Sunday, July 13, 2025

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If you love taking house tours for designer inspiration, you know the feeling of envy they can also inspire. That lovely chandelier, the one-of-kind sofa, the perfectly matched linens…if only they could be yours.
Well, at Cape May’s Designer Show House, they can be.
This year the Otis Townsend residence, at 115 Reading Ave. offers a glimpse at all the Craftsman style has to offer, and best of all virtually everything in the house can be yours—for a price.
And Anne Gibboni, the Show house/special event manager for Cape May’s Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts (MAC) says that many of the home’s unique design elements are a bargain—selling for less than you might expect to pay retail.
That’s what’s kept Show house enthusiasts coming back since the first house was opened to the public in 2005, Gibonni says.
“They know they can get a deal—somewhere between wholesale and re-tail,” she says, and there are price lists in each room to make the process more shopper-friendly. “If find a lamp that they like or a one-of-a-kind sofa, they can come back and purchase it in October.”
But you don’t necessarily have to delay gratification. A full-color program book with information about the home’s de-signers, products and vendors is in-cluded with admission; so serious shop-pers can arrange to get what they want sooner. And there’s plenty for window shoppers to enjoy as well.
This year’s Designer Show House, sponsored by South Jersey House & Home magazine, “stands Victorian opulence on its head,” according to MAC. The charming 1915 home, located one block from the Atlantic Ocean, was originally built for Ocean City carpenter, lumberyard owner, and developer Otis Townsend who sold the property almost immediately. Clarence LeMunyon, a noted area contractor from 1910 to 1925, was the major builder and foreman during the construction period in 1914. With its use of clean lines and natural materials, it represents Cape May’s most outstanding example of the Craftsman style.
David and Myra Kurkowski currently own the home and have contracted with local businessman Bill Saponaro, who owned the three previous Designer Show Houses, and builder Matthew Morgan to undertake a restoration of the exterior and a series of upgrades to the interior.
The renovations restored it to its original glory, while adding modern amenities. The region’s top designers and suppliers incorporated all the latest design elements from paint colors to fabrics, while keeping to the Craftsman-style design philosophy.
The house will be open Friday, June 27 through Sunday, Oct. 19 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. daily and 7 p.m. to 9 p.m. Sunday through Friday. Tours are self-guided. Proceeds benefit the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts (MAC), a non-profit organization dedicated to the preservation and interpretation of Cape May’s heritage.
For information, call 609-884-5404 or visit www.capemaymac.org.