Haddon Heights residents have ‘cautious optimism’ about their new neighbor, a transitional home for men

A Haddon Heights mansion built by a woolen mill magnate in 1900 will be reborn in 2025 as Serenity House, a sober-living residence for men in transition to permanent housing.

The Interfaith Homeless Outreach Council purchased the property at Eighth and Station Avenues for $700,000 in August.

Used since 1968 as a rooming house — low-income housing with shared bathrooms and a single room for each tenant, but no meal service — the building "served a purpose, but had some issues," said borough Mayor Zach Houck.

"The house is being restored," he said, adding that the state and the borough concluded that no zoning changes were required for the project to proceed. "Our job now is to do everything in our power to make sure Serenity House is successful."

An estimated $300,000 to $400,000 in renovations are underway to provide living quarters for a full-time resident manager as well as nine men who were formerly homeless. The rooming house had 14 residents, including women as well as men, but no staff or on-site services.

"We plan on being a good neighbor, an even better neighbor than the rooming house, and we hope our neighbors will realize what an excellent program this is," said Carol Dann, a founding IHOC board member.

At Serenity House, prospective residents will be screened and selected by IHOC, encouraged to find employment, and likely will stay for two years. There will be a curfew, as well as security cameras in common areas, and a range of other services as well.

"When we first got here, there was some NIMBY reaction," said Bill Fumo, the board president of IHOC. The nonprofit was founded in 1989.

"People can see we're a far cry from a rooming house," Fumo said. "There will be strict rules. There will be supervision."

Tony Pilarchik, the house manager, described the neighborhood reaction to the project as "very mixed" and includes "people who want to help and people who'd rather we not be here at all."

A work in progress Fumo, Dann, and other leaders of the organization, as well as volunteers, donors, and neighborhood residents, attended an open house Thursday evening at the facility.

"We still have a ways to go," Fumo said, as visitors toured the three floors, nine bedrooms, and multiple bathrooms.

Partitions that chopped the original living and dining rooms into oddly angled little rooms have been torn out, drop ceilings have been taken down, and a green-tiled fireplace has been uncovered. The first floor has been opened up from front to back and a new kitchen will be built where the original one was removed decades ago.

"Transitional housing, in a sober environment, is a stepping stone," said case manager Sonya Jacobs, who has been with IHOC for 25 years.

Serenity House residents "may come from treatment facilities, may not have a job, and may be behind on child support," she said. "There can be many obstacles before they can get a job, save money, and save enough for a security deposit. Being here can help them get there."

'Cautious optimism' Nancy Oliver and Stasia Palmer, friends and neighbors in the Eighth and Station neighborhood, attended Thursday's event.

Both said they have "cautious optimism" about Serenity House, but also have questions.

"Men will be coming here from all over," Palmer said. "We want to know what the monitoring will be, and what the rules will be, to make sure everything goes as it should. Because this house is in the center of our town, on the walking [routes] to all of our schools."

Said Oliver: "I'm viewing this as any new neighbor moving in, at this point. I'm taking it as it comes. But it is nice that we can come in and see the property."

Haddon Heights resident Michael Westfield, who attended the open house with his wife and architectural practice partner Margaret Westfield, is a Serenity House fan.

"I'm a strong supporter of what they're trying to do. They're an experienced organization, and I don't see anything that would raise eyebrows or cause concern," he said. "They're trying to make this a special place."

Said Margaret Westfield, a historic preservation specialist: " I love that [IHOC] is saving so much of the original fabric of the house — the fireplace tile, the chestnut doors and moldings, the oilcloth floor cover. It will help people appreciate the character of what this house once was."

A long journey J. Walter Levering, whose Camden woolen mill was at one time the largest of its kind in the world , built a grand house on the main street of the emerging railroad suburb of Haddon Heights at the turn of the 20th century.

Forty years later, the family residence had become the Haddon Hall Sanatorium for tuberculosis patients. It went on to operate as a nursing home in the 1950s and '60s and was converted into a rooming house in 1968 by an owner who lived there and rented rooms to single adults.

New Jersey licensed the property as a rooming house in 1982; and Joseph Duffin bought it in 1990 and rented rooms to 14 women and men. His last tenant moved out last week.

At the Serenity House event, several attendees pointed out that 802 Station Ave. has long been a place of caring, and healing, for people with medical conditions or other needs.

Craig Bickel, a volunteer who helped IHOC secure the property — and discovered a vintage wooden wheelchair in a storage area — said the artifact will be preserved.

"To me, that wheelchair says it all," he said.