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In March of 1984, the central area of Mendham - the Mendham Historic District, was nominated to and accepted by the National Register of Historic Places which is identified on the accompanying map . The following represents a portion of the application submission : The Mendham Historic District consists of 140 properties, generally well preserved, that illustrate the history of the village from its eighteenth century founding through its 1906 incorporation as a borough, and into the first third of this century when infill building completed development within the historic bounds of the village. The District covers the central crossroads of the village, and extends as far as the area nineteenth century post office. The conjunction of religious, residential, and commercial buildings that have established Mendham1 s village character are well preserved today. Mendham was established in 1906, incorporating for the purpose of establishing a municipal water system. Mendham is located in the southwestern portion of Morris County, New Jersey, and it has common boundaries with Mendham Township on the east, north, and west, and with Bemardsville Borough in Somerset County to the south. The rolling hills characteristics of the Borough give rise to two of New Jersey's major rivers- the North Branch of the Raritan River and the Passaic River. The Passaic actually begins within the bounds of the historic district, and this small rivulet carries important historical associations as a major reference point for early maps. The areas of Mendham' s Historic District covers fairiy level land, and stretches along Route 24, known in Mendham as Main Street. This east-west roadway is well over 200 years old, and has been called the Washington Turnpike, the Mendham-Morristown Road, and the William Penn Highway at various times in its history. The north-south intersection which divides Route 24 into East Main Street and West Main Street is a very early roadway as well. South of Main Street, it is known as Hilltop Road, and it leads to the Hilltop Presbyterian Church, and thence on to Somerset County. North of Main Street, the road is called Mountain Avenue, and it heads toward a ridge roughly paralleling Route 24.sometimes called "Mendham Mountain", The district also includes two other streets, laid out in the early nineteenth century: Prospect Street (formerly Seminary Street) and New Street. Not till after the incorporation of the Borough in 1906 were more roads added in Mendham. These later streets with their later development are not included in the district. Mendham is predominantly residential, with little commercial activity and no industrial development. The houses are nearly all single family, two stories tall, set back from the street so that a modest front yard is part of the character of the area. The streets are shaded and the regular spacing of the oaks and elms add to the character of the main street, A number of older fences of wrought and cast iron, or low stone walls define properties within the district. Wooden fences are generally of more recent construction, but continue an appropriate tradition in the village. Most houses are frame, some with their original clapboard or shingle siding. Many have had aluminum or vinyl siding put on in recent years. Two of the "key" structures in the Mendham Historic District are brick, the Hilltop Manse (85) and the Phoenix House (112), There are no stone masonry buildings in the district, although west of the historic district in the Borough of Mendham stands the fieldstone Georgian-vernacular David Thompson House, recorded by H.A.B.S. and individually listed on the National Register. Traditionally, agriculture was the mainstay of Mendham's economy, and the landscape was one of cultivated fields. Turn-of-the-century photographs show views across the hills which are impossible now, due to the growth of trees and hedges, and the sprouting of housing developments. The orchards associated with Mendham's nineteenth century "cash crop" of apple jack are still in evidence, though neglected and gnarled with age. Because of the close associations of these landscape features with Mendham's character and history.it is fortunate that an orchard can be conveniently included on the historic district. This is located on the property of a contemporary home on New Street (124). Another fragmentary orchard and undeveloped open field survive on East Main Street (property F). This provides a visual break in the nearly continuous development along Main Street, and appropriately sets "Jersey cottage", although all have been altered to a greater or lesser extent. They all have also been added to so that the original "cottage" is now but a wing of a larger house. While not exactly in the "East Jersey cottage" type, two tiny houses in the Mendham district are in the spirit of the early vernacular architecture. The house at 48 East Main Street (53) was moved here from a location east of the village. Its irregular fenestration, tiny six-over-six sash