spent nearly two years preparing for restorations to the hulking and architecturally majestic structure.

"Things have been a little slow and now it's coming together," said Ed Goodell, executive director of the New York New Jersey Trail Conference, a non-profit that builds and maintains hiking trails. The trail conference owns the schoolhouse jointly with the township of Mahwah.

Goodell and County Executive Dennis McNerney yanked a tarp off a sign Monday in front of the building announcing grants for the project from the state and county — the erection of the sign is just one more step in the process of claiming and putting to use the money.

"It's a complicated project and it's being done on a shoestring, so everything has to line up right," Goodell said. "We sacrifice urgency to efficiency."

The two restoration awards will fund about $400,000 worth of exterior work, which will shore up the structure: including repointing the bricks in the chimney, roof work and new gutters.

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