What is this nondescript small building next to the former lumberyard on Model Avenue in Hopewell Borough? It’s actually related to the long apartment building on the right side – since both are part of the Hopewell Grammar School that was built there starting in 1888. The Model Avenue school, also known as the Lincoln School, operated until the current Hopewell Elementary School opened on Princeton Avenue in 1926.
The center part of the current apartment building (now 12-14 Model) is the original school building from 1888, with wings to the west and east added in 1899 and 1907 respectively. The small building (now 20 Model, and formerly #16) was built in 1915 as a separate two-room annex to the Grammar School, used for the lower grades.
This simple Annex building then had multiple overlapping uses, including both business and residential, but was used mainly for a variety of industrial purposes – including jewelry manufacturing, independent invention, serial entrepreneurs, guitar making, and metalwork.
== Read the full brief on 20 Model Ave. – Hopewell Grammar School Annex (PDF) ==
1915 – Hopewell Grammar School Annex
The Annex building was built in 1915 , and contained two rooms that could accommodate 50 pupils in each room. It was described as “one story high, with shingled sides and slate roof.”
The top floor of the building was the “one story” school, and the bottom floor apparently was regarded as a basement for utilities and such. The front of the building was raised from the street, with steps leading up to a two-story entrance area, and with the ground built up to half cover the basement level.
== View c1912 Photos of Hopewell Grammar School Kids – Exteriors and Interiors ==
== Browse 20 Model Ave. Annex photos in the Image Gallery ==
== Browse 12-14 Model Ave. School building photos in the Image Gallery ==
1926 – Hopewell Realty / Pierson – Jewelry
After the Grammar School moved to Princeton Avenue in 1926, the full property containing the school and annex buildings was sold to the Hopewell Realty Company, and the annex property was then transferred to Theodore A. Pierson, Jr.
The large original school building was remodeled into a “modern apartment house,” named the Model Avenue Apartments. Each individual apartment would have five to six rooms, and would be furnished in an “up-to-date fashion, including electric lights, gas, water, bath, heat and every modern convenience.”
The use of the Annex building during this period is not well documented, as it seemed to have multiple overlapping uses, including both business and residential. After the sale, the 1927 Sanborn Fire Map shows the school building as apartments, and the Annex building as a “Club House.” The building then was used for several jewelry companies and manufacturing businesses through the 1930s and into the 1940s.
c1931-32 – F. Berk & Co. – Jewelry
F. Burke & Co. at 16 Model Ave. ran advertisements in 1931-32 at then 16 Model Avenue, selling Diamonds, Watches, and Jewelry / Optical Goods / Expert Watch Repairing.
c1930-45 – Hopewell Jewelry Factory – Sickinger
The next known use of the Annex property was for the Hopewell Jewelry Factory of Adolph Sickinger, who operated the business for 16 years. Sickinger “was a diamond setter all his life, having learned his trade in Germany. In later years he launched into the field of manufacturing jewelry.”
1945-1949 – Jacques Kreisler Corp. – Ladies Jewelry
In 1945, the annex building was sold and became the Hopewell Jewelry Corporation at 16 Model Avenue, a branch of the Jacques Kreisler Corporation of North Bergen.
Renovations included “interior alterations,” plus “considerable excavation” and the removal of trees to assure adequate lighting. After “extensive alterations and repairs,” the company had a public reception of their manufacturing plant which was visited by five to six hundred people.
The major change to the site was releveling the front of the building by removing the raised ground at the front of the building to expose the bottom floor down to street level. The center projection for the entrance was reconfigured to add the current further projection for a ground-level entrance, with brick continuing around the ground level. The windows were replaced and made smaller on both the building and the front projection. A side addition also was added on the left, apparently with equipment for venting the factory and ground access to a small underground sub-basement.
The principal business at the site was the manufacture of ladies jewelry. The company started with 25 employees, and expected to grow to 50 or more. The company advertised for skilled or unskilled staff for the jewelry plant, male and female, offering time and a half for overtime, and later for stone setters experienced in costume jewelry and a plater experienced on gold and rhodium.