windows, and large end chimneys point to an early construction date. The Christopher House (118), though dating to the mid-nineteenth century, is a simple frame house, barely two stories tall, with gable roof and fieldstone foundation. It is a simple workman's cottage, and it remains in good repair. It represents the size, and character of the humble dwellings of the village, before most were enlarged in modern times. A variation of the basic "East Jersey cottage" is the full Cape Cod house, one and a half stories tall with a center door and five bays. This house type is found througaout Mendham Borough and Township, but only one is located within Mendham's historic district. The Woodruff House (59) is a good example of its type. Although its low roofline and relatively small windows are characteristics of an eighteenth century date, its orientation to the road, (built in 1806) may mean an early nineteenth century construction. A number of vernacular building "types" can be identified in Mendham. With the persistence of traditional building practices in this rural area, building form is really no clue to its construction date. In the absence of documentation, most of these buildings may be assigned to the first half of the nineteenth century, when growth in Mendham's economy would reasonably have spurred their construction. One of the best known vernacular building types is the two and a half story, five bay house, with gable roof and central door. Suggested origins for this type include the high-style Georgian, but the longevity and popularity of the form indicate that it successfully fulfilled the housing needs of generations well beyond the Georgians. Two adjacent houses on Prospect Street (93 and 94) are good examples of this style, although 6 Prospect Street (93), has had Victocian-era additions to the rear. Both these houses are frame, covered with clapboard. The Conklin (House 44) on East Main Street is also a "Georgian" vernacular. Its shallow pitch roof, front porch, and two-ovar-two sash windows suggest a construction date well into the 1800's. The Henry Babbitt House (68) is a shingle-sided version of the five bay, two and a half story house. It has a porch across the facade, but otherwise, no ornament or stylistic features. The building now containing a pizza shop (78) was in the nineteenth century the Marsh residence. Over the years, the facade porch was extended and enclosed for commercial use, but behind that is also a frame, Georgian vernacular building. The Eliza Thompson House (87) achieved the form of a Georgian vernacular house after an eighteenth century cottage was moved to the site and enlarged so that the former side hall became a center hall, and the full second story added. An interesting Mendham variation of the Georgian vernacular house is the house with three bays on the second floor, symmetrically arranged over five bays, including central door, on the first floor. All of this local type are frame, and all seem to be the planned result of a single building program, not the accidental result of later alterations. Similar "3 over 5" houses are found nearly across the street from each other on East Main Street (73 and 39). A house on West Main Street (9) , includes this unusual fenestration with Victorian touches of a cross gable and a front door with inset colored glass. The DeGroot House (96) has five full windows downstairs, with, three eyebrow windows above. The saltboxes at 25 East Main Street (71) and 14 East Main Street (38) also had this window configuration although a recent renovation at 14 East Main Street removed two of the first floor windows and gave the building a standard three bay facade. One other saltbox house is within Mendham's historic district (57). It has a more conventional three-bay facade with side hall plan, and two eyebrow windows inserted in the fascia mark the low second floor under the eaves. The wolfe House (109) on Hilltop Road was recorded by The Historic American Buildings Survey in the 1930's. Although the exterior has been altered for commercial use, the basic form of the building is five bays, two and a half stories, with central door. The Wolfe house has a gambrel roof, and because of its Federal style detailing of fireplaces, was dated 1815 by H.A.B.S. A gambrel roof seems to be a good indicator of Federal period construction in Mendham. There are eight buildings (including the Wolfe House) in the historic district which are dated to the early 1800's, and all have gambrel roofs. The Black Horse Inn (21), started by Ebenezer Byram in the 1740's, was extensively remodeled in the early nineteenth century. The resultant building is two and a half stories tall, clapboard-sided with gambrel roof. A porch runs the length of the six bay facade on both first and second floors. The paired front doors - one leading to the hotel, the other directly into the bar - were a characteristic of early inns. Unfortunately, in the autumn of 1983, the taproom door was removed, and the first floor porch enclosed. Two other buildings in Mendham, the Phoenix House (112), and