Hoboken, NJ Historic Preservation: Historic-Cultural Monuments (2026)

Under Section 42-16, the City of Hoboken designates, modifies or de-designates historic sites and districts through a formal process: the Planning Board or the Historic Preservation Commission, applying the criteria for listing on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places, recommends designation to the Mayor and City Council, who must hold public hearings and vote before it takes effect. Section 42-17 separately locks in established sites that already carry state or national register status and local significance, listing them by block and lot, including Hoboken City Hall at 94 Washington Street, the Erie-Lackawanna Terminal and Yards, the Clock Tower Apartments, Edwin A.

Stevens Hall at Stevens Institute, and several firehouses and churches, with amendments adding entries as recently as 2020. A HISTORIC SITE under Section 42-2 is any property or structure formally designated by the Mayor and City Council, by ordinance, resolution or proclamation, for historical, archaeological, cultural, scenic or architectural significance, and may also be called a landmark. Any work affecting a designated site or district needs a Certificate of Appropriateness or Certificate of No Effect from the Historic Preservation Commission's administrative officer before it proceeds.

Section 42-30 backs the designation with real enforcement: the administrative officer must give a property owner 10 days' written notice to abate a violation before the City can seek injunctive relief or restoration in Superior Court.