The Boardwalk

The Boardwalk is Atlantic City’s most important man-made feature. Because of this simple and historic fact, the quality of the Boardwalk and the beach and buildings which engage it are central to the visitor’s holiday experience.

The collective images of the buildings that front the Boardwalk today, however, disappoints. While the existing buildings range from modest to great, not one appealing image lingers in the eye of the visitor of the early 21st century. The memory of great hotels demolished in the last several decades remains powerful while new construction fails to communicate an equivalent image.

The desire to re-invigorate the special role of the Boardwalk and to recapture a sense of the Boardwalk during its widely acknowledged deyday of the first decades of the 20th century has prompted the CRDA to develop Design Standards.

In the field work necessary to prepare these standards, it became apparent that the Boardwalk still retains important links to its past in the form of buildings and features worth preserving and rehabilitating. For this reason, the standards include a section on opportunities for preservation. While the bulk of original great hotels have been lost, significant resources remain that will allow Atlantic City to capitalize on its unique history and sense of place. Heritage tourism, widely recognized as a compelling force and marketing tool, should also play an important role in Atlantic City’s future.

PDF documents regarding the new Boardwalk Design Standards as well as the historical role and future potential of Beachside Architecture and Boardwalk signage is available for view and download below. The document is divided into four Adobe Acrobat Files.

1-boardwalk-guidelines.pdf

2-boardwalk-guidelines.pdf

3-boardwalk-guidelines.pdf

4-boardwalk-guidelines.pdf