1949-1978 – G. F. Bush Assoc. – George F. Bush – Inventor
In 1949 the Annex property was purchased by George F. Bush, a former professor at Princeton and Cornell, to be used as a laboratory for designing scientific instruments
Bush had been active in business, consulting, university teaching, and research. He was the author of numerous technical articles and several books and has been a member of the faculty at Princeton and Cornell where he was an associate professor of machine design. He also received the U. S. Navy development award for distinguished service during World War II.
His inventions included a strain testing instrument for rubber, a “gas reactometer” that measures the volume of gas absorbed by materials, and a biomedical device that shows the structural and chemical characteristics of blood vessel walls.
1978-2011 – George Vaughn & Dick Hardgrave
1n 1978, George Bush sold the Annex property to Richard Hargrave and George Vaughn.
They redesigned the building, particularly whitewashing the brick and adding extruded front windows that extended across both stories. The brick entrance projection also was simplified to an overhanging roof and the left side addition was removed.
Richard D. Hargrave (1928-2018) was a graduate of Exeter and Princeton, and was a pilot in the U. S. Navy. George A. Vaughn, III graduated from Lawrenceville School, enlisted in the U. S. Navy, attended Princeton University, and graduated from Ohio State in 1955 with a degree in engineering.
With their backgrounds in engineering and in the aluminum industry, Vaughn and Hargrave formed the Maark Corporation around 1967 and worked on using metals in sporting equipment. In the mid-1970s, the Princeton area was a hotbed of innovation in sporting equipment, especially for tennis racquets with Head metal racquets and then Prince oversize racquets. Vaughn and Hargrave worked with Head on the first aluminum tennis racquets, and also helped develop the first aluminum deck for paddle tennis courts. Maark was acquired by AMF in 1977.
1978-1980 – LoPrinzi Guitars – Augustino and Thomas LoPrinzi
During this period, Maark also bought the LoPrinzi Guitar Company in 1973, and then moved it into the Annex building. The building also was used for an affiliated company, Direct Airways, an executive charter flight and private jet rental service. One long-term renter was Tom Shepherd, a prolific inventor and tinkerer who had previously patented an injection moulding process for soft contact lenses.
The LoPrinzi Guitar Company was started by Augustino (Augie) and Thomas (Tom) LoPrinzi. They grew up helping out in the family barber shop in Flemington, NJ. There also was a little woodworking area in back of the shop, where Augie started working on guitars in 1958.
In 1969, after 22 years of barbering, Augie focused exclusively on building and repairing guitars. He then partnered with Tom to start the LoPrinzi Guitar Company in 1972. The business soon was successful, growing to 17 employees. By 1976, the company was producing 80 guitars a month for customers in five countries.
Augie left the company and started his own Augustino Guitars business, which he then moved to its current home in Florida in 1978, and is still operating as Augustino LoPrinzi Guitars and Ukuleles.
Meanwhile, Tom LoPrinzi and LoPrinzi Guitars moved to Annex building after Vaughn and Hargrave purchased the property in 1978. The bottom floor of the building was used for the wood shop, making all the parts and assembling the bodies and necks. Final assembly was upstairs. LoPrinzi operated in the Annex building until 1980.
- View the Hopewell LoPrinzi Guitars brochure in the Pamphlet Collection
2011 – T. Johnson Design – Tom & Terence Johnson
In 2011, T. Johnson Design purchased the property from Vaughn and Hardgrave. In this period, the address was changed from 16 to 20 Model Avenue.
They removed the extruded windows on the front of the building, changing the lower floor windows back to four undivided panes and the upper floor to connected undivided panes.
T. Johnson Design is a father and son partnership of Tom and Terence Johnson, “designers and builders of contemporary metalwork.” They design and fabricate custom metalwork, including architectural elements (gates, railings, weathervanes , finials, etc.) and furniture and lighting.
& Gazebo [1994 ATJ]
Their public work in Hopewell includes the iconic frog weathervane on the gazebo in Hopewell Borough Park, the girl pumping water weathervane on the Louellen Street Boro Pump House, and repairs to the rooster weathervane on the Calvary Baptist Church.
They also created the willow tree gate for the Old School Baptist Church cemetery, the front railings for Saint Alphonsus Church, and the smoke railings and pizza truck oven design for Nomad Pizza.
