Historic Brick Property, Home to Legendary Sea Captain, Looks to Expand Into HVAC Office

The property at 1845 Route 88, Brick Township, where an HVAC company operates in a historical building. (Credit: Google Earth)

Brick Township rarely fails to produce historical surprises – and sometimes, slices of history can be found in the most odd places, including a non-descript building that houses a heating and air conditioning business.

Tonight, the township’s planning board will consider an application by the owner of 1845 Route 88 – home to Atlantic Shore Heating and Air Conditioning – to expand the business with a new garage and office space. The application is fairly routine, and may not have even been the subject of a news article, except for the unique bit of history of the existing building – which will remain standing amidst the expansion.

The building at 1845 Route 88 – a two story framed structure – is listed in the Township of Brick and Ocean County Inventory of Historic Places, according to a memorandum to planning board members authored by Township Planner Tara Paxton. It was built by Enoch Robbins, a sea captain who brought back “many exotic items with which to decorate his home,” she wrote. The building still has many of the original out-buildings on site, including the privy and two barns. The historic home along the eastbound lanes – just east of Route 70 – is surrounded by modern neighbors, including a Public Storage facility across the street and a mostly-abandoned former Texaco station next door.

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Despite having been a local luminary and one of Brick’s founding residents, there is little published history on Robbins’ conquests on the high seas. But tidbits of history have occasionally been shared, including within a social media post by a resident of the home in the 1990s. Carolyn Adamy Northerner wrote in 2019 that the home was originally built in the 1850s. 

“While pulling up some attic boards we discovered a few old photographs of Brick,” she said. “Enoch was a ships captain who sailed all over the world, and out of Barnegat Inlet, during the 1850s.”

The property at 1845 Route 88, Brick Township, where an HVAC company operates in a historical building. (Credit: Google Earth)

In 1996, long after Route 88 had developed into a commercial corridor, planning officials allowed the building to be converted from the residential use to a professional office for an accountant, Mark Panten. The site operated as a professional office until 2021, when Atlantic Shore HVAC obtained zoning approvals to use the property for their office.

The business is now ready to expand, with the board considering a plan that would continue to utilize the existing two-story historic structure as retail store and office for HVAC hardware and construction, and build a new 4,898 square feet building for garage, office and storage use, along with a parking lot. The existing barn would be removed, however, and replaced with landscaping, an expansion of the parking lot, lighting and stormwater management features.

Paxton, in her memo, advised board members to inquire as to whether the barn could be saved and donated to the township historical society. It is expected that the matter will be discussed at Wednesday night’s hearing.

The application will be the subject of a board hearing because three variances are required due to the site’s zoning, however two of the three are conditions that have long existed at the property. The owner is seeking approval to ratify the existing 15.2-foot front yard setback where 50-feet is normally required, a 43.5-foot rear yard set back where 50-feet is normally required, and the lack of a 15-foot buffer that would normally be required under modern zoning codes.

The planning board meets at 7 p.m. Wednesday at the township municipal complex on Chambers Bridge Road.