The Atlantic City Fire Station #4 at Atlantic and California Avenues was built in 1912 and has been in continuous operation for over 100 years. Firehouses have a storied and vital place in the history of Atlantic City. With the city’s transformation in the late 19th century to a vacation destination, the necessity of neighborhood firehouses and their importance in maintaining fire safety for the ever-increasing number of visitors resulted in the city’s construction of numerous fire houses. Some of these, particularly those located on busy thoroughfares such as Atlantic Avenue, were designed to demonstrate the city’s growing prominence and pride as a destination.

Fire Station #4 is an impressive tribute, in the Beaux Arts style, to the city’s early twentieth century civic pride. Both the exterior and interior are richly detailed in design and craftsmanship. The classically symmetrical exterior of brick, limestone and carved terra cotta is complemented by interior details such as iron and wood balcony and stairway rails, paneled interior doors and the original wooden watch box on the first floor. Much of the interior detailing and almost all the exterior facades are extant. Easton Architects has been retained by the City of Atlantic City to perform and existing conditions assessment and prepare a National Register Nomination. Our work includes investigative work and conditions verification and assessment, historical research and review, evaluation of significance, chronology of use and construction, and all necessary work and services to define accurately the project needs, parameters and scope to implement a future restoration work.

Fire Station #4 received an opinion of eligibility from the New Jersey Historic Preservation Office in 2013 for both its association with broad patterns of the city’s history and for its distinctive early 20th century style of civic architecture. This is a significant institutional building that represents Atlantic City in its 20th century prime and is an important part of the city’s cultural and institutional history as a seashore resort.