Newark homes: midcentury neighborhoods and campus rentals
Nearly half of Newark's homes were built between 1950 and 1979, by Census estimates. The city's comprehensive plan lists West Newark neighborhoods such as Christianstead, West Branch, Fairfield, Evergreen, Fairfield Crest, Briar Creek, Abbotsford and College Park, and communities like Nottingham Green, Oaklands and George Read Village fill out the map. On a garage that has been in use for 50 years, the door, springs and opener may each come from a different decade, so we check how the pieces work together, not just the part that broke.
Rentals are the other half of the story: about 49 percent of Newark's occupied homes are rented, in a city whose median resident was 24 years old in 2020. For a landlord, a garage door is one more moving part to keep safe between leases. An owner in Fairfield or College Park faces a different choice: keep an aging door going with new springs, cables and an opener, or replace it with an insulated Haas steel door.