the Hilltop Church manse (85) share gambrel roofs and a Federal-era construction date. The Phoenix House was built before 1820, and H.A.B.S. documentation-suggests a date of 1801-05. The two and a half-story brick building was laid in Flemish bond. The central door of the five bay facade is topped by a lovely fanlight. The interior trim is high-quality Federal period work, with the elliptical gougework patterns characteristic of northern New Jersey featured on fireplace mantles. The exterior two story porch of the Phoenix House was added about 1830 by local builder Aaron Hudson, in a successful combination of Greek and Gothic Revival motifs. The Hilltop Church manse (85) was built in 1832, and enlarged and improved at various times in the nineteenth century. The main house, a two and a half story brick building, three bays wide , with side hall plan, has a gambrel roof and end chimneys quite similar in appearance to the Phoenix House. The fact that they are the only two nineteenth century masonry structures in the district invites connection, but none can be found. Although late in date for the appellation "Federal Period" , the exterior proportions and interior woodwork are clearly in this mode. The form of the manse, (two and a half story gambrel roof, three bay, side hall plan) is found in the house now St. Joseph's Convent (114), in St. Mark's Rectory (77) , the Guerin House (56), and the Campbe11-Day House (7). All of these are frame buildings, the Rectory and Campbell-Day house being finished in wooden shingles, the Guerin House in clapboard, and the Convent in artificial shingles. Federal-period detailing is evident on all of these houses, and they are the best preserved, as a group, of any of Mendham's buildings. The two story, three bay, side hall plan house with a gable roof was also a very popular traditional building form in Mendham. Two of the oldest examples of this type may be the Jane Smith Store (108) and the present store/residence at 13 East Main Street (76), Both have been assigned eighteenth century dates by local historians, although subsequent additions and alterations for commercial use have made verification of that based on physical evidence difficult. The present municipal office building -The Bowers Building (113) and the "Doctor's House" (104) (so-called because it was occupied by the local physicians from 1850-1908) are also of the same building type, and both are documented to ca. 1800. The district's only double house (41) dates to 1852, and was made by putting two three bay houses side by side. Other nineteenth century buildings in the district which can be characterized as of this vernacular type are the Whitlock-Hosey House (139), and houses at 18 East Main Street (40), 23 East Main Stree*: (72), 13 Hilltop Road (105), 9 West Main Street. (18), 11 Prospect Street (99), 5 Prospect Street (102), and the very small houses at 47 and 49 East Main Street (61 and 62). The core of the extended frame building on the southeast corner of Main and Hilltop (79) was also the same two and a half story, three bay, gable-roofed frame structure. One story additions to each side, enclosing former porches, and a two story "ell" at the rear now make room for five stores within the building. It has apparently always housed stores of some kind, and in the nineteenth century, it housed Mendham's post office as well. One unusual house in the village which does not fit into any of the common "types" is the Fairchild-Rankin House (91). The house dates to about 1800, and its interior fireplaces are as finely carved as those in the Phoenix House. The Fairchild-Rankin House is square shaped, with pyramidal roof, and two massive central chimneys. The frame, clapboarded house has three bays on each side, save the south, which has four bays, the two central ones being "Dutch" doors. The aouse is handsomely proportioned, and many details evidence its age, but the builder and his sources are a mystery. Mendhamites were introduced to the "revival" styles of the mid-nineteenth century by one of their own sons. Aaron D. Hudson, born in 1801 in Mendham, became a builder, and his work clearly shows he had access to pattern books of the Greek Revival and Gothic Revival styles. He carefully grafted elements of these styles onto the familiar, traditional house types of Mendham, although in a few cases, he broke with tradition and built an entirely "new" house for a client. As mentioned before, it was Hudson who designed and built the two story porch of the Phoenix House, supporting it on giant pillars, and linking each bay with Gothic-derived arches in the gallery railing and as delicate tracery above. Hudson's own house (106), built ca. 1840, bears some relationship to the frontispiece design in Minard Lafever's The Modern Builder's Guide. In this house and others by Hudson, one characteristic is the transformation of columns into pillars for ease of execution. Hudson may also be identified as the builder of the Nicholas House (122). 