Cornelius Low House

This Georgian-style home was built in 1741 and is one of the two remaining structures from the once-thriving port community of Raritan Landing. It is also one of the finest examples of Georgian architecture in New Jersey. From 1995 through most of 1996, Arvid Myhre Building Construction Company of Frenchtown, New Jersey, completed a comprehensive restoration of the house. Evidence of their mastery can be seen in the woodwork that was stripped of 26 layers of paint and repainted in historically accurate colors, the restoration of original floors on the east side of the house, and in the replication of once-lost original features like moldings and window seats throughout. Behind-the-scenes work included complete upgrades of heating and cooling systems, new electrical wiring encased in metal conduit, and new plumbing and water supply systems. Additionally, an exhibit system was fabricated to protect the original plaster walls, while still allowing the museum to install changing exhibitions.

Georgian Architecture

Georgian style refers to all designs from the period in which King George I, II, III, and IV reigned in England. Georgian architecture was heavily inspired by renaissance design, and it also drew from Greek and Roman lineages. It was popular in America among the middle and upper classes for most of the 18th and very early 19th century. The style refers to the period that it belonged to, but there are some distinct features. Georgian architecture notably borrowed the Greek and Roman emphasis on symmetry. Many Georgian structures followed the ‘four over four’ plan. These buildings were typically built two stories tall with a central hall that linked four rooms together on each floor. Most Georgian structures did not stick to traditional design elements, though. Nearly all structures built in the U.S. from the 18th and early 19th century are considered Georgian. Today, many new homes are inspired by the Georgian configurations of yesteryear. Georgian architecture is mistaken for Federal architecture, as the two styles followed similar motifs.

First Floor

Your tour is oriented from the Center Hall. Use the Floor Plan in the photos section to help guide you through the tour.

Center Hall: This hallway gives the first view of this elegant home. It is a large space and allows access to all the other rooms on this level. The wainscoting (paneling) cornice molding and staircase are all original to the 1741 house. The wainscoting has been painted a dark, reddish brown (Spanish Brown), originally made from red iron oxide and charcoal pigments dispersed in linseed oil. The original floors lay two layers beneath these twentieth-century floorboards.

Room 1: This Room was used primarily for entertaining or dining. The closet door to the right of the fireplace was originally a doorway leading into the kitchen wing that was attached to this side of the home. Within the ghost image of the kitchen on the exterior, you can still make out the shape of the doorway. Up to 26 layers of paint once coated some of the woodwork in this room, as well as throughout the rest of the house. Many of the features in this room date to the mid-nineteenth century, including the cabled pilasters framing the fireplace. The fireplace mantle style is typical of mid-nineteenth century taste, and was most likely added by the Pool Family that once lived here. Contrary to the hallway, the wainscoting here remains varnished natural cherry wood, more appropriate for hosting meals and entertaining.

Room 2: Considered to be the most architecturally sophisticated and complete room in the house, this room contains many mid-nineteenth century additions, as well as many original features, all pristinely restored to their original appearances. Along with the original wide-plank pine flooring, it is thought that at least a portion of the ceiling here is original. Thus, the baseboard and crown moldings are in their original state, not having been cut down or changed to accommodate new flooring or ceiling levels. The fireplace mantle was added during the Greek Revival period of the mid-nineteenth century, and the paint scheme is original to the home. The paneling and moldings are painted medium gray as was typical, except for the shell-headed cabinetry surrounding the fireplace. These features were painted in reddish orange to highlight their interiors.

Room 3: If you examine the tiles surrounding the early nineteenth century cast iron stove, you will discover original blue Delft tiles. The designs depict Biblical scenes and are found in more abundance on the second floor. 

Second Floor

Your tour is oriented around the second-floor landing. Use the floor plan in the photos section to help guide you through the upstairs rooms. 

Room 4: During the twentieth century, all the paint was stripped from the woodwork in this room. The original paint scheme was determined during the 1995 restoration by examining paint fragments left in the cracks of the stripped wood. The window seat nearest the fireplace is an example of a faithful reconstruction. It was recreated to match the extant one on the right following the removal of the steam radiator that was in its place. The interior of the fireplace is the closest to the original configuration anywhere in the house. This large, box-like shape proved to be inefficient, as most of the heat escaped up the chimney. As technology improved, the fireplaces were altered, as is evident elsewhere in the house.

Room 5: This room has many remaining eighteenth-century features, though some modifications were made in the early nineteenth century, including the prominent fireplace mantle. The paint scheme in this room also reflects the nineteenth century, when softer, lighter color were popular. The window sashes in this room are reconstructions done during the 1980s. The interior shutters, however, are original to the home. They helped regulate temperature before central heating and air-conditioning; closed during hot summer days to keep the room cool, and open during the winter months to allow in the warm southern sun. Note also the original blue delft tiles around the fireplace.

Room 6: The floors again on this side of the house are original, as is the wood paneling around the fireplaces. The fireplace here retains many of the original blue delft tiles imported from the Netherlands. The tiles depict Biblical scenes, a subject matter found on many types of tile in the eighteenth century. The firebox here was reshaped when it was found that angling the sides and sloping the back would help throw heat into the room.

