Riverside Township New Jersey
Philadelphia Watch Case Company Building
Pavilion and Lafayette Avenues

   This building occupies a commanding position along Pavilion Avenue and around a corner formed by its junction with the tracks of the Pennsylvania Railroad and Lafayette Avenue. The building's origins are as old as those of Riverside. Riverside was incorporated as the town of Progress by Samuel Bechtold, a real estate promoter, in 1851. Bechtold began building the Pavilion Hotel, which until recently formed the rear section of this building, in 1852. The next year, he laid out a pleasure ground named Spring Gardens Park, and began advertising the attractions of Progress in the Philadelphia newspapers. The hotel and park became popular for summer excursions through the late 1860s, but then declined as the railroads made the Jersey shore accessible.

The hotel had been vacant for some time when Theophilus Zurbrugg purchased it in 1892. Zurbrugg owned the Philadelphia Watch Case Company, which had been founded in that city in 1884. The company expanded rapidly after it began to produce gold-filled cases. In 1906, Zurbrugg announced plans to construct a new building south of the old hotel. Completed in early 1908, the building is dominated by the 7-story office building, with an 8-story tower at the corner. The tower has an elaborately framed clock on each side and a lavishly decorated mansard roof. Spaces between the windows are ornamented with carved squares and grotesques. The main factory building, behind and attached to the office building, is an early example of reinforced concrete construction. Its divisions are clearly defined by concrete posts and beams, infilled with brick spandrels and triple factory windows.

In its heyday in the early 20th century, the company, later known as the H. K. Parker Company, was the mainstay of Riverside's economy. Its 1,000 employees produced 6,000 watch cases per day. These were sold not only domestically, but also to Swiss watchmakers. As the popularity of pocket watches declined, so did the company's fortunes. It ceased operation, and the building was vacated in 1972, although one of the company's subdivisions, the Riverside Metal Company, survived in an adjacent building. The Philadelphia Watch Case Company building is now occupied by new owners, who recently demolished the rear section of the building that was once the Pavilion Hotel.

also known as H.K. Porter Company Building

National Register of Historic Places #78001747

Certification Date 01/31/1978

Listed In The National Register.

Other sites: Philadelphia Watch Case Company, Keystone Watch Case Co