Folks who really know their way around town will tell you-maybe even a little smugly-that the Barrow Mansion is not on Barrow but on Wayne. OK, but how many people know what’s in the basement?
An inconspicuous sign to the left of the building reads “YMLA [Young Men’s Lutheran Association] Bowling Alley.” The (reportedly) oldest bowling alley in New Jersey sits in the bowels of the mansion like an old bench warmer waiting to be played.
The mansion was owned by the YMCA from 1890 to 1897. It was during that time, before the YMLA took over, that the bowling alley was built.
The Barrow Mansion is a huge Greek Revival structure that takes up most of the block between Jersey Avenue and Barrow. On both the National Register of Historic Places and the New Jersey Register of Historic Places, the mansion is in the Van Vorst historical district and was built in 1837.
Gerry Bakirtjy, president of the Barrow Mansion Development Corp., takes me and photographer John Tichenor through the old house, finally unlocking the door to the bowling alley. It has a ghostly feel, with dust dancing in the light from the Wayne Street window. The lanes-there are two of them-and the walls retain beautiful shades of the original wood.
The Barrow Mansion Jersey City, New Jersey Historic Structure Report describes it this way:
“The bowling alley was lighted by skylights above…The alley was equipped with the existing maple lanes and gutters, pin well, and ball return built by W. Wagner & Adler Company of New York. A plaque asserting that the lanes conformed to the regulations of the American Bowling Conference (founded in 1895) was added later. Like other contemporary bowling alleys, the walls of the room were finished with matched beaded-board wainscot.”
Well-worn pins wait at one end as if the last pin boy had just set them up. They’re clearly inscribed with the word “kingpin.”
Few modern sporting venues are as noisy as bowling alleys, with the incessant growl of the automatic pinsetters, music blaring, and beer-guzzling bowlers cheering and booing. The Barrow bowling alley, however, is absolutely silent and probably wasn’t too noisy when it was being used. “Except for the pins being knocked down,” Bakirtjy says. “The wood ball-return lifts the ball by centrifugal force, and gravity brings it back. A person had to set the pins. There were pin boys, no girls at that time.”
Talk about hidden Jersey City. “People can’t believe that there’s a bowling alley down here,” Bakirtjy says. “They think I’m kidding, and then it’s the hit of the tour.”
If you want to have a party at the mansion and treat your guests to some vintage bowling, call (201) 432-5858.