In what it considers a signature event, the Historical Society of Princeton’s November house tour “allows our organization to celebrate architecture and design in the homes of our supportive community.” The event runs from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. on Saturday, November 5.
Tickets are $50 and are available online or at Updike Farmstead, 354 Quaker Road. Docents will be stationed at each of the locations on the tour to share details about the history of the building.
In addition to the Eastridge Design Home at 342 Nassau Street, the house tour includes the following properties, with descriptions provided by the Historical Society:
505 Mercer Road: Part of the original, sprawling Moses Taylor Pyne estate, now Drumthwacket, this 1901 Neo-Tudor style house was home to George Weigel, proprietor of the Rockwood Dairy, the estate’s model dairy farm. Pyne spared no expense, even on his Milk Barn, which he covered from floor to ceiling with the famous arched tilework of Rafael Guastavino, who outfitted New York City subway stations and Ellis Island, among other landmarks. The house has been modernized and renovated by architect Glen Fries.
1 Haslet Avenue: Designed as a replica of the St. George Tucker house in Colonial Williamsburg, this Georgian-style home, with spectacular views of Springdale Golf Course and Princeton University’s Graduate College, encloses an interior packed with stunning contemporary art, American colonial furniture, and antique decorative arts. Katie Eastridge created the exuberant interiors.
82 Library Place: One the few homes in the United States designed and built by a U.S. president, this large Neo-Tudor style home was Woodrow Wilson’s residence for almost a decade in Princeton. Stunningly restored in a meticulous five-year renovation, this home includes a modern kitchen, a room-sized mural in the dining room, an historic sleeping porch, and period finishes such as plaster crown-molding and hand-cut window glass, among other stunning features.
150 Mercer Street: This 19th-century home sits in the precise location of the proposed, but never built, entrance to the Princeton University Graduate College. A witness to the rapid early 20th-century expansion of the university, this historic home boasts newly renovated modern interiors by Bogle Design, Leddy Interiors, and Superior Woodcraft, with a landscaped back patio by Legacy Landscapes, complete with koi pond.
