Cape May Historic District


The Cape May Historic District is an area of with over 600 buildings in the resort town of Cape May, Cape May County, New Jersey. The city claims to be America's first seaside resort and has numerous buildings in the Late Victorian style, including the Eclectic, Stick, and Shingle styles, as well as the later Bungalow style, many with gingerbread trim. According to National Park Service architectural historian Carolyn Pitts, "Cape May has one of the largest collections of late 19th century frame buildings left in the United States... that give it a homogeneous architectural character, a kind of textbook of vernacular American building."

Geography

The City of Cape May sits at the south end of Cape May Peninsula which divides the Atlantic Ocean from the Delaware Bay. Cape May Point, about two miles west of the City of Cape May, borders the Bay, while Cape May City borders the Ocean. Cape Island Creek, a tidal "creek" and marsh, originally divided the site of the city from the rest of Cape May, but its southern end has long been covered with landfill. The Cape May Canal, built in 1942, now divides both Cape May City and Cape May Point from the rest of the peninsula.

History of Cape May

Cape May was first discovered by Europeans by Henry Hudson on August 28, 1609. He landed on the shore of Delaware Bay a few miles north of Cape May Point before returning to the Atlantic Ocean.
Cornelius Mey explored the area further in 1621 for the Dutch West India Company and by May, 1630 Samuel Godyn and Samuel Blommaert bought land for the Dutch from Native Americans covering the southern four miles of the Cape.
In 1632 the Dutch established a fishing and whaling settlement in the area, but by 1638 colonists from New England had moved in. By the 1660s the English gained control and Daniel Coxe, a London Quaker, organized a government in 1687.
Early settlers worked in the lumber, shipbuilding, whaling, fishing and shellfish industries. A road along the coast built in 1796 helped establish the hamlet of Cape May.
The early emergence of Cape May as a summer resort was due to easy transport by water from Philadelphia to the Atlantic Ocean. Early Cape May vacationers were carried to the town on sloops from Philadelphia, and water transport was also easy from New York, Baltimore, Washington, D.C. and points south. Southerners later became a large proportion of summer vacationers. The resort business in Cape May began to thrive when regular steamboat traffic on the Delaware River began after the War of 1812, carrying passengers from Philadelphia and New Castle, Delaware. Commodore Stephen Decatur made his summer home at the Atlantic Hotel about this time. The predecessor of the Congress Hall Hotel was opened in 1816 by Thomas Hughes. It took its current name in 1828, when Hughes was elected to Congress. In 1830 a visitor wrote that
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Early visitors included Henry Clay in 1847, and possibly Abraham Lincoln in 1849. Serving Presidents who visited included Franklin Pierce, James Buchanan, Ulysses Grant, Chester Arthur, and Benjamin Harrison. Harrison made Congress Hall his Summer White House. From the 1850s through the 1880s up to 3,000 visitors arrived each day during the summer season. Newport, Rhode Island, Saratoga Springs, New York and Long Branch, New Jersey were the town's main rivals in the summer resort business, as Cape May's reputation rose and fell with the whims of fashion.
During the 1850s summer cottages were first built and the construction of large hotels continued. Thomas U. Walter, the Architect of the Capitol, designed an addition to the Columbia Hotel. The Mount Vernon Hotel, which was designed to be the largest hotel in the world burned down in 1856, however, before its completion. Competition from Atlantic City appeared in 1854 with the construction of the Camden and Atlantic Railroad. Cape May was not connected to Philadelphia by rail until the completion of the Cape May & Millville Railroad in the mid-1860s.
Architect Stephen Decatur Button began designing buildings in Cape May in 1863 when he remodeled and expanded the Columbia Hotel. During the next thirty years he designed over forty buildings in the town. His best known buildings there include the John McCreary House, Jackson's Clubhouse, the Stockton Cottages, the Windsor Hotel and the Atlantic Terrace Houses. Plans for the George Allen House are believed to have been taken from a pattern book by Samuel Sloan. Architect Frank Furness is believed to have designed the Emlen Physick Estate, but may have otherwise visited Cape May only as a vacationer. Otherwise most of the buildings were built and designed by local builders in the vernacular style, borrowing from older buildings, pattern books and fashionable architects alike.
Several fires destroyed portions of the town and the mostly wooden, frame-built houses. The fire of 1878 destroyed about half the town, but many buildings were quickly rebuilt. This fire gave a particular boost to Button's career, and many of the local builders appear to have copied Button's style at this time. These newer buildings were built with gingerbread trim, gables and turrets.
From about 1900-1920 larger bungalows and mansions were built, especially on Beach Avenue on the eastern end of town. Having lost its transportation advantage with the coming of the railroad and the automobile, Cape May fell out of fashion as a popular resort. Atlantic City became the popular New Jersey beach resort in the 1920s and in the 1950s and 1960s the automobile-oriented Wildwoods, just north of Cape May, became a strong competitor, with its own distinctive architecture.
The district was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1970, and then listed as a National Historic Landmark District in 1976. The NRHP nomination form does not include an inventory of the buildings in the district, but rather refers to about 20 buildings that were documented by drawings or photographs by the Historic American Buildings Survey. HABS now lists about 70 buildings in the district.
Architectural historians George E. Thomas and Carl Doebley list 100 significant buildings in their 1976 book Cape May, Queen of the Seaside Resorts: Its History and Architecture.