'It is square in plan, with a raised basement and formal, 9' tall first floor, while the bedrooms on the third floor are squashed beneath the low hipped roof, and lighted only by eyebrow windows. This house is also dated ca. 1840. A less daring, and probably more successful house for living in, is the house at 33 West Main Street (8). Basically a two story, side hall plan house, all the detailing is inspired by the Greek-revival. A flat-roofed porch supported by capped pillars wraps about the house, and wooden pilasters mark the corners of the clapboard house. The front entry with transom and side lights has the eight paneled door characteristic of "he Greek revival. A taste for Greek revival also came into play in the remodelling of the Carlisle House (29) . Originally an "East Jersey cottage" type, the house was updated in the nineteenth century with Greek moldings and fireplace, a porch around the first floor, and eyebrow windows added under the eaves. The house was remodeled again in the 1940's, and the second floor was rebuilt, the entry repositioned, and part of the porch removed. Adding eyebrow windows was apparently a fashionable way to update a traditional house, for just up Mountain Avenue from the Carlisle House, the Cramer House; (26) also received such a treatment. Part of the Cramer House is an "East Jersey cottage" moved to the site and added to, forming the present house in about 1840. The house is devoid of virtually any stylistic detailing except the eyebrow windows on the facade. Hudson also worked in the Gothic Revival style. The present house of worship of the Hilltop Presbyterian Church (86) was built in 1860 by Aaron Hudson. The original 1745 meetinghouse on the site was torn down in 186l. The new one built on its site was struck by lightning and burned to the ground in 1853. No sooner had a new one been put up, but it burned again, in 1859. It is likely that the memory of the earlier nineteenth century churches is recalled in the present structures, for its lines and particularly the steeple are in the Gibbs tradition rather than anything contemporary for 1860. But there is a touch of the Gothic revival in the mouldings over the doors on the facade. Hilltop Church's tall, multi-paned windcws on the sides of the church are enhanced by the three vertical stacks of shutters on each side of the window. The church is frame, with narrow clapboard siding, but well grounded with lightning rods. The church has been renovated by prominent architectural firms. In about 1900, the windows were repaired and other minor work done by Carrere and Hastings. (Mr, Hastings' father had been pastor of the church in the 1850's). In 1913, George B.Post supervised the installation of electric lights and steam heat at the church. Aaron Hudson went into a full-blown carpenter-Gothic for St. Joseph's Church (114) which he probably thought more appropriate for a Catholic congregation. It was built at the same time as Hilltop Church. The little frame building has a large steeply pitched gable roof, small (wooden) buttresses and pointed arch openings. The interior retains only a portion of its original polychromed wall decoration. The original narrow clapboard is now unfortunately covered with wide aluminum siding. In 1962, a school was built to the west side of the church. The contemporary design of the school is nondescript enough, and low enough in scale so that the church continues to dominate the scene. St. Mark's Church (77), built in 1872, is more in the mainstream of carpenter Gothic architecture. Its construction may have been supervised by Aaron Hudson (who would have been an old man of 71 at the time), but the design of the church was adapted from Richard UpJohn's plan for Grace Episcopal Church in Jersey City now demolished). St. Mark's has board-and-battan siding, a steep gable roof with tiny triangular dormers, and a small, boxy cupola rather than a steeple over the front entry. St. Mark's, like St. Joseph's, has a modern addition connecting the church and the parish hall. The secular counterpart to the Gothic revival may be found in two Downing-inspired cottages. The Woodhouse residence (10), ca. 1850, retains its original board and batten siding, casement windows on the second floor, and a bay window on the first floor. Its low-pitched roof runs the length of the three bay, central-door house, without any picturesque gables or breaks. The Wilder House (81) dates to 1876 and though later, is considerably less accomplished. The gable roof is broken on the facade by the pedimented dormers above the second floor windows, but otherwise, the clapboard siding, facade porch, and central entry are like other vernacular structures. The exposed stove "back" of the fireplace indicates that the house may be older, and 1876 only the date of a remodeling to the romantic taste. Gothic-inspired hood mouldings over all the windows unify the various sections of the Dr. Henry Steiger House (35). A two and a half story "farmhouse" type with additions off every side, it has been successfully adapted to commercial use. After the Gothic revival, Americans turned to the Italianate style for architectural