Civic Club to Sell Historic Baker House

WILDWOOD – After more than 80 years, the Wildwood Civic Club has decided to sell its longtime clubhouse, which is also one of the island’s most historic buildings.  
The J. Thompson Baker House at 3008 Atlantic Ave. was home to Wildwood’s first mayor, and hosted dignitaries including future president Woodrow Wilson and artist Norman Rockwell.
With dwindling membership and expenses mounting to maintain the century-old house, the club just can’t afford to keep it, according to Valerie Trivelis, the club’s treasurer.
The organization was founded to serve the community, she said, not to look after a building.
“We don’t want to spend all of the money we raise on the upkeep of this house,” she said. “It’s beginning to show its age.”
A couple who have restored historic buildings in the past have an agreement of sale to buy the building, she said, to use it as a summer house. Part of the agreement of sale is that the building will be preserved.
“That was one of the conditions of the sale,” Trivelis said.
She pointed out that the building is on the National Register of Historic Places. “It’s not just an old house in Wildwood.”
Trivelis expects the sale to go to settlement in January. She declined to identify the buyers or to divulge the purchase price.
According to county records, the house is assessed at $614,700, and the asking price as listed online was $579,900.
The funds will go into a trust to further the mission of the Women’s Civic Club, she said, which includes scholarships for students in the Wildwoods and sponsoring community events.
Another “Friends” Lockout
While the Civic Club was not founded to look after the historic house, there is another local group that was.
Partners in Preservation began as the not-for-profit Friends of the J. Thomas Baker House, raising money for the renovation of the building.
Cathy Smith, president of Partners in Preservation, says her group has been locked out of the house by the Civic Club, comparing it to the ongoing dispute between the Friends of the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse and the city of North Wildwood.
“Does this sound familiar?” she asked.
According to Smith, part of the issue is that the Civic Club wanted her organization to turn over all of its funding to the club for the upkeep of the house. Smith said that money was raised for historic preservation, and could not be used for expenses like plumbing repair.
According to a written history Smith provided, the Civic Club always spent its money on its mission, so after the house was presented for inclusion in the National Registry of Historic Places, the Friends of the J. Thompson Baker House formed in 1997 as a separate entity for the “restoration and maintenance” of the house.
The group raised close to $300,000 for the restoration, including a $50,000 state grant. Most of that money went toward restoring the house in 1999.
Smith said her group has about $40,000 on hand, but added they could do little fundraising when they are locked out of the building. They’ve since expanded their mission to support historic preservation throughout the island, including the Hereford Inlet Lighthouse, the George F. Boyer Museum, the Turtle Gut Inlet Park and other sites.
But it seems as though there is no communication between the two organizations.
“We’re not on speaking terms,” Smith said.
Aging Gracefully
On a weekday morning in December, Trivelis was at the Baker house to meet members of the Wildwood Historical Society, who wanted to get some of the furniture for use at the George Boyer Museum on Pacific Avenue.
Built in 1904, the house includes a grand entrance foyer off the wide covered porch, with a grand dining area on one side and a parlor on the other.
A sweeping series of stained glass windows bring light into the center of the house.
There are six bedrooms, and servants’ quarters, with a servant staircase in the back of the house.
J. Thompson Baker and his brothers Philip and Latimer came to Five Mile Island as developers in the late 1800s and were important figures in local and state politics.
Each became the mayor of one of the communities, and J. Thompson Baker was the first mayor of Wildwood after it was incorporated, according to local histories.
His wife, Margaret and their daughters were active in the suffrage movement, and in the foundation of the Wildwood Civic Club. Years later, the club bought the house from the family, reportedly for $5,000.
The house was used for meetings and events, but Trivelis said those were different times. The club had two groups, an Evening Membership Department, and a daytime club, each with an active membership.
Today, while the club still meets at the house, the two divisions have combined, and still, membership is declining. She said the club has about 30 members.
Most of the furniture is out of the building, and while the house remains impressive, some cracks show. Literally. On the second floor landing, there are cracks in the curved plaster wall, and water damage shows on the ceiling.
Trivelis says that kind of maintenance clearly falls under the kinds of expenses the Partners in Preservation could help fund. Once the restoration is complete, buildings must be maintained to remain standing, she said.
But even if the two groups had reconciled, an influx of cash would have only delayed the inevitable, she indicated.
Upkeep of the building will continue to cost money, even before a major project like a new roof or foundation repair arises. The kind of historically-appropriate work a National Register building demands requires skilled, and expensive workers.
Since its formation, the Civic Club has helped look after women and children in the community and was involved in building the town’s first library and helped raise money for the county’s first hospital. In recent years, the club has put out an appeal for younger women to get involved to continue the mission. But Trivelis said community groups are in decline locally and nationally.
She said the money from the sale of the house would help the Civic Club continue its mission.
To contact Bill Barlow, email bbarlow@cmcherald.com.