Hersch Tower

About

Hersch Tower is a historic Art Deco building in midtown Elizabeth, New Jersey.

Constructed during the Great Depression with a façade of brick, marble and nickel in 1931 by businessman Louis Hersh, the tower is 14 stories and 42.67 m (140.0 ft) tall. The Newark architect, Nathan Myers (who had designed Temple B'Nai Abraham on Clinton Avenue in that city) and Princeton-trained Joseph Shanley designed and planned the building. It originally had self-contained vacuum system, where each unit had a wall receptacle to which one attached a vacuum hose and proceeded without additional machinery. The building also sported a fire escape system—only two of which existed in the US—in which an internal slide would pass tenants from any floor to the street swiftly in case of an emergency.