From The Archives

The exterior, of brick and wood shingles features many decorative wall plaques, and arched, eyebrow, round, and oval windows along with a polygonal tower with a weathervane on top. The exuberance of the ‘High Victorian Era’ is in evidence inside, throughout the home’s 34 rooms, including 15 bedrooms, and 10 baths, all in approximately 12,000 square feet of living space.

Victorian design meant expansive rooms with high ceilings, and amazing decoration throughout. In this home, typical room sizes for the libraries, living rooms and dining rooms are: 35’ x 25’, 25’ x 20’, 20’ x 20’, 27’ x 16’, with ceiling heights between 11’-25’ high. Bedrooms, too, are large. Some bedroom sizes are: 25’ x 14’, 21’ x 17’ and 19’ x 18’. In addition there are 11 splendid and unique fireplaces, all recently refurbished and in working condition.

On approximately 1.17 acres (137’ x 314’), the park-like property is surrounded with a wood fence for complete privacy. Two long circular driveways of crushed stone, one in front and one in back, bring you from the street to the door. Over 350 specimen trees, shrubs and ornamental perennial gardens grace the lawns. The 2 ponds, outdoor lighting and pergola were professionally designed by a landscape architect to blend seamlessly with the home’s heritage. The house has been featured on 15 house & garden tours.

A Victorian home, especially a Victorian mansion, always has a porch. This home has 2, one of which is screened in, plus a verandah and 3 patios made from slate, brick and cement. Behind the home there are 2 carriage houses with lofts, horses long gone, used as garages for 5 cars.

Improvements & Upgrades made to 531 West Eighth Street, Plainfield, NJ

House Exterior
• 85% of the red brick has been stained individually. This was to avoid the staining of the mortar.
• Weather Vane replaced with copper eagle that sits on top of Polygonal Tower roof
• 20’ x 20’ Wooden porch was added with solid wood columns and tongue and groove mahogany floor
• Owner’s apartment had new screened-in porch replaced with solid wood columns on both first and second floor
• Back exit to house had new entrance and steps replaced. Roof was extended to provide shelter from weather.
• Two new fire escapes were added to the house
• New entrance to the wing apartment included porch, steps and railing
• Main entrance to the house has new natural stone floor with natural stone border.
• All new railings and balusters on 20’ x 20’ center apartment roof and built a deck with more railings for tenants use.

Gardens
• 15 Trees removes
• Planted 350 Specimen trees, shrubs and ornamental perennial plants
• Added two ponds with Electrical outlets
• Added Belgian Block curbs to the side and front of the house
• Added 100 Natural Stones
• Installed Iron Entrance Gate to the front right side of the house
• Put in a Pergola in the back yard with a slate patio and custom made table for dining with Artist painting on it.
• Installed Round Red Brick Patio in the private garden
• Installed cement patio to the rear

Windows and Doors
• 140 windows in the house were re-glazed
• 27 replacement windows done in the past three years
• 3 Storm doors were replaced
• Installed two leaded glass entrance doors
• One solid mahogany door with leaded glass was replaced

Interiors Flooring
• 22 rooms had floors sanded and refinished with two sealers and three polyurethane coats
• 5 hallways and 3 staircases were refinished as above

Fireplaces
• 10 wood burning fireplace were refurbished and in working order
• 1 gas fireplace was replaced in 2009
• 6 fireplaces have new marble facings and hearths
• 5 fireplaces got new glass enclosed screens

Kitchens
• All kitchens were remodeled
• All new refrigerators and stoves during the last four years

Owner’s Apartment
• Kitchen remodeled 2008 with new cabinets, black galaxy granite floor and counter, new stove, refrigerator, electrical work, windows, wall, heating, and center island
• Breakfast room with new parquet floors & swinging butler’s door to dining room
• Dining Room with Carpathian Walnut wood paneling was stripped and refinished with original wood parquet floors. Two pocket doors leading to living room were refurbished.
• Anti Room Oak Wood paneling and trim was stripped and refinished. Tiffany tiles are in the fireplace front facing
• Living Room/Library with built-in cabinetry had all new glass put in and cabinets were restored. Mahogany paneled walls and trim was stripped and refinished.
• Door to screened-in porch was replace and porch was gutted and completely redone.

Hand Murals and Painting
• 5 Hand-painted bathroom murals
• 3 Artistically Painted Kitchen and Breakfast Room Ceilings
• 2 Artistically Painted Hallway Walls & Ceilings
• 6 Hand painted Wall Murals
• 7 Artistically Painted Rooms

Basement
• All bricks and stone foundation was re-mortared.
• Villeroy & Bosch porcelain tiles were put through the main basement floors.
• Porcelain tiles put in ½ the floor of the Townhouse basement floor
• All three boilers were replaced 4 years ago with Weil-McLain Natural Gas Furnaces
• Water heater replaced 4 years ago.
• All heating pipes were re-insulated
• Caretaker’s apartment was gutted and replaced

Overall
• All apartments in the house were completely restored including walls, floors, kitchens and bathrooms