Dear Editor:

On Tuesday, August 23, at 7 p.m. Hoboken's Historic Preservation Commission will hold a public hearing on the proposed replacement for the Clam House Broth buildings. (The hearing room is the first door on the left as you enter City Hall's ground floor on Newark Street.)

The land beneath the Clam Broth House isn't part of Universal Studio's back lot or Disneyland. It is in southeastern Hoboken, in the historic Overlay zone of the Central Business District.

The proposed Clam Broth House replacement building is pretentious - a tart gussied up in 2nd Empire style, resembling an overly ornate, multi-tiered, over-height, wedding cake. The proposal turns the concept of historic preservation into sheer farce.

The demolished Clam Broth buildings were representative of simple, architectural style that remains in evidence throughout older Hoboken. This pre-twentieth century style sets the character and tone of Washington Street. And it is this continuity of style that made the Clam Broth House buildings historically significant for Hoboken.

Mayor Roberts' determination in his letter to this paper on July 25 that "...the buildings that housed the restaurant had little historic significance..." is wrong. They were historically accurate and significant for Hoboken. Maybe not for Paris, but right for Hoboken. Come to Tuesday night's meeting. Hoboken doesn't need a Clam Broth House McMansion.

Annette Illing