novelty. Four houses in Mendham share some Italianate detailing, although all are more "American farmhouse" than "Italian Villa." Robinson's Drug Shop (33), though now rearing a coat of stucco over its original clapboard, was built as a combined store and residence in 1853, incorporating an earlier building with it. The Second Presbyterian Parsonage (107) was built in 1363, and it is well preserved. The nineteenth centary boarding house called "The Maples" (46) and the Marsh-Bretherton House (34) were built before 1868. All of these houses are frame, built two and a half stories tall, with a cross-gable centered on the facade. The cross gable on each has a round arched window, and all of these houses have scroll brackets under the eaves. All originally had a full-length facade porch, but only The Maples retains one fully intact. The only house to begin to approach the patternbook "ideal" of an Italianate villa was the Bockoven House (63) . An old photograph shows it as a flat-roofed, heavily bracketed farmhouse. In the 1930's however it was bought by a Southerner who added a pedimented two story portico to the facade, and made other changes to transform the house to a miniature "Tara". After the Civil War, there was not a great deal of activity in Mendham, and few houses were built. Those which were constructed are quite simple in design, especially if compared to the many ornate Victorian homes built in nearby Morristown. Mendham's most common house type of the later nineteenth century was two and a half stories tall, with the gable end facing the street. The three bay facade invariably had a porch across the first floor, and it was in the ornamentation of porch brackets and railings that a touch of Victorian whimsey was added. All of the Victorian houses in Mendham are wooden, although many have substituted synthetic sidings for the original shingles and clapboards. The best preserved of these gable end houses is the Sutton-Kennedy House (4), built before 1868. The next oldest is the Palmer House (126), built between 1868 and 1887, which has been carefully restored in recent years. Three identical houses of this type were built in a row on West Main Street (136, 137, 138). They were, built in the 1890's and two other of these "Victorian" houses were built in the early 1900's (49, 95). These are quite late in date for their builcing type, which is shown in builders pattern books of the late 1860's and '70's. A variation of the gable-ended house appears at 55 East Main Street (58), which may have been a cabinet-maker's shop in the 1370's. One unusual gable-end building is the Burd House (60). A conventional five bay, two story house facing Easr, Main Street, it was modified in the later nineteenth century. The resulting over-large gable containing a new third floor was given a stick-work bargeboard at the roof peak. The original patterned, galvanized metal shingles remain on the roof. Another unusual gable-ended building is the John Hoffman House (13) . It has a steeply pitched gable roof with galvanized shingles, and like the Burd HousŤ its cross gable has a bit of bargeboard. Hoffman was a masonry contractor, and so he had his frame house stuccoed to improve its weather tightness. Mendham Village boasts only one Mansard roof. The Bartow House (27) seems to have been a single two story side hallplan house before it was remodeled about 1900. This included the addition of a Mansard roof, some bay windows, and a fancy porch around the front and side of the house (part of which is now removed). Buildings of more irregular plan and massing, which have come to be called "Queen Anne" are not absent from Mendham, but they are not a high point of the village's architecture. All were built at the turn of the cantury, again, rather late in the period of the style's national popularity. All on Mendham's Queen Ann-type buildings are extremely derivative and simplified, and as a class they seem to be, architecturally, the most neglected and abused. Perhaps their exuberant turnings and multiple patterned sidings were too difficult or too unnecessary to bother repairing, or perhaps they clashed too violently with Mendham's image of itself as a colonial town. In any case one of the best preserved examples is the Quimby House (119) now heavily overgrow, but retaining clapboard and "scalloped" shingle siding, colored glass window margins, bay windows, and a porch with ornate brackets and Eastlake-type posts. The Aaron Apgar House (65) and the Frank Freeman House (11) have similar elements combined in entirely different ways, and although both have been sensitively renovated, porches have been removed and other details altered or removed. A number of other houses within the district may be loosely categorized as Victorian (24, 36, 37, 42, 51, 52, 54, 64, 75, 117, 123, 127, 128). Simple frame structures when built, with a bay window, cross gable, or decorated front porch, these houses compose the "background" for the more outstanding architecture of the village. All of the houses contribute in scale and setback to the area's