Where the Poets Live

Lambertville’s Historic House Tour takes you inside the home of New Jer­sey’s poet laureate.

By: Ilene Dube
   As a child, Ann Marie Macari dreamed of living in a house with a tower. A year ago, that dream came true.
   Of course the poet, whose book, Ivory Cradle, was published by American Poetry Review last year, first had to live through a plaster dust nightmare. The porch of this Queen Ann structure had to be rebuilt, walls and staircases were moved, bathrooms torn out and put in, the kitchen was totally gutted, and even the hardwood floors had to be replaced. Ah, the joys of old house restoration.
   But, on a sunny day, with the light flooding into the spanking new black-and-white kitchen appointed with Zimbabwe black granite countertops, white marble back splashes, a six-burner/two-oven Viking stove, Sub-Zero refrigerator hidden behind white wood panels, farmhouse table and state-of-the-art toaster, it all seems worthwhile.
   Ticket holders for the Lambertville Historical Society Autumn House Tour Oct. 21 will get to view this as well as five other restored architectural gems.
   Bobby the tortoise maintains a constant hum of activity in the kitchen from his glass tank under the table. "He eats when we eat," says Ms. Macari. "When we’re sitting at the table we can hear him go crunch crunch crunch."
   Before moving to Lambertville, Ms. Macari, a native of Queens, N.Y., lived on a cul de sac in Mt. Kisco, N.Y., where she and her three sons couldn’t go anywhere without turning the key in the ignition. While working toward a master’s degree in writing at Sarah Lawrence College in Bronxville, N.Y., she took a class with her favorite poet, Gerald Stern. Soon, her love for the work of New Jersey’s poet laureate grew into a passion for the man, and so in 1998 the couple purchased a handyman special on York Street in Lambertville.
   "It had been neglected for 50 to 60 years and needed a tremendous amount of work," says Ms. Macari. "There were no closets, the kitchen was too small and there were leaks everywhere."
   Lucky for the literary couple, the passion for restoring old houses runs in the family. They hired David Stern, a Boston architect, who just happens to be Mr. Stern’s son.
   "I never lived in an old house before, so this was all new to me," says Ms. Macari. "Jerry had done a number of houses, so he took over as general contractor. He and David are both perfectionists." Indeed, every detail has been attended, right down to vintage brass doorknobs.
   It took about three years to complete the project. For one full year, a pair of carpenters were employed full time, replicating wood molding and trim from the older portions of the house into the new. They built in vintage bookcases and drawers and reproduced missing finials from the oak balustrade. Doric columns on the Colonial Revival style porch had to be replaced, and the porch’s floor was replaced with mahogany boards that fan out in the turret. With a coating of marine varnish, the floor glistens like fine furniture.
   In fact, everything about this old house glistens with newness, from the exterior brick, freshly painted a dusty mauve, to polished brass chandeliers, walls in soft shades of celadon and blue and trimmed in shiny white, to the reproduction schoolhouse lamps in the kitchen and a gleaming white farmer’s sink, big enough to fit two large turkeys.
   "I’m half Italian, and I cook a lot," said Ms. Macari, who is sometimes assisted with pasta creations by her middle son.
   One enters the house through glass and wood doors. To the right is the living room, filled with a baby grand Kawai and furniture Ms. Macari refers to as "mix and match." Some pieces came from each partner’s former residences, some from Lambertville’s antique stores. A few items are reproductions. The most interesting pieces were abandoned by friends and re-upholstered in fabrics fitting the re-created era.
   On one wall is a large portrait that captures Mr. Stern’s colorful personality, painted by his friend, Lambertville artist Paul Matthews.
   In a kitchen garden off the lilac bluestone terrace in the back of the house, Ms. Macari grows tomatoes, peppers, basil, rosemary, lavender and lemon balm, as well as blue delphinium, whose luscious blue blooms persisted on a sunny October day.
   Wisteria trails up the blue-gray steel posts to an arbor over the terrace. Looking into the house from the back, there are four large windows with 16 panes each, and then two more of these windows on either side. "We wanted it to look like a Victorian conservatory," says Ms. Macari.
   On the second floor, a master bedroom suite has been created from two rooms, joined by a sitting room with bookcases and a walk-in closet. There is a balcony off the bedroom, where the couple can absorb sunlight while reclining on twig furniture.
   In the white palace that is the master bath, tiny hexagonal tiles on the floor hark back to bathrooms of yore, and rectangular tiles on the wall pay homage to the New York City subway. Adjoining the bedroom is Ms. Macari’s book-lined study, with a Victorian loveseat in the bay formed by the turret. At noon, the horn from City Hall, just across the street, keeps even the hard-of-hearing on alert.
   Another room, soon to be Mr. Stern’s study, is filled with a leather Morris chair. For now, Mr. Stern works from a separate residence in Lambertville. "In the ideal relationship, there are two residences," Ms. Macari says. "Diego Rivera, the Mexican muralist, and his wife, Frida Kahlo, also a painter, had a torrid marriage. They lived in separate houses, side by side, joined by a bridge."
   For now, individual working spaces will do for the pair of poets. "Gerry and I are passionate about the same things, and I am fortunate to have this great poet I can turn to. He is incredibly supportive and a generous man."
   Completing the equation for a harmonious relationship is keeping the children on a separate level. The unfinished attic has been turned into bedrooms and a family room for Ms. Macari’s three sons, with sloping ceilings, blue-and-white checkerboard tiles in the bath, and another slice of the turret. These kids are living their mother’s dream.
   "Having a nice house turns you into a neurotic house cleaner," Ms. Macari says. "I’ve turned into my mother."
The Lambertville Historical Society Autumn Tour will take place Oct. 21, 11:30 a.m.-5 p.m. Tickets cost $12 in advance, $15 day of the tour, and are available at locations in Lambertville, New Hope, Pa., and Stockton. For information, call (609) 397-0770. On the Web: www.lambertvillehistoricalsociety.org