This Gilded Age Mansion is now the Governors Residence in NJ
Drumthwacket Mansion and Gardens, Princeton New Jersey

In one property Drumthwacket embodies three important phases in the history of much of rural New Jersey; the modest farmstead of the eighteenth century; the suburban retreat of the man of new wealth in the early to mid-nineteenth century; and the great estate of the Gilded Age of the late nineteenth and early twentieth century.
The small Thomas Olden Cottage was built for a descendant of one of the earliest families to settle in the Princeton area, shortly after he inherited the property in 1757, on land that had been in possession of his family since 1696. While its detailing is modest, it reflects characteristics of the mid-Atlantic Georgian style typical of the area. It is unusual that its modest scale has been preserved without significant later additions or alterations. Such small houses must once have been common in the area, as evidenced in a petition of 1758 requesting a barracks at Princeton, which States, "...many of your Petitioners are poor, have small houses and numerous families, with not more than one room..." The petition was signed by two of Thomas Olden's brothers, although not by him. No other house of this scale has survived in the area without having been incorporated into a larger structure.
Thomas Olden's grandson, Charles Smith Olden, was born in Princeton in 1799, the son of a local merchant. In 1823 he was employed by the mercantile firm of Matthew Newkirk in Philadelphia. From there he went to New Orleans, where he was in business from 1826 to 1832, where he is said to have amassed a comfortable fortune. In 1832, having inherited a generous bequest, he returned to Princeton. On his return he purchased the ancestral 49 acres, gradually adding to it until his holdings amounted to over 599 acres. At first, he seems to have lived the life of a gentleman farmer, but gradually he became active in public affairs. From 1845 to 1869 he served as treasurer and as a trustee of the College of New Jersey, now Princeton University. A Republican, he served as State Senator from 1844 to 1850, and as Governor from 1869 to 1864. He was a judge of the Court of Errors and Appeals from 1868 to 1873, and Riparian Commissioner from 1869 to 1875.
Drumthwacket, as he built it, represented the height of style of the new wealth generated by westward and southward expansion after the Louisiana Purchase. This type of four-square Greek Revival mansion with colossal portico became archetypical in the South, but is very rare in New Jersey, where only a handful of examples other than Drumthwacket survive. Not only is the building an example of an unusual type for the State, but the quality of its detailing is extremely high. Even in the nineteenth century, its antiquarian appeal was recognized. One account of Gov. Olden's funeral included the following description: "It is an old baronial mansion of the style of fifty years ago, rambling and broad, with a great portico with heavy wooden pillars...the hall...(is) an immense one as modern houses go...".
Moses Taylor Pyne, who acquired Drumthwacket in 1893, was heir to a substantial family fortune. He attended the College of New Jersey, graduating in 1877, and married a descendant of Princeton's most prominent local family, Margaretta Stockton. His first interest in life was the welfare of the college. Elected to the Board of Trustees in 1885, he served on most of its important committees. In particular, as chairman of the Building Committee, he was one of the foremost advocates of the Collegiate Gothic style.
During the first twenty years of his ownership, Pyne devoted himself to the improvement of the property, under the supervision of architect Raleigh C. Gildersleeve and landscape architect Daniel W. Langton. The result was a lavish and somewhat eclectic product of the Gilded Age, with references to the American past, to English country houses, and to Italy. Gildersleeve's additions to the house were not particularly notable on the exterior, but the intention was evidently more to achieve harmony with the existing central block than to outshine it, and in this he succeeded. The interior of the Tudor Revival library is, however, an excellent interior space and a good example of the genre.
The gardens were considered notable in the early twentieth century and enough survives so that the contrast between the formal gardens close to the house and woodland and open fields beyond can still be enjoyed. In Pyne's day, the grounds were open for the quiet enjoyment of the public and evidently made a strong impression on at least one admirer. "Princeton, " wrote F Scott Fitzgerald, "is in the flat midlands of New Jersey, rising, a green Phoenix, out of the ugliest country in the world... around Princeton, shielding her, is a ring of silence...great estates with peacocks and deer parks ...". The plural is a literary exaggeration. Drumthwacket was the only estate in the vicinity to boast both peacocks and deer.
It has been restored for use as the Governors Mansion and is open for tours. For more information, you can visit the Drumthwacket estate web site.
Site Description
The property known as Drumthwacket consists of approximately nine acres, embracing formal gardens, wooded lawns, and two historic buildings.
The earlier of these, on the northwest edge of the property adjacent to Stockton Road, is known as Drumthwacket Lodge or the Thomas Olden Cottage. Probably built shortly after 1757, it is a one-and-a-half-story clapboarded house with a gable roof. Windows and doors are irregularly placed. Some original beaded siding remains in place on the south side of the house.
The western end of the house is the older portion of the structure. It rests on a deep basement with foundation walls and a chimney base of a rubble stone construction typical of the Princeton area in the eighteenth century. The plan of the first floor was originally of two rooms, sharing a single central chimney. The west room has subsequently been divided in two by a board partition. In both rooms most of the early woodwork; simple paneled chimney pieces, breast closets, chair rails, and cornices; remains intact. There is a fine corner cupboard in the more easterly room. A loft, not accessible from either room, extends above them.