character, although all have been covered with aluminum siding or asbestos shingles, have had front porches enclosed or removed, and overall, little exterior detailing survives. The McMurtry House (116) is perhaps the most ornate of Mendham's Victorian houses. The two and a half story house is dominated by a two story high porch, carrying a balcony at the central bay of the second floor. Baroque "cartouches" are applied to the facade wall. Built in 1891, the original siding has been covered with asbestos shingling but the slate roof remains intact. At the turn of the century, there was a minor building boom in Mendham. Fully one-third of the structures in the historic district were built between 1890 and 1930. Along with the houses built in the lingering Victorian tradition, new architectural styles were introduced more contemporaneously with their national development. The "new" Mendham Methodist Church (37), built in 1892-1893 adopted the characteristics of the "Richardsonian Romanesque". It was built of rusticated local gray stone, accented by colored mortar joints. Banded windows run around the semi-oircular apse end, while diamond pattern leaded glass windows are fitted into the shed dormers. A square tower over the porch ends in a pyramid roof. The reshingling of the roof and tower with modern materials has robbed the building of some of its integrity, but it is still a handsome church, and a unique representation of its style in Mendham. Elements of Richardson's work or the Shingle Style crept into a few residences in Mendham. For instance, the house at 38 East Main Street (48), though following the plan and outline of a gable-ended Victorian patternbook house, acknowledges the influence of the shingle siding on the second floor, and cobblestones for the porch pillars and central chimney. Cobblestone porch pilars appear again at the rambling E.Garabrant House (131). Built in 1902, it incorporated a nineteenth century one room school into the house as the kitchen. The Garabrant House has a large gable roof with galvanized metal shingles, which may be the original roofing material. In both the Garabrant House and the Ephraim Day House (6), a shingled gable is enhanced by a Palladian window. The Shingle Style and the Colonial Revival shared common impulses at the turn-of-the century, and the incorporation of a formal classical motif into an informal house did not seem odd. The Day House of 1910 seems to be all gabled roof, settling in low over the one story house, and sheltering porches on all sides. There is little adornment other than the Palladian window. A number of masonry buildings began to appear in Mendham after 1900. It was at this time that Italian masons were brought to Mendham to work on the construction of the great estates in Mendham and Bernardsville. Using rusticated concrete block, the Italians built the McMurtry Store (80) and the Old Mendham Firehouse (14). The store was built about 1904, but it became the Post Office when Mendham Borough was incorporated in 1906. Its original storefront with plate glass windows and recessed central entry remains as it was in 1904. It is perhaps the best preserved commercial building in the villaqe. The large firehouse building included apartments on the second floor, and a dance hall on the third floor. The low pitch roof is hidden by a wooden parapet on the facade. The central bay of the three bay facade is a diamond pattern window. The truck bays on the first floor are now replaced by bay windows, but otherwise,the building looks much the same A very unusual masonry structure is the brick castle (19) it 7 West Main Street. Built in 1909, this is the only twentieth century brick building in the district. Laid in Flemish bond with dark headers, the two story building includes a crenellated turret on the facade's west side, and a stepped gable on its east. side. A flat roof porch across the two-unit building is supported by Doric columns, completing its eclectic variety. After years of hard work, years spent adjusting to a new language and a new way of life, many of the Italian immigrants built their own homes in Mendham. Naturally enough, they were masonry, and interestingly enough they were in a "modern" style, without the historical associations of contemporaneously popular eclectic revivals. They were built in a form sometimes called "American Foursquare", featuring a square plan; two and a half stories tall, capped by a pyranid roof with extended eaves; large single-pane sash windows; a front porch with heavy column or pier supports, and an almost severe lack of ornamental trim Two of the best examples of this type of house are the Cacchio houses at 4 and 6 Mountain Avenue (22,23). The stucco walls are accented by red brick quoins, and except for the enclosure of the porch at 6, they remain exactly as they were when built in 1916. There are four other examples of the American Foursquare house in Mendham (30,100, 101, 134) executed in masonry and finished with stucco, and one house of similar form in wood (66) with clapboard and shingles on the exterior. A