Selected contributing properties

in the district include the following. Construction dates may be approximate. T&D reference gives the reference number from George E. Thomas and Carl Doebley's book with Roman numerals indicating the more significant buildings, and Arabic numerals the less significant buildings. Both lists are ordered by approximate date of construction. HABS reference links to the building's page in the Historic American Buildings Survey at the Library of Congress.
NameImageAddressDateArchitectBuilderNotesT&D referenceHABS reference

1886UnknownWare and EldredgeIn the Mt. Vernon tract43

1863-64Plans from Samuel SloanHenry PhillippsAn elegant Italianate villa, called "one of the State's most impressive 19th-century seaside structures."
Arlington HotelGrant and North Streets
1878UnknownJoseph Q. WilliamsAlso known as Huntington House.25
Atlantic Terrace Houses
1891-92Stephen Decatur ButtonWilliam CassedySeven essentially identical balloon frame houses built on the site of the Atlantic Hotel. Three stories in height, with a one-story porch and a bay window with an ogee roof at the second story, they face an off-street courtyard.

1895Frank GugertUnknown53
Baltimore Hotel
1867 or laterUnknownUnknownIn 1896 the Episcopal church established The Girls' Friendly Society here.
Beirn's Cottage
1879Enos WilliamsEnos WilliamsAKA Avenue House.29

1911Frank SeeburgerUnknownGeorgian Revival style with two-story porches.

1881-82Enos WilliamsWilliams and CassidyCorner tower reflects the influence of the J. McCreary house.33
Cape Island Baptist Church
1916Ferdinand WittWinchester Bonham67
Cape Island Presbyterian Church
1853UnknownPeter HandWooden construction with an "onion-style" cupola. First of two churches built by the congregation.
Cape Island Presbyterian Church Hughes and Decatur
1898Isaac PurcellGeorge WestThird church built by the congregation and currently used by it.
Cape May City Firehouse1875noneEnos WilliamsAcross the street from the current fire station19
Cape May High SchoolWashington St.1917Henry VaughnWilliam PorterNow used as city hall68
Carroll Villa
1882
additions 1892 and 1895		UnknownCharles Shaw for George Hildreth.Eclectic Victorian style with Italianate motifs. Named for Charles Carroll to attract clientele from Maryland.
Chalfonte HotelNW corner of Howard and Sewell St.
1875, 1876, 1879, 1888, etc.UnknownC.Shaw, D.D. Moore & Sons, and othersOriginally built for Henry Sawyer. "Cape May's oldest and most ornate large hotel."
1888UnknownHand and WareShingled walls and gable and turned porch posts.44
Cold Spring Life Saving Station
1890UnknownUnknownNow Kiwanis Club47
Colonial Hotel
1894-95William and C.S. ChurchWilliam and C.S. ChurchSouth wing added 1905.
Congress Hall
1879J.F. MeyerRichard DobbinsThree-story veranda with mansard roof. Very large hotel visited by several presidents, including Benjamin Harrison who had offices here in 1891. Third hotel on the site. S.D. Button addition 1880.
Cook's Villa
1879UnknownWiliam L. CummingsSecond Empire style, with two-story porch with pierced tile trimming. Also known as Fryer's Cottage.28
Denizot's Ocean View HouseDecatur and Beach Avenues
1879UnknownUnknown27
Ebbitt House
1879Enos WilliamsEnos WilliamsAlso known as Virginia Cottage.30

