Wentworth is by far the most significant architect of buildings in downtown Paterson. His contributions virtually spanned his entire career in Paterson. His initial project, as a relatively young man, was acting as the Supervising Architect of the Post Office and then subsequently the Passaic County Court House.

Post Office and Court House

Fred W. Wentworth has been appointed supervising architect of the new government building to be built at Paterson, N. J., at a salary of $2000

Supervising Arch't, Paterson Post Office 1897 and Court House 1900

The buildings were the center of county and federal government in Paterson and remain the focus of the governmental core of the County Seat of Passaic County. It would seem that the location of the Post Office and Court House is one of the few remnants of plans for the city developed by Pierre L’Enfant. Although the plans developed by L’Enfant have disappeared, it is known that he considered an axial street plan terminating at Colt’s Hill, the site of the current court house and Post Office. However, the public records indicate that the location of the property was based less on sound principles of planning and more on the Paterson tradition of expediency.

At this time, the Secretary of the Treasury was responsible for public buildings. In Paterson, the federal government accepted offers from private owners with a proposed offering purchase price. Records from the Passaic County Historian show that the government received proposals from property owners and real estate professionals for potential locations. A variety of offers were made and several were in the more developed portion of the downtown area. The low bid of $22,000 for the Colt’s Hill site prevailed and this did not go over well with the business leaders and losing bidders.

Public building throughout the nation was in the midst of an unprecedented boom. Custom houses, federal buildings, U.S. Courthouses, Post Offices were becoming fixtures in every major community and the Department of Treasury maintained responsibility for designs. The City Beautiful Movement, just taking root, had broad support and recognized the importance of public architecture and strongly influenced an era of construction. The blue prints of the original drawings of the Paterson Post Office on file in the Department of Engineering indicate that they were the work of James Knox Taylor, the Supervising Architect of the Department of Treasury.

The two buildings are accomplished and beautiful, even though they have little relationship with each other and neither reflect any of Wentworth’s design sensibilities.

The Fire of 1902 and the Rebuilding of Paterson

In February of 1902, disasters of tremendous proportions hit the City of Paterson. Initially, a fire started in a trolley barn and quickly spread through the center of the city. By the time the fire was finally put under control, most of the buildings in the center of the city were destroyed.

622 Main Street at left, circa 1920

Over the next twenty years, Wentworth received nearly two dozen commissions for commercial buildings in the downtown. The architectural styles evolved over time and cannot be easily categorized. Most are influenced by the City Beautiful movement which was increasingly influential.

• The Gerstley Building
• The First National Bank Building
• The Charles W. Elbow Building
• The Kitay Building
• The Masonic Temple

Wentworth designed several other important buildings in downtown Paterson with Jacob Fabian as his client. These buildings form the fabric of the city and include the Alexander Hamilton Hotel, The Fabian Building and the Alexander Hamilton Garage as well as the YM-YWHA were built during a later development phase in the 1920s.