Foster House Restoration Project Goes Public March 2

VILLAS – Councilman Thomas Conrad announced the start of the restoration process of the Judge Nathaniel Foster House (circa 1729) on Bayshore Road in Villas.
He said a public meeting will be held March 2 to explain the work to be done on the pink house near the Villas Firehouse.
“According to state rules, only contractors who are certified preservation and restoration experts can bid on the project. The public meeting will explain what that entails,” Conrad said.
When the Nathaniel Foster House faced private sale and demolition, in 2015, the Cape May County Historical Society sold the property to the county Open Space program, which then leased the property to Lower Township for preservation purposes.
According to the National Park Service website “The Judge Nathaniel Foster House, erected about 1727, is locally significant…as an example of a well-preserved heavy timber frame house built during the first period of construction (ca. 1690 to ca. 1730) and remodeled about 1826 in the Federal-style during the third period of construction (ca. 1780-90 to ca. 1845).
“The Foster House’s first-period characteristics included face-nailed interior flush board walls, face-nailed rabbeted siding, exposed framing members (corner posts, joists overhead, and girts), flared corner posts, and an oak frame made mostly of hewn timbers.
“A ca. 1826 remodeling in the Federal style retained some of the first-period features and introduced many third-period features-including joists that were still exposed but were wrapped with beaded-edge boards, plaster walls and plaster ceilings, and smaller, but still functional, heating and cooking fireplaces-all commonly found in Cape May County during the third construction period.
“The Foster House is also notable for its atypical floor plan consisting of a commodious side hall and parlor with a rear kitchen. This plan is seen in only two of the county’s 35 known first-period buildings.”
The house will be conserved with grant money ($235,000) from the county and state.
The house also received a $15,000 Garden State Historic Preservation Trust Fund Historic Site Management Grant in 2012, helping fund the preparation of a National Register nomination and conditions assessment.