To the east, a kitchen on a crawl space has been added to the house, probably at an early date. A stair rises here, to a second-floor room, against what was once the exterior wall of the house covered with beaded weatherboards. The most striking feature of the kitchen is the large fireplace with its stone back exposed on the exterior. The profile of a beehive oven is still visible, although the oven itself has been removed.
Behind the smaller house is the mansion known, like the entire property, as Drumthwacket. The building consists of a central block, constructed c. 1833-35, flanked by lower wings added between 1893 and c. 1919. The central portion is five bays wide and two-and-a-half stories high, covered by a low hip roof pierced on all four sides by paired dormers. The front and back are covered with flush hoard siding. The facade is very rich with a colossal colonnade in the delicate version of the Ionic order popularized by Minard Lafever. The doorway, with transom and sidelights is flanked by attached Ionic columns and enriched with leaf moldings and palmettes. There is a triple window above with elaborately carved moldings.
Although the exterior is largely intact, numerous alterations have been made to the interior of this part of the house. The hall remains the same in plan, with original doorways opening from it. The Colonial Revival stair with Palladian window on the landing and the paneled dado are, however, alterations of the late nineteenth century. The two rooms to the left of the hall were thrown together as one in the 1899s, at which time the original mantels were replaced with Colonial Revival examples. The partition was restored in the early 1950s. A fine Greek Revival frieze has survived both alterations.
The partition between the two rooms to the right of the hall was removed during the 1950s and flush contemporary-style mantels installed. Adamesque ceilings, presumably dating from the 1890s, and Greek Revival woodwork from the original building period around windows and doors remains intact.
On the second floor, the plan has been changed by the addition of bathrooms and corridors giving access to the wings. However, the two major rooms on either side of the hall retain simply detailed Greek Revival mantels, with shelves supported by columns, and the woodwork of the small room at the front of the hall is intact. There are several small rooms, presumably for servants, on the third floor.
The wings, two stories in height, with flat roofs marked by pierced balustrades, are recessed from the plane of the facade of the central block, except for the ends, which terminate in pavilions in the same plane. These are further marked with restrained pilasters and pediments.
The eastern wing is the earlier, containing a kitchen, pantries, servants' hall and offices on the first floor, and guest bedrooms with simple Colonial Revival detailing on the second.
The west wing contains the drawing room. To achieve height, its floor is three steps lower than the older part of the house. Originally this room was elaborately decorated with carved wood and plaster in elaborate Georgian Revival style. Much of the decoration was removed in the early 1950s by Mr. A. N. Spanel, who purchased the property during the Second World War. One section of the room has been partitioned off to serve as a small kitchen. Beyond the drawing room is the library, in Tudor Gothic style, with a carved stone fireplace and beamed oak ceiling, with the interstices between the beams filled with canvases painted with the marks of medieval artists. The bookcases are of oak. Sliding window shutters and doors are metal grained to imitate the woodwork, in an attempt at fireproofing. A door in the northwest corner leads to a small terrace, from which another door gives access to a one-story addition containing a study or den. This terminates in a semi-circular window, and is lined with wooden shelves and cabinets. Above the drawing room and library is a master suite with Colonial Revival detailing. It is entered through a small paneled rotunda, crowned by a stained glass dome.
Originally, of course, the grounds around Drumthwacket were farmland. In the 1834s, when the central part of the mansion was built, the ground in front of it was laid out in lawn, and several evergreen and deciduous trees were planted, which still stand. In 1905 a major landscaping project was undertaken, designed by Daniel W. Langton.
A landscaping plan was developed for the entire estate, including woodlands, farm, greenhouses, and cutting gardens. A stream was dammed to form several ponds adorned with rustic bridges. There was also a deer park, and the grounds were also stocked with sheep, peacocks, and imported black and white squirrels. Portions of this still survive, although the majority of the estate has been subdivided. Lanston's chief efforts were directed at the formal gardens at the rear of the mansion. From its stone terrace, shallow grass terraces descend to a formal garden, laid. out around what was thought to be a Renaissance Italian fountain, but is actually a late-nineteenth-century pastiche. The formal garden was surrounded by an Italianate balustrade of cement. The outlines of this garden are still visible, although it is badly overgrown, and weather and foliage have destroyed a great deal of the balustrade. From this level, a flight of steps descends to what was originally a grass tennis court and bowling green, the latter replaced in the 1950s by a swimming pool. Steps lead down to a still lower level, at which a small pool is surrounded by large trees and evergreens.







Main parterre looking west (1984)

Sycamore Allee looking west (1984)

East end main parterre (1984)

Looking south across main parterre (1984)

West section of main parterre (1984)
