The historic Chateau Bleu Motel in North Wildwood is now a pile of rubble
Despite efforts to save it, demolition started last week on the mid-century doo wop gem with the heart-shaped pool.
NORTH WILDWOOD, N.J. — The Chateau Bleu, the white-and-blue motel on Surf Avenue between 9th and 10th Streets with the distinctive porte cochère, mid-century angles, and heart-shaped pool that earned it a spot on the National Registry of Historic Places, lay in rubble this week, demolished beyond return.
“It was one of the finest examples of mid-century resort architecture on the East Coast,” said John Donio, president of the Doo-Wop Preservation League and a motel owner himself.
The group tried to prevent the demolition, but the North Wildwood Planning Board voted, 7-2, last month to approve plans for three houses, clearing the way for the demolition, which began late last week.
“We believe it could have been saved and should have been saved,” Donio said. “It’s just not a priority for anyone on the island anymore. I can’t understand why people don’t see the value in these buildings historically. Once they’re gone, they’re gone.”
Despite the Chateau Bleu’s spot on the National Registry, Donio said the only thing that can preserve the more than 100 mid-century buildings still left in the Wildwoods is local ordinances, similar to those in Cape May or in Charleston, S.C.
Its current owner, Surf Capital LLC, made the application to the zoning board. The property was listed for sale in November for $2.49 million, and a sale is listed as pending.
“Currently this property has operated as a 19 unit motel but is ready for demolition and to be converted to three single homes in the center of North Wildwood,” the listing states.
The owners and developers could not be reached for comment.
Donio said that the motel’s sign was promised to the Preservation League but that its whereabouts were unknown to him. The motel posted on its Facebook page that the sign hadn’t been stolen, but did not elaborate.
“We know this news has been hard to hear,” the motel posted on Facebook on April 28. “We are thankful for all those who have loved and patronized the Chateau Bleu Motel. It will always have a special place in the [hearts] and memories of many people.”
On Monday, debris filled the heart-shaped pool, and a pile of mattresses and wooden rubble stood where the distinctive car port used to be.
The fronts of some of the motel’s 19 rooms were torn open. The only identifying remains was a TV channel card that lay amid the debris.
The demolition was another in a series of blows to the history and distinctive look of the Wildwoods, including about 100 of the original 275 doo-wop structures remain.
North Wildwood Mayor Patrick Rosenello noted that the area where the Chateau Bleu property is located is zoned for single-family homes. “The owner had found that the building itself was a wood structure that had in his opinion reached the end of its useful lifecycle,” Rosenello said. “He didn’t believe there was any way to salvage it in such a way that it could continue to be used as an ongoing business.”
But Donio said the owners of such historically significant and cherished businesses should be responsible for ongoing upkeep to maintain the buildings’ viability. “It’s incumbent on the motel owners to keep them updated and modernized,” he said. “If you let a building go into disrepair, this is the result.”
The application to the National Registry cites the Chateau Bleu’s “wishbone shaped columns” and the porte cochère consisting of a “small circular driveway partially covered by … a curved concrete canopy. The canopy creates the impression of concrete construction but is actually a wood frame structure with applied stucco."
“This postwar motel was constructed during an important period in the development of tourism in America,” the application states. “The Chateau Bleu dates from the heyday of motel construction, a period bracketed nationally by the end of World War II and the advent of car culture ...”
There were as many as 275 motels built in this mid-century era, the majority of them low, horizontal modernistic buildings, “inspired by the motels and hotels of Miami Beach.”
“The architects and builders in the Wildwoods worked to bring the high-style architecture of Florida down to an ‘everyman’s level,’” the application states.