1882-83Stephen Decatur ButtonJoseph StretchSimple proportions and horizontal form typical of Button.

1870-71Stephen Decatur ButtonHand and Ware13
First Baptist Church
1879C.H. BrownCharles ShawCongregation moved to Cape Island Baptist Church in 1916. This building became the Franklin Street United Methodist Church, and is now condominiums. One story built in the Gothic Revival style. The spire was destroyed by lightning in the early 20th century.

1910-11J.A. DempwaldOriginal cost $35,00058

1870UnknownR.J.DobbinsOwned, but not designed, by famous architect Frank Furness10

1882-83Charles ShawCharles ShawOriginally identical to the Hildreth Cottage.38
1888 or 1889UnknownUnknown45

1914UnknownOtis Townsend63

1912UnknownSherman SharpFirst and most expensive of 5 similar houses.60

1912Lloyd TitusUnknownEclectic style.

1881-82UnknownUnknownConservative, symmetrical, but rich design.37
1868UnknownUnknown
1916Dehmond, Ashmead, BickleySherman SharpBuilt on Cape May Real Estate Co. land after its liquidation.66

1879-80Enos WilliamsSamuel ColladayTypical Gothic Revival center-gabled cottage with elaborate porch.
Harrison, Warne and Morris Houses
1867-68Stephen Decatur ButtonHand and WareAll similar except that the Morris House has cast iron used on the porch.

1914Ferdinand WittYork BrothersSix bedrooms, 3 baths, 3 servant rooms and a garage with chauffeur's quarters.

1882-Charles ShawHexagonal porch reflects Button's influence.

1885UnknownFrancis Duke40
1910-11Frank SeeburgerMetzger and WellsInteresting double gable. Original cost $20,000.57
House at 10 Broadway
UnknownUnknown
House at 815 Kearney
UnknownUnknownShingle style.
House at 817 Kearney
UnknownUnknownShingle style.

1881, renovated in the 1890sUnknownGeorge Stretch1890s addition added plumbing and ornament.35
Jackson's Clubhouse
1872Stephen Decatur ButtonHand and WareOriginally a gambling club. "S.D. Button's finest surviving design in Cape May."
Columbia and Franklin
1899-1900UnknownYork Bros.Colonial Revival style, with some decorative millwork.52
1913-14UnknownSherman SharpSeveral features indicate a new "East Cape May" style.62

1882UnknownUnknownMoved from 225 Congress St. in 1970. Now known as the Pink House. "A tour de force in decorative millwork."

1882-83Stephen Decatur ButtonUnknownNearly identical to the Evans House next door.36

1879UnknownUnknownPermanent awning a recent addition.31
1895UnknownWare and EldredgeTiny cottage with complex front. Roseman Cottage on the right.51

1887Charles CollumUnknownQueen Anne style.

1870UnknownUnknownStone basement and porch with Doric columns added 1905.14
Kearney and Jefferson Streets
1875UnknownUnknownMoved from Ocean and Columbia Avenue around 190023
Macomber Hotel
1919 or laterUnknownUnknownReflects the "quiet middle-class resort of the 1920s."69
1868-72Peter McCollum Richard Souder A basic formula was used by developer Peter McCollum, usually with contractor Richard Souder. After one house was built and sold, another would be built nearby.