- See their work in T. Johnson Design – Metalwork in Hopewell
- View T. Johnson Hopewell Works in the Image Gallery
- View the T. Johnson Design handout in the Pamphlet Collection
== Read the full brief on 20 Model Ave. – Hopewell Grammar School Annex (PDF) ==
== View c1912 Photos of Hopewell Grammar School Kids – Exteriors and Interiors ==
== Browse 20 Model Ave. photos in the Image Gallery ==
== Browse 12-14 Model Ave. School building photos in the Image Gallery ==
== Browse all the Hopewell Borough History Briefs ==
Thanks especially to Ann & Tom Johnson, Kip Leming, and Susan Shepherd for information and materials on the history of this building.
We welcome additional information and material on Hopewell history, especially the Grammar School and the Annex building.
More on Hopewell Valley Schools
Posts on school materials, including yearbooks, graduation programs, and plays.
- See also post on St. Michael’s Orphanage and School
Browse all School materials in the Image Album and Pamphlet Collection:
- Hopewell Schools History Posters – Hopewell Elementary School at the Harvest Fair
- Images – Hopewell Valley Schools Album – Class photos, classrooms, etc. (search by name, etc.)
- Pamphlets – Hopewell Valley Schools – Yearbooks, commencements, etc. (select by town, name, etc.)
Hopewell Valley Schools – History
- Post on Hopewell School Mascots – and the Frog – School names, mascots and logos
- Post on The Timberlane School Name – The Timberlane Drive development
- Post on Learning Your Letters – School Signs – Princeton High School (1919 / 1920)
- Post on Toll Gate and Hopewell Elementary School Centennials (2026)
Hopewell Borough Schools History – Grammar & High Schools
- Post on Hopewell Elementary School History – Hopewell Schools History posters
- Documents on Hopewell Borough Schools – Briefs and Posters
Hopewell Grammar School (Model Ave.) – 1888 – Posts & Materials
- Post on Model Ave. Grammar School Annex – Jewelry, invention, guitars, metalwork
- Post on c1912 Hopewell Grammar School Kids – Photos on Model Ave.
- Post on 1920s Hopewell Teachers – Scott & Scharring-Hausen
- Brief – Hopewell Grammar School Summary Brief (PDF)
- Brief – Hopewell Grammar School Annex Summary Brief (PDF)
Hopewell Elementary School (Princeton Ave.) – 1926 – Posts & Materials
- Post on the Hopewell Elementary School Centennial – history and additions
- Post on Hopewell Elementary School Class Plaques – 1926-1966 – Photos and names
- Post on 1941 Hopewell Elementary School Newspaper
- Post on 1952 Hopewell Elementary School – Graduation program and yearbook
- Pamphlets – 1956 Hopewell Elementary School “Hi-Lights” Newsletters
- Pamphlets – All Hopewell Elementary School Pamphlets – with yearbooks, graduation programs, newsletters
- Brief – Hopewell Elementary School Summary Brief (PDF)
Pennington Grammar School – Posts & Materials
- Post on 1950s Memories of Pennington – Mike Thomsen – Building evolution
Hopewell High School (Columbia Ave.) – 1910 – Posts & Materials
- Post on The Confusing Hopewell Firehouse – and Boro Hall and High School (1910)
- Post on 1917 Hopewell High School Yearbook – “Blue and Gold”
- Post on 1920s Hopewell High School – Commencement / Class Day books
- Post on 1924 Hopewell High School Program and Ads – Senior class play
- Post on 1927 Hopewell High School Diploma & Autograph Book
- Pamphlets – All Hopewell High School Pamphlets – with yearbooks, graduation programs, diploma
Hopewell Valley Central High School(s) (Pennington) – 1929 / 1958 – Posts & Materials
- Post on 1950s Memories of Pennington – Mike Thomsen – Buildings, school days
- Post on Central High School 1962 Practicum Report – School operations
- Post on Central High School 1961 Student Handbook – Rules & Clubs
- Post on Business Classes at Central High School, c. 1966 – Typing & bookkeeping
- Post on Central High School Class of 1966 – 2016 Reunion Scrapbook – Valley Images
- Post on Central High School Curriculum: 1962 & 1976 – Booklets
- Pamphlets – All Central High School Pamphlets – Yearbooks, graduation programs, curriculum
See also the Document Archive for additional historical school materials.
