LOOKING BACK
Furnishing
Montclair’s
Future
The building at 467 Bloomfield Ave.
looked contemporary in 1890, when it
was built to house the Doremus family’s
third Montclair store. Fifty-plus years
later, though, it was in rough shape.
In 1947, it was renovated to sport an
Art Moderne façade, and Carl Fisch’s
Hampton House furniture store opened
there. “Town officials wanted
downtown to have an art deco look, but
we were the only ones who did,” says
Ron Fisch, Carl’s son and the store’s
current owner. Demand for furniture
exceeded supply after World War II, he
says, and his father made numerous trips
to manufacturers in Grand Rapids, Mich.,
to persuade them to be their suppliers.
“People were moving into new homes,
they had one job and they didn’t move
for 50 years,” says Fisch. “They
entertained in their homes a lot more.
The economy was booming.”
– Cindy Schweich Handler
Do you have a great photo for Looking Back? Send your suggestions to [email protected].
64 MONTCLAIR MAGAZINE SPRING 2016
PHOTOS COURTESY OF RON FISCH/HAMPTON HOUSE
Circa 1940 and 1955