1882 or laterUnknownUnknownSophisticated form, possibly from a Philadelphia architect.39
1873Stephen Decatur ButtonWare and Eldridge18

1869-70Stephen Decatur ButtonRichard DobbinsAlso known as the Christian Science Society.

1922-1924Zantzinger, Borie, and Medary
attributed		W.L. Cummings
attributed		Known locally as the "Mae West house" due to its protruding porches.70

1888Charles ShawCharles Shaw46

1912Brochie and HastingsSherman Sharp & Co.Colonial Revival59

1865-66UnknownUnknown

1865-66UnknownUnknownConverted from a stable into a cottage.
New Jersey Trust and Safe Deposit
1895Thomas StephensSamuel WileySmall Renaissance Revival style first used as a bank, then as city hall, now as a store.
New York Avenue Development House1909-11C.E. Shermerhorn UnknownOne of 21 originally identical houses, all modified in 1916.56
1895UnknownGeorge Ogden Ogden was a lumberyard operator and contractor. He may have sold the "standard gingerbread" elements from his lumberyard.48
1896 or laterUnknownUnknownSimilar in design to Aaron Roseman Cottage49

1878-79Frank Furness Charles ShawVery similar to Furness's William Rhawn House in Philadelphia.
Potts Cottage
1881UnknownUnknownTiny cottage with an elaborately infilled gable.32

1914-15UnknownRussell RobinsonOne of 6 adjoining houses, all built on speculation.64

1895-96UnknownWalter PetermanSimilar in construction to Parker Cottage.50
St. John's Episcopal ChurchWashington and Franklin St.
1867-68Henry SimsRichard SouderOriginal stained glass windows by I.C. Spence of Montreal.
St. Mary's Catholic ChurchWashington and Ocean Streets
1911George LovettWilliam McShaneNorman revival. Ceiling decorated with stars.

1860UnknownUnknown2 story octagon house with Italianate details.20

1870UnknownR.J. DobbinsBuilt or sponsored by the West Jersey Railroad.11

1912Zantzinger, Borie & MedaryWilliam Cummings

1906-07Lloyd TitusWilliam CummingsFirst owner also was president of Cape May Real Estate Company.

1870UnknownUnknown

1877UnknownUnknownAlso known as Dolores Cottage.24
1885 or earlierUnknownUnknownIn the Mt. Vernon tract. Developed by Mark Devine. Porch added later.42
Star Villa
1884-85 and later additionsCollins and AutenreichWare and EldridgeFourth floor built 1893 above the mansard roof.

1906R.E. WhiteMetzgers and White55
1851UnknownUnknown
1869-70UnknownHoffman and Williams
Stockton Cottages
1872Stephen Decatur ButtonHarden and Bro.Lavish exteriors, simple interiors. All very similar except for larger porches on 26-30.
1872-73Stephen Decatur ButtonJoseph Q. Williams16

1872-73Stephen Decatur ButtonHand and WareAlso known as Stockton Manor17

1915UnknownUnknownOn long narrow lot. Built by carpenter-developer Townsend.65
1913-14Duhring, Okie, and ZieglerThompson, Dickson, & Co.Colonial Revival61

1870UnknownUnknownModernized in 1898 by McCollin and Fast.12

1876UnknownUnknown22
1868 or laterUnknownProbably J. S. Ware

1876Enos WilliamsEnos Williams21
Trenton Avenue near Beach
1881-82 UnknownWare and Eldredge Moved from Washington and Franklin to Ocean and Beach avenues, then to Reading Avenue.34
1885UnknownUnknown41
1901UnknownWilliam L. Cummings54
Windsor HotelBeach Drive between Congress and Windsor
1879Stephen Decatur ButtonHoover and HughesBuilt immediately after 1878 fire. The fourth floor and elevator were added in 1899.