Sanai's Restaurant and Lounge

Sanai's Restaurant located at 510 Summit Ave Jersey City New Jersey owned by Terry Dehere

The Newkirk House, also known as the Summit House, located at 510 Summit Avenue is the oldest surviving structure in Jersey City. The two-story Dutch Colonial building, composed of sandstone, brick and clapboard dates back 1690, when it was known as the Blue Point Tavern. It was cited on a British army map drawn in 1781 for General Henry Clinton during the Revolutionary War. The building was constructed on nearly two acres of land granted by the English governor Philip Carteret to an Englishman, John Berry from Barbados in 1669, who in turn sold the site to Samuel Edsall, a "beaver marker" from Bergen, that same year. Mattheus Newkirk from Holland bought the property some time afterward, and remained in the family until it was sold in 1889. Newkirk family members were active in local politics--John and his son Jacob were both Hudson County freeholders; Jacob also served as a Jersey City alderman in the mid-nineteenth century. The building was used as an orphanage by the Queen's Daughters of Jersey City, and then by a succession of retail businesses. In 1928, the old Newkirk property line and building were changed when the present Summit Avenue was rerouted and the front of the building altered to accommodate the redesign of the street. In 1979 it was purchased and readapted by Coneco, Inc. to become a restaurant. During the renovation, it was revealed that the original structure was only one story. The outer walls are of two feet of stone fitted in lime and mortar. Beams of timber in the basement are six-by-twelve inches and those on the second floor are four-by-six inches spaced four-feet apart. Eight-inch wood pegs, rather than nails, were employed during the time of construction. Today the building is Sanai's Restaurant which is currently owned by L. Terry Dehere, former NBA Athlete, Vice President of the Jersey City School Board, and Community Activist.