Famous Houses of New Jersey

Emlen Physick Estate

• With its hundreds of restored Victorian buildings, the whole city of Cape May is designated a National Historic Landmark site. Perhaps its most famous building is the Emlen Physick Estate, an 18-room stick style mansion designed and built by renowned architect Francis Furness for bachelor and non-practicing physician Emlen Physick in 1879. Scheduled for demolition in the 1970s, the house is administered by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts and has been restored to its former glory. The paying public can tour the house museum that displays Victorian furniture, toys, clothing, original woodwork, fireplaces and 12 rooms furnished as they were when inhabited by Dr. Physick.

  Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts & Humanities
  Emlen Physick Estate
  1048 Washington St.
  P.O. Box 340
  Cape May, NJ 08204
  609-884-5404
  capemaymac.org/content/subpage_tours.aspx?id=110

Drumthwacket

• Drumthwacket is the official residence of the governor of New Jersey. Built in 1835 by Charles Olden, who served as governor during the Civil War, the home was constructed on land once owned by William Penn. Originally a two-story Greek Revival building with two rooms on either side of a center hall, the home was purchased by industrialist Moses Taylor Pyne in 1893 who added two large wings, a paneled library, greenhouses, bridle paths, a dairy farm and Italian gardens. Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, Drumthwacket now belongs to the State of New Jersey. The Drumthwacket Foundation acts as curator of the home and offers tours most Wednesdays.

  The Drumthwacket Foundation
  354 Stockton St.
  Princeton, NJ 08540
  609-683-0057
  drumthwacket.org/index.html

Wallace House

• Listed on the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places, the Wallace House was constructed in 1776 by fabric importer John Wallace and was the largest house built in the state during the Revolutionary War. Because the Georgian style mansion was a large house for its time, George Washington paid Wallace $1,000 to use it as headquarters for the winter of 1778 to 1779, while his troops camped nearby in Middlebush. Now owned by the State of New Jersey, the home is furnished with modest furniture and still retains some of its original woodwork. Tours are available Wednesdays through Sundays.

  Wallace House
  71 Somerset St.
  Somerville, NJ 08876
  908-725-1015
  njparksandforests.org/historic/olddutch-wallace/odwh-wallacehouse.htm