Ten Atlantic City Boardwalk structures will be restored in the next four years. (Atlantic City Convention and Visitor's Authority)

All that remains of the Atlantic City boardwalk's pre-casino prosperity of the 1920s through the 1940s today is overshadowed by Fiberglas, metal, and plastic structures. Built in 1870, the one-mile stretch that once provided tourists with a wide variety of entertainment and leisure opportunities has turned into a four-mile long, flat expanse of buildings and 12 casinos that some say have diminished Atlantic City's original panache.

Now the state of New Jersey plans to dole out an estimated $43 million to fund the boardwalk's restoration, using heritage tourism as a marketing strategy that it hopes will boost the resort's economy.

"There's still a lot of the old Atlantic City left," says Michael Calafati of Trenton-based Historic Building Architects LLC, coordinating architect of the project. The state's Casino Reinvestment Development Authority has commissioned Calafati to devise guidelines and a plan to restore boardwalk properties to their early 20th-century glory.

Two years ago, Calafati began a study that identified sites that he believes "could be much more sympathetic to the city's tradition." Along with a team of architects, Calafati then developed a set of design standards stipulating the criteria that boardwalk properties must meet to return the traditional aesthetic of the oceanside resort. The restoration must conform to these design standards, which total more than 70 pages of with examples, illustrations, and descriptions of architectural criteria. With "distinct and measurable" guidelines, the standards seek to bridge the gap between the traditional boardwalk architecture and the late 20th century's profusion of casinos.

The boardwalk at night (Atlantic City Convention and Visitor's Authority)

For example, five primary characteristics must be incorporated into all boardwalk architecture: creating active building facades; returning to the traditional construction materials of terra cotta, brick, and stone; diversifying boundary space between buildings with the creation of plazas; and requiring vertical and horizontal layering to "foster visual links and participation between buildings and boardwalk." New construction and rehab projects must incorporate most of nine secondary characteristics, which involve surface decoration and stylistic elements of the property.

New Jersey's Casino Reinvestment Development Authority (CRDA), recently chose to fund the entire restoration cost for each owner's respective boardwalk property. "The money was becoming an impediment for some of the owners, and it wasn't fair for them to have to fund it," says Tom Meehan, the CRDA's director of development. Although this will impose what he estimates to be $43 million in costs, he views the spending as an investment. "We're trying to stimulate economic growth," he says.

While Atlantic City currently has a prosperous gaming economy comparable to Las Vegas' $5 billion a year revenue, it falls around $4 billion short of its Western competitor in terms of its non-gaming economy: earnings from hotels, entertainment, and restaurants. The CRDA and Calafati's architectural team believe that heritage tourism will give the non-gaming side of Atlantic City's economy the jump start it needs.

The 1929 Boardwalk Hall, now an entertainment venue (Atlantic City Convention and Visitor's Authority)

The boardwalk's National Historic Landmark, the 1929 Convention Hall, now boardwalk Hall, has already been restored. The remaining landmarks identified for restoration funding are the Warner Theatre and Dennis Hotel, which are now part of Bally's Resort and Casino; Brighton Park and the Fountain of Light; boardwalk National Bank; Child's Restaurant; Haddon Hall Hotel, now part of Resorts Atlantic City; Central Pier; Garden Pier; the Claridge Hotel and Casino; and the Ritz-Carlton Hotel.

This spring, an architectural team is focusing on the restoration of Brighton Park and its fountain, a gift to Atlantic City from the General Electric Company in 1929 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the incandescent light bulb's invention. Architects are working to improve the park's landscape by re-establishing its original planting scheme and plan to complete the project by the summer's end. Within the next year, Calafati says, work will soon begin on the Ritz-Carlton Hotel, one of the last three traditional neo-Georgian high-rises on the boardwalk.

Architects, the CRDA, and Atlantic City property owners believe that the rehabilitation and renewed atmosphere created by restorations will reinvigorate Atlantic City's image. With CRDA funds, the project is moving along and is scheduled to be completed in the next three and a half years.

Calafati says the 10 sites' futures are closely tied to heritage tourism. "If there's good growth in tourism, it will happen sooner rather than later," he says. "It's all tied to the economy."

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