stucco finish is also found on three craftsman-inspired houses. Gustav Stickley, working in Morris County in the early 1900's, helped popularize a simple "modern" house, designed for the servantless household and stripped of extraneous ornament. A large, two story version on New Street (125) incorporated stucco, shingles, and a rusticated block foundation. Smaller stucco cottages (31,135) cannot be identified as a specific Stickley design, but they show tne influence of his work. The Bungalow House, characterized by a low, sloping gable roof, covering an integral porch with shed-roof or hipped dormers, and a textured wall finish of stucco or shingles, was a popular house type from 1910 to 1930 in Mendham. The earliest example of the Bungalow in the historic district was built as a summer residence about 1910. The Dr. Sommers House (47), since converted to a year-round residence, is dominated by the enveloping roof, which creates a porch on all sides of the house. A smaller, "classic" American Bungalow was built just up the street from the Dr. Sommers House a few years later (45). A number of Bungalow style houses were built on West Main Street, being the last houses both stylistically and geographically in the village (2, 3, 132). The Hosey House (140), if it has any stylistic associations at all, may be called a "bungalow". The core cf the present house was a prefabricated cottage offered as the grand prize at St. Joseph's Church annual fair in 1924. It was won by a local family, who moved from their adjacent farmhouse into the prefab cottage. A far more traditional bungalow is at 10 New Street (120), which incorporated a feeling of the shingle style in its asymmetrical plan and wooden shingles in projecting dormer. For every simplified, modern building erected in the Craftsman or Bungalow mode, another building was erected with a design featuring the past. No sooner had the vogue for the past of foreign nations gone, than American's own "colonial" past was rediscovered. Although the Colonial Revival was no more accurate in recreating early American architecture than any other revival style had been in recreating its prototype, it was immensely popular , particularly in towns like Mendham where a colonial past was still in evidence. The Bailey Funeral Home (82) , although much altered, was built in 1900 in the Colonial Revival style. Its gambrel roof recalled several early nineteenth century structures in the neighborhood. Grand Georgian mansions were the prototypes for two houses built in 1912. The C.Q. Garabrant House (90) is two and a half stories, capped by a hipped roof. The five bay facade has a central door with elliptical fanlight and sidelights, and other classical detailing such as a dentil cornice. The Dr. McMurtrie House (97) is also two and a half stories. Only four bays on the facade, the off-center entry is marked by giant Ionic columns, and a semi-circular porch. The elliptical fanlights over the first floor windows and round arched dormers repeat the half-circle motif. Both the Garabrant House and Dr. McMurtrie's House are finished with pale grey stucco and have white painted wooden trim. The most authentic colonial reproduction is the 1930 Robinson House (103), built on the model of a Williamsburg house. Brick, one and a half stories tall, the three bay cottage was built by the town's beloved pharmacist, Reginald Robinson for his bride. The Robinsons continue to reside there. The Colonial Revival style was also adopted for buildings in Mendham. The present Hilltop elementary school (84), built on a site occupied by Mendham's educational institutions since 1795, was built in 1928-29. Its associations with the colonial past are marked, by a cupola, symmetrical facade, multi-paned sash windows, and pedimented entry. The Mendham Library (83) next to the school, was also designed in the Colonial Revival style. It was opened in 1932 as a small, one room building, meticulously detailed with brick laid in Flemish bond, a doorway flanked by pilasters and surmounted by a fanlight within a pediment, and round arched, Palladian-inspired windows. A major addition to the library in 1976 more than doubled its size, but was executed in the same style and materials. Commercial buildings in Mendham reflect the town's history as a local center for business. Some were converted to business use from houses, others were constructed originally for commercial use. The Byram Building (115) appears to have originally been a two and a half story, five bay building, with a cross-gable centered on the facade. The rich trim work and cross gable suggest a nineteenth century date for construction, but as a store or residence is unclear. By 1868, however, a store and tin shop were established in the structure. The Byram Building has had extensive additions and alterations off the front (enclosing and extending the original porch?), and it now contains three businesses. One of the early commercial buildings in Mendham is the present Pastime Club (110). Built in the 1840's by Aaron Hudson for his son-in-law's dry goods