Over 20 years of work to preserve the 1761 Brearley House have led up to this weekend’s gala celebration.
By: Lea Kahn
This is the second in a two-part series.
This weekend’s gala celebration of the restoration of the 1761 John Brearley House has been 21 years in the making — and the road that led to its restoration was nearly as circuitous as the dirt lane leading to the farmhouse off Princeton Pike.
The brick farmhouse was built in 1761 by John Brearley II and his son, James Brearley. The family was among the earliest settlers of Lawrence Township, arriving in the township in the 1690s. It was occupied by five generations of Brearley descendants, until it passed out of the family’s hands in 1918.
Lawrence Township acquired the Brearley House in 1978 with state Green Acres Program money. Plans for the restoration of the Georgian-style brick farmhouse, which is located on Meadow Lane off Princeton Pike, began almost immediately.
In 1979, a township-commissioned report recommended incorporating the Brearley House into a park or outdoor education center. The so-called Storch Associates report estimated the cost of restoring the Brearley House at $150,000 to $210,000.
But the restoration plans languished for seven years — until the late Mayor Carl Kreger appointed the Brearley Tract Advisory Committee in 1986. The seven-member committee was charged with determining the best use of the house.
Mayor Kreger wrote to the Landmark Advisory Committee — the forerunner of the township Historic Preservation Advisory Committee — to suggest that the house could become a museum and cultural center, or possibly a municipal building annex or outdoor education center.
The Brearley Tract Advisory Committee presented a 10-year plan to preserve and utilize the 18th-century farmhouse in early 1987. The plan suggested holding a supervised archeological dig at the house.
It also was suggested that Brearley House should be restored, and a barn installed on the property that would accommodate a public display area. A caretaker’s residence could be incorporated into the barn.
But little progress was made until 1989 when Township Council, concerned about the condition of the house, hired Short and Ford Architects of Princeton to study the house and make recommendations on its continued preservation.
The following year, Township Council applied for a 50/50 matching grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust. The council agreed to earmark $150,000 in the 1990 capital budget as its match. The restoration was estimated at $300,000.
Although the New Jersey Historic Trust rejected that application, township officials were undaunted and they reapplied to the New Jersey Historic Trust for a $480,000 matching grant in 1991. That application also was turned down.
While township officials were desperately seeking state funding for restoration work, the house was boarded up. The chimneys were repaired and a new roof was installed. A fence was installed around the property, after the pig farmer who lived there was moved off the property in 1989.
Pig farmer Clarence Seibert was living in the Brearley House when the township acquired it in 1978. Township officials moved Mr. Seibert out of the house and into a trailer that was brought to the site. He lived rent-free in exchange for looking after the security of the house, but he was asked to move because he was operating a pig farm without permission.
Although historic preservationists wanted the Brearley House restored in time for Lawrence Township’s tricentennial celebration in 1997, the restoration efforts lay dormant for several years after the township’s 1991 grant application was turned down.
As the 300th anniversary of the township’s founding drew closer, the move to restore the Brearley House also picked up steam. In 1995, Township Council was asked to apply to the New Jersey Historic Trust for a 50/50 matching grant — but the council voted 3-2 against it.
By 1995, the estimated tab for restoring the house had risen to $680,000. Township Council would have had to foot half of that bill, or $340,000. Township Councilman Rick Miller, who was mayor in 1995, suggested to the historic preservationists they should raise the money privately.
Picking up on then-Mayor Miller’s cue, Township Historian Winona Nash and the late Township Councilwoman and former Mayor Gretel Gatterdam approached the Lawrence Historical Society for help. The historical society took up the charge, and agreed to help raise money. The group set a goal of $100,000.
In 1996, Township Council told the Lawrence Historical Society that if the society could raise $175,000 by the end of the year, then it would allocate $175,000. The combined $350,000 would be enough to qualify for a 50/50 matching grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust, based on architects’ estimated restoration costs of $700,000.
Determined to meet Township Council’s challenge, the Lawrence Historical Society raised $185,629.62 from more than 300 donors, including individuals, families and businesses. The historical society turned over $175,000 to Lawrence Township.
Township Council allocated $175,000 to match the Lawrence Historical Society’s contribution. The council already had $60,000 in hand — $50,000 from the sale of the township-owned Biles-Monroe House on Lewisville Road, and a $10,000 donation from the Wechsler family for naming a road in honor of a family member.
Township Council applied for a $350,000 matching grant from the New Jersey Historic Trust in June 1997. Lawrence Township was awarded $361,643 in matching funds from the trust in December 1997.
In April 1999, Township Council awarded a $562,950 contract to Theodore H. Nickles Building Construction of Philadelphia for restoration of the Brearley House. The work began last spring, and it was completed earlier this year.
Township officials sought to restore the house to its original appearance. Most of the interior details were intact, except for some missing woodwork and cabinetry that was removed in the 1920s. The asphalt shingle roof was replaced with cedar shake shingles.
The floor plan had not been substantially altered over the years. The first floor consists of a center hall and four rooms flanking it, two on each side. There is a staircase to the second floor.
The second floor originally consisted of one large room and three smaller rooms. Over the years, a bathroom was carved out of the largest room and closets were added. The house has six fireplaces — one each in the first floor rooms and two on the second floor.
A new, one-and-a-half-story wing was built on the site of the demolished kitchen wing. It has a small kitchen and handicapped-accessible bathrooms on the first floor, and storage space in the half-story.
A caretaker’s apartment has been incorporated into the second floor of the main house. The apartment takes up two of the four rooms on the second floor. It includes a kitchen and bathroom.