Judge Benjamin P. Willis House - Mt. Holly Historic District - Mt. Holly, NJ
N 39° 59.938 W 074° 47.412
18S E 517908 N 4427663
This is one monster of a house with all kinds of projecting parts, interesting windows and lights and a touch of the Victorian to round things out.
Waymark Code: WMERN5
Location: New Jersey, United States
Date Posted: 07/02/2012
Views: 1
When the house was built in 1880, the Victorian craze in New Jersey was in full bloom and home owners were putting together lavish and complicated blue prints using all sorts of complicated schemes. Take one look at this house and you can see a wide array, a smorgasbord if you will, of architectural ideas. The home is not quite completely Victorian but it is darn close. Especially nice are the balustrades on the full porch and the projecting window boxes on multiple levels which are all gabled (resembles a pediment)
Naturally, a building this old and unique is also a contributing structure to the Mount Holly Historic District. In my never ending quest to document all things contributing, I visited the town library to retrieve the nomination form and narratives for the historic district. The reference desk rewarded me with a very old, crumbling NRHP packet from 1969. Despite what on-line sources would have you believe, there are actually 39 contributing structures and not 36.
From the Nomination Form:
37. JUDGE BENJAMIN P. WILLIS HOUSE ....1880 ....301 High Street
Two and one-half story central square house, central hall with two room depth; stone and brick foundation; common bond brick walls; inset arcaded windows with fan lights at the apex; gable windows 6/6; one bay entrance porch; chimneys with projecting quoins; slate gabled roof with box cornice and complete returns.
This historical marker can be found to the left of the porch, on a wall which juts out, just before the inset porch begins. Although the NRHP document lists the owner as Judge Willis, the marker has the house as belonging to Caroline Waln. The local DAR chapter has been responsible for selling and installing these markers since 1975. This one was installed in 1975. The sign is in decent shape considering its age. Other neighboring communities use the same markers to designate their historic buildings and/or contributing structures such as Pemberton, Moorestown & Mt. Laurel. The marker reads as follows:
HOUSE
OF
CAROLINE WALN
WIDOW OF RICHARD WALN
1880
Col. Thomas A. Reynolds Chapter - NSDAR
1975