Carpenter Cottage Designer Show House

The Carpenter Cottage at 511 Franklin St., former home of lighthouse keepers, blacksmiths, farmers, innkeepers, and even an upholstery manufacturer, will soon be the home of the 2009 Cape May Designer Show House, sponsored by the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts (MAC).
The location was originally one of two lots (including #513 next door) sold by the Corgie family to Aaron and Elizabeth Garretson in 1853 and the house was presumably built shortly thereafter.
Aaron Garretson was builder and owner of the National Hall Hotel, which opened in 1850 on the site of the current Post Office parking lot. He was also a co-owner of the “Ocean Wave” newspaper in the 1870s.
Names on the 10 succeeding deeds include some of Cape May’s most prominent early families, such as Whilldin, Cresse, and Hand.
From 1984 to 2000, the house was known as the William and Margaret Guest House, owned by Bill and Peg Madden.
Since 2000, it has been the cherished Cape May homestead of Susan C. Priester and her family, including her father, William Carpenter, who began visiting Cape May in 1926 and bringing his family to spend summers in 1964.
The style of the home, “Carpenter Gothic,” was popularized by the publication by Alexander Jackson Davis, Rural Residences and from detailed plans and elevations in publications by Andrew Jackson Downing.
Features of the Carpenter Gothic style found on the Carpenter Cottage include its steeply pitched roof and gable, and its fancy gingerbread brackets and railings.
The home, escaped harm in the city’s disastrous fires of 1869 and 1878, and was enlarged over the years to accommodate modern conveniences like bathrooms and a kitchen.
MAC contracted with the architectural firm, Holt Morgan Russell to survey the home and come up with the new proposed floor plan, which includes seven bedrooms, four full bathrooms and one half bathroom, as well as a more spacious layout on the first floor with a dinning room, a kitchen and a foyer opening into a living room.
MAC contracted with the Beach Boys LLC to carry forward renovations. There will be about 15 designers transforming around 2,500 square feet of space when the construction and renovations are completed.
Susan C. Priester of the Priester Foundation and daughter of William and the late Patricia Carpenter, continues her family’s tradition of supporting MAC, and has generously offered her family’s home for Cape May’s fifth annual Designer Show House.
This year’s Cape May Designer Show House will be open for daily self-guided tours from June 26 through Jan. 3.
Proceeds raised from the Cape May Designer Show House benefit the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts (MAC).
For more information about MAC’s year-round tours, festivals, special events and many volunteer opportunities, call 609-884-5404 or 800-275-4278, or visit MAC’s website at capemaymac.org.