business, the store and residence formed two side-by-side gable end buildings. The building showed few traces of Hudson's characteristic Greek Revival style. and has been extensively remodeled in recent years, obliterating any trace of historic detailing. Next to the Pastime Club is another old business establishment, the Phoenix House Annex (111). Built in the 1850's, the plain three-story frame building was for guests of the Phoenix Boarding House (112) , who ware far more numerous than the old building could hold. At one time, the Annex was connected to the Pioenix House internally and via the first and second floor porches that swept around both buildings. They are now separate buildings, and the interconnecting porches are removed. Two tiny buildings in Mendham recall the small scale of business in the nineteenth century. A simple, one story, flat-roofed building in the center of town has had a variety of commercial uses in well over a century. Currently a law office , the building at 2 Hilltop Road (79) is unique in Mendham for its vertically aligned tongue and groove siding. Another tiny shop, now a doctor's office (32) was a butcher shop at the turn of the century, and later, an undertaker's office. It too is only one story tall.It has a gable roof and gable end facade, with a simple porch across the front. The shoemaker shop run by David Carlisle in the late nineteenth century is a two-story, gable end building (28).Central double doors flanked by large eight-over-eight sash windows still convey a sense of "shop" to a building now used as a residence. Another two-story, gable-front building is now the parish house of St. Mark's Church (77). A simple, frame building, the storefront has been removed, although one door and one large nine-over-six sash window remains. A 1906 photograph shows the building as Bretherton's Hardware Store, and the classic storefront of large windows flanking a central door is filled with rakes, bags of seed, and washtubs. Business in the new century called for new buildings. In 1902, the "Freeman Brothers" store was built (15). The large, three-story frame building was the largest structure in town at the time. (It is today rivalled by its 1906 neighbor, the old firehouse). Freeman Brothers' store introduced the freestanding parapet to Mendham, and adorned it with wooden brackets and scallops. The two stores downstairs could be counted on for the best in dry goods and groceries. Upstairs, apartment tenants received light and air through windows salvaged from the Second Presbyterian Church (82) . Leaded glass transom and recessed central door between plate glass windows marks the classic early twentieth century storefront. Though the upper floor has been "colonialized", the shops at 5 West Main Street (20) bear well-preserved storefront on this type. The right side has always contained a grocery of some sort, and today the Colonial Pantry Deli proudly polishes and uses the wall-sized oak refrigeration cabinet original to the shop, A continuation of original use has been the key to preservation of many of Mendham's historic buildings. Of course, change of use, although altering some structures quite significantly, has kept buildings standing which might otherwise have come down . Barns and outbuildings are perhaps the most "functionally obsolete" parts of Mendham's historic building stock. Nearly all the residential structures in town have a wooden barn or stable at the rear of the property. Used as garages, storage sheds, or simply left to decay and collapse, their "out of sight" location puts them, too often, "out of mind" for an owner who wouldn't dream of letting a historic house decay. A few barn buildings have received alterations which make them a usable component of the town. The building voted "Most Checkered Past" in the district must be the barn behind Robinson's Drug Shop (33). Built as a bank barn, it was used as a plumbing shop in the 1890's. In 1905, it became a barber shop. In 1932, it was transformed to a residence. It is still a rental residence, as is another barn on the property, divided into apartments. The barn and paint shop behind the Wilder House (31) was repaired and rehabilitated for three specialty shops in 1970. Two carriage houses from the turn of the century (92, 129) have been converted to single family houses. Although charming homes, they have been created by a virtual rebuilding of the original structure, and they do not retain enough historic integrity to be counted as "contributing" to the historic district. Mendham's Historic District contains a wide variety of buildings, from all time periods, architectural styles, and uses. Those buildings which were not mentioned in this description cannot be considered "contributing" to the district, but there are none which visually detract from the historic character of the community.' The district is the vital heart of the community, and its historic significance is reinforced as it continues to be used, altered and improved in serving the citizens of Mendham as their commercial and residential center. |