The Krueger-Scott Mansion, built in 1888, might be the grandest home in Newark. It was designed with that intent. The original owner Gottfried Krueger made a special request to architect Henry Shultz that he wanted his new home to outdo the grandeur of his rival’s mansion downtown.
“He said, ‘I want it to be bigger than the Ballantine mansion,’” said tour guide Antonio Valla, as he pointed out Krueger’s initials — GK — etched in terracotta above the mansion’s front entrance.
George Ballantine and Krueger were both “beer barons,” 19th-century brewers who earned extravagant wealth in the Victorian era. Others were Christian Feigenspan and Franz Kastner, who both left behind mansions of their own — though Kastner’s on Clinton Avenue sadly caught fire, twice, and was demolished.
The Krueger-Scott Mansion might have met the same fate as the Kastner Mansion after sitting abandoned for decades. It became a statement about the state of historic preservation in the city. Then in 2021, developer Avi Telyas had a vision to finally invest $10 million into the building and make it the headquarters for his organization Makerhood.
Telyas has partnered with Valla’s tour company Have You Met Newark to allow visitors a chance to gawk at the mansion in all its braggadocious glory. The 40-room home sits on MLK Boulevard at one of the city’s highest points, making the tippy-top of its tower appear even taller than the skyscrapers downtown. The newest 400-foot building, the Halo Tower, is visible from the mansion’s front porch. It’s easy to imagine Krueger’s ghost keeping watch on the skyline, bristling at the thought that a new home might supplant his someday as Newark’s finest.
One thing that preservationists, and those who write about them, learn about this field is that restoration projects don’t always make it across the finishing line. This one did. The building is now rented out with tenants like realtor Brendan Da Silva, who turned the home’s signature witch’s hat into a podcast studio.
Behind the mansion is a new five story-building where designer Undra Duncan is still renting a storefront for her boutique and was having a warehouse sale of her designer clothing. And what up-and-coming neighborhood would be complete without a coffee shop? The tour ends with tea and espresso at Samantha Katehis’s Fern & Fossil.
Those who attended Thursday’s tour included workers from NJ Transit and a few native Newarkers. The surrounding neighborhood — partly because of the schools, such as St. Benedict’s, Arts High School, and Morton Street School — means a lot to local residents.
“Everytime I ride by here, it brings back memories,” said Cassandra Chapman-Talmadge, one of the attendees who lives in the Forest Hill neighborhood and graduated from Saint Vincent Academy in 1983. “The city has gone through a great transition — it’s a wonderful sight to see.”
Chapman-Talmadge came with her daughter Sarah Talmadge, 31, who had attended a previous tour with Have You Met Newark and learned about the mansion tour in the company’s newsletter. “As a local, I’ve never been able to see the inside of the mansion that I’ve driven past all the time when I was growing up,” said Talmadge, who now lives in East Orange.
The tour is a clever collaboration with Telyas, giving a chance for the public to see the home’s historic interior while bringing foot traffic to the surrounding shops, which include a tasting room and a cigar shop.
“This is the first year the mansion is open, we wanted to make sure we brought folks to see the beauty of the space,” said Valla, who has 10 tours scheduled at the mansion. “People from the area have seen this mansion for decades — and it’s all behind the scenes because you can’t just show up and walk into the mansion.”
The tour includes a walk along MLK Boulevard, which is home to three historic churches along with some of Newark’s most beloved National Register-listed buildings, such as Arts High School. Not far is the Coe Mansion and Morton Street School. Newark Landmarks attempted to get the neighborhood landmarked as a historic district but sadly the state office felt too many buildings had been destroyed to merit a district. Pedantry is one of the greatest obstacles preservationists face.
What makes the Krueger-Scott Mansion so special is that it has found a new identity for itself in different eras of the city’s history. Originally a symbol of the city’s beer-brewing industry, it later became associated with Louise Scott and her beauty school that made her Newark’s first Black millionaire.
Now, this is Telyas’s turn to bring Makerhood’s chapter to the mansion with a timely mission of supporting small businesses with affordable live-work spaces. And like Krueger, Telyas has found a place to put his initials — a very subtle AT can be found in the stained-glass transom window over the front entrance.
