The home on Main Street that once served as the Lawrence Municipal Building is now on sale for $715,000.
By: Lea Kahn
For sale: one municipal building, slightly used.
No, not the red brick building next to Rider University at 2207 Lawrenceville Road. The cedar shingle-sided house down the road apiece on Main Street in the village of Lawrenceville. The house is listed with the N.T. Callaway real estate firm in Princeton. The price: $715,000.
The two-story house at 2705 Main St. served as Lawrence Township’s first municipal building, from 1931 to 1944, and formerly belonged to the Scudder family, early settlers to the area, according to a sign placed in front of the house years ago by the Lawrence Township Historic and Aesthetic Commission.
William and Willa Stackpole purchased the former municipal building at 2705 Main St. in 1959 and sold it in 1964 when Mr. Stackpole’s job was transferred to New York State. The family returned to the area in the 1980s and jumped on the chance to buy it back. They reacquired the home in 1987 and have lived in it ever since.
"No one has knocked on my door (looking for Town Hall)," said Ms. Stackpole, who is downsizing and plans to move to another house in Lawrence. "We had some people named Scudder knock on the door, but that’s all. We really enjoyed living in this house so much that we bought it back."
The house became Lawrence Township’s first municipal building when it was acquired from The Lawrenceville School in 1931. The prep school bought the house from Emma Conover in 1925 and allowed her to live there until her death in 1929.
Ms. Conover ran a small store in the house and sold pies, cakes and pancakes to students at The Lawrenceville School, according to an entry about the house in "Old Lawrenceville," written by Donald Tyler. The book, published in 1965, records information about many historic houses in Lawrence.
Up until The Lawrenceville School turned the house over to Lawrence, the township had not had a municipal building. Since its beginnings in the Colonial era, the township’s governing body met annually at one of the local taverns or in a private home, according to a 1964 pamphlet written by township resident and former town historian Robert Immordino.
Mr. Immordino wrote the pamphlet in conjunction with township officials’ decision in 1964 to build the present Municipal Building at 2207 Lawrenceville Road. The pamphlet was one in a series about the township’s history that was written in celebration of New Jersey’s 300th anniversary in 1964.
For a brief period in the early 1900s, Lawrence Township rented the rear portion of a grocery store located at Harney’s Corner, Mr. Immordino wrote, which is the intersection of Princeton Pike and Lawrence Road.
The rented space served as the Police Department headquarters and Municipal Court. As they had done for years, the township clerk, tax collector, tax assessor and other officers kept their records and offices in their homes, he wrote.
In 1931, the township acquired the 3,375-square-foot house on Main Street. The township clerk, tax collector, Police Department and other offices moved into the house, Mr. Immordino wrote, and the Township Committee held its first meeting in the building that July.
"The (2705 Main St.) building served Lawrence Township until 1944, when the Committeemen decided that there were not enough storage and vault space for the township records," Mr. Immordino wrote. "(The records) were scattered in the various departments and many hazards were encountered in trying to conduct the township business in the present building."
In 1944, Lawrence Township bought a farmhouse and four4 acres of land at 2207 Lawrenceville Road for use as its Municipal Building, Mr. Immordino wrote. The first floor held offices for the township clerk, tax collector, welfare director and Police Department. As the township’s needs grew, the second floor of the house which had been rented out as apartments was converted into office space.
But the township government outgrew the house, and the Township Committee voted in 1964 to build a new municipal building, Mr. Immordino wrote. The new municipal building would be built behind the two-story house, which was to be demolished after the new building was completed, he wrote.
Additional land was purchased for the municipal campus, Mr. Immordino wrote. The Township Committee awarded a $511,303 construction contract to build the present one-story Municipal Building. The building, located on an expanded 10-acre campus, was completed in 1965.
"The completion of the new Municipal Building in 1965 will for the first time provide Lawrence Township with a structure specifically designed as a municipal building," Mr. Immordino wrote.
Mr. Immordino’s prediction held true until the 1970s, when the Township Committee approved an addition to the Municipal Building. The addition on the north side of the building added 13,000 square feet to the original 23,000-square-foot building, bringing it up to 36,000 square feet.
In 1999, Township Council approved the construction of a 42,000-square-foot Police Department and Municipal Court building. The building, which opened in 2001, cost $9.3 million. It is located across the north parking lot from the Municipal Building.
Then last year, Township Council awarded a $3.7 million contract to renovate the Municipal Building and also add 5,500 square feet to it. Work on that project is under way, and it is expected to be completed by mid-2007.

