House tour shows ‘extreme’ changes

Lawrenceville Main Street, a civic group that promotes the historic village of Lawrenceville, will hold its semi-annual house tour on May 6.

By:Lea Kahn Staff Writer
   When Laura Jemison bought a 1950s Cape Cod-style house on Manning Lane in 2003, the house suffered from what its new owner described as an identity crisis.
   On the exterior, the house was a traditional Cape Cod. It appeared to be a one-story house from the front, but as is typical of that architectural style, there was a second story accented by dormer windows on the rear of the house.
   But inside the house, the décor was 1950s modern, Ms. Jemison said. The living room featured a fireplace surrounded by a black marble slab, which gave it a contemporary look. In the living room and den, there were large plate-glass windows in aluminum frames.
   "The house wasn’t happy," she said. "It was crying out for help. It was a contemporary house trapped in a Cape Cod facade. I was brushing my teeth in the bathroom one day and the pipe burst. The bathtub broke, the hot water heater broke and the heating elements on the electric stove caught fire."
   Over the past three years, Ms. Jemison undertook a renovation of the house and gave it a more traditional feel — albeit a "European cottage" feel marked by dark baseboards and floors, wrought-iron light fixtures and a welcoming courtyard entrance.
   Ms. Jemison’s house is one of seven houses that will be featured on Lawrenceville Main Street’s semi-annual house tour, set for May 6. The houses will be open from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m.
   Lawrenceville Main Street is a volunteer-driven nonprofit civic organization whose mission is to preserve and celebrate the historic village of Lawrenceville.
   The theme of the house tour, which is a fundraiser for Lawrenceville Main Street, is "Extreme Makeovers." All of the houses have undergone major architectural or interior design modifications.
   Ms. Jemison, with the help of local architect Michael David Nelson, redesigned the interior of the house. Several walls were removed and rooms were enlarged. The contemporary-style picture windows were replaced with traditional divided-pane windows.
   Ms. Jemison, who is an artist, expanded the two-car garage and created an artist’s loft on the second floor above the garage. Two skylights in the ceiling provide ample light, which every artist craves.
   Capitalizing on her artistic background, Ms. Jemison painted the hardwood floor in the first-floor powder room to resemble limestone. Over top of the bookcases in the den, she added a trompe l’oeil effect with painted bookshelves and books because there was not enough room to add another bookshelf.
   Five of the six other houses on the tour have been updated through expansions or interior renovations. The sixth house — the historic Inn at Glencairn — also was made over, from a private home into a bed-and-breakfast.
   Over on Green Avenue, Stowe and Margaret Tattersall fell in love with a traditional, four-bedroom house built in the 1920s. Four years ago, the Tattersall family added a wing to the back of the house with the help of architect Ronica Bregenzer of Princeton.
   The Green Avenue house is a perfect showcase for the Tattersall family’s fine furnishings and family portraits. There is an early 1800s gold-framed mirror and antique clock in the front hall, and the wall on second-floor staircase is lined with pre-World War I Japanese watercolors.
   An antique cherry desk and a Windsor chair highlight the den. There is also a set of Chippendale dining room chairs with needlepoint covers made by Ms. Tattersall’s grandmother.
   Up the Green Avenue, Brett Danko and Dawn D’Orlando expanded their 1930s Cotswold cottage upon the arrival of two young family members. The cozy, storybook house could not accommodate the growing family.
   With the help of local designer Leslie Campbell, the couple moved the kitchen from the front of the house to the new addition at the rear of the house. The addition contains a family room, a guest bedroom and bath, a home office and master bathroom.
   A few doors away on Green Avenue, Finnish-born artist Marja-Liisa Oksanen took a more restrained approach to renovating the house, which had been in the Pfitzinger family for several generations until she purchased it. The house was built in 1941.
   Ms. Oksanen painted the walls in warm colors, exposed the hardwood floors, converted the screened porch into an artist’s studio and created a faux-tile floor in the kitchen. The house is furnished with a mix of antique Canadian furniture and American and English pewter.
   Another artist, Fay Sciarra, also has opened the doors to her home at on Titus Avenue for the house tour.
   Ms. Sciarra’s house is a cottage-style house that was built in the 1930s. It features exterior stucco walls that have been painted a warm salmon color. Inside, the walls have been painted in deep colors. The floors are covered with Oriental rugs.
   After using her master bedroom as a workspace, Ms. Sciarra decided to build a studio with the help of Princeton architect Ron Berlin. Visitors climb a flight of stairs with a railing made of long, thin birch. Stained glass windows let in abundant light.
   On Main Street, Peter and Joan Seitchik now live in a 1950s ranch house that had been owned by Donald H. Tyler, the author of "Old Lawrenceville, Early Houses and People." Ms. Seitchik also is an artist who is known professionally as Joan Shepherd.
   The Seitchiks’ house on Main Street features an addition at the rear, which includes a garage, a great room and a second-floor bedroom. They moved to the Main Street house from a small apartment in historic Guernsey Hall in Princeton Borough, adjacent to Marquand Park.
   The Seitchiks’ new home offers more space for the couple to display their collection of Canton china, Henry Chapman Mercer ceramic tiles and antique toys.
   The oldest house on the tour is the historic Inn at Glencairn at 3301 Lawrenceville Road, north of the village of Lawrenceville. The house, which was built in 1736, is currently a bed-and-breakfast owned by Janet and Michael Pressel.
   The Pressels bought the house in 1999 and, with the help of Princeton architect Jerry Ford, converted it into a bed-and-breakfast. They preserved as much as possible, such as the random-width pumpkin pine floors and the original 11-foot-wide cooking fireplace.
   Lawrenceville Main Street presents house tours every two years. Tickets for this year’s tour are $20 in advance and $25 at the door.
   Tickets are available at several businesses in the village of Lawrenceville — the Village Bakery at 2 Gordon Ave., Chambers Walk Cafe and Catering at 2667 Main St., Sun National Bank at 2673 Main St. and PNC Bank at 2431 Main St.
   Tickets also may be purchased at Bassett Furniture at 2470 Brunswick Pike, which is sponsoring the event, and at Terhune Orchards at 339 Cold Soil Road.
   To request tickets by mail, send a check made payable to Lawrenceville Main Street to the Lawrenceville Main Street Office, House Tour Tickets, 17 Phillips Ave., Lawrenceville, NJ 08648.