Room 7: Not only do the original floors exist in this room, but many of the glass panes found in the windows are thought to be original as well. Sometime during the twentieth century, the closets on either side of the fireplace were brought forward and the molding reinstalled. The right-handed closet in this room was combined with the left-hand closet in room 6 and transformed into a small bathroom. During the 1995 restoration, these spaces were returned to their original configuration, creating space to allow ductwork and other piping to the attic. The rack in the fireplace allowed coal to be burned when that fuel source became readily available as a domestic heating source. 

Exterior Features

The Cornelius Low House stands today as one of the finest examples of Georgian manor homes in the State, and some say in America. When it was built, it was one of the largest and most expensive houses in the Province of East Jersey, crafted from over 350 tons of sandstone.

Today, the community of Raritan Landing is all but forgotten. The remains of the once-thriving village lie beneath portions of Johnson Park and River Road. The Low House is one of the only two remaining structures from the Landing and is a vital link to Piscataway’s and Middlesex County’s past.

Careful examination of the exterior of the home reveals many significant details. Foremost among them is the stone. Low wished the front of his home to reflect his stature as one of the most influential and prosperous men of the community. To that end, he purchased large, rectangular blocks of high-quality stone for the front façade (facing the river and the community of Raritan Landing), most likely quarried in the Newark area. Low, though, was a frugal man, as indicated by the stone used on the three sides of the house not facing Raritan Landing and unseen by visitors or passers-by. These sides were built of rubble stone, or irregular pieces that required minimal finish work. This type of stone was much less expensive that that installed on the front of his home. Constructing his home the way he did, Low was making sure it looked impressive to all who saw it, and that the structure represented his high stature within the community of Raritan Landing. It was his way of showing the best he could afford and is similar to steps the modern-day homeowner may take.

The Kitchen “Ghost”

Be sure to look for the “ghost” on the side of the house overlooking the parking area. This “shadow” of a since-removed structure is visible due to the different color mortar between the stones. This shadow shows the original location of the kitchen wing of the house. Within the shadow on the exterior, you can still see the outline of the doorway that led into the home. Due to its proximity to the kitchen, this room was most likely used primarily for dining and entertaining. We believe the Metlar family (owners in the nineteenth century) removed the kitchen around 1870 for unknown reasons. At that time, the portion of the home currently used for modern kitchen and restroom facilities assumed the function of the meal preparation area.

Crooked Windows

The windows to the left of the porch appear crooked. In fact, both the first and second floor windows are approximately three inches off square. When Low lived here, the two basement windows closest to the front entrance were doorways. They allowed access to the basement for Low’s servants and workers, so that certain goods could be stored there, rather than in the warehouse along the Great Road. The front yard has since been substantially filled but the doorway outlines are still visible in the basement. Sometime after Low’s death, these doorways were altered and turned into windows. Subsequently the house settled, and now these windows are no longer square. 

In the mid-1980s, the front windows, having been severely exposed to the elements, were replaced. Rather than square up the window openings, the restoration firm installed fully functional, though crooked, windows in their place. It is common in the restoration of a structure of such antiquity, to leave features intact that help show its age and character.

The View from Low’s “New House on the Mountain”

As you stand in the front of the house, looking out over the now very busy intersection of River Road and Landing Lane, imagine the now-buried, bustling port community of Raritan Landing. Standing as Low did, you are looking down on the community of which he was such an important part. Low was vital to trade between the people of the Raritan Valley and the deep-water ports of Perth Amboy, allowing goods to be exchanged with other Colonies and other parts of the world. The people in the flats along the River – the millers, bakers, Blacksmiths, coopers, cobblers – were important. Each member of the community had a role to play in ensuring the economic stability and welfare of Raritan Landing. Imagine also, vast flood waters 10 feet deep at the intersection like we saw first-hand during Hurricanes Floyd in 1999 and Irene in 2011. It is easy to understand why Low wanted to be high on the hill instead of in his original home near the river.

Delft Tiles

Tiles were a popular feature in Dutch homes. This was in a large measure to the dampness of the climate as most of the houses were built near the water. Tiles were utilized to protect where dampness was at its worst such as the joining of wall and floor, and for surrounding fireplaces. 

By the eighteenth century, tile production as an important industry in the Netherlands. They had been simplified from the multi-colored tiles first produced in the middle ages to being painted in a single color. The most common color was blue, painted onto a white background, such as the tiles preserved at the Low House. Blue was chosen due to its ease of handling in the kiln, and to imitate the extremely popular, and expensive, blue and white porcelain which was beginning to be imported from China in the seventeenth century. 

All of the tiles preserved in the Cornelius Low House have biblical scenes hand-painted onto them. Biblical scenes begin to be seen on Dutch tiles after 1640; by the 1690s they were immensely popular, especially with Dutch consumers. In the seventeenth and eighteenth centuries it was common in Dutch homes to read a chapter of the Bible every day. Many of the most popular editions of the Bible included engravings, which served as models for a majority of the tiles produced over several centuries.

By the eighteenth century, Biblical subjects in circular frames were produced in extremely large quantities. Many of these tiles were destined for the rural market or export. Export is the case for the tiles at the Low House. Since Low’s family had in fact emigrated from the Netherlands in the late seventeenth century, it seemed proper to have something that represented his homeland. 

Georgian. (2012, August 02). Retrieved August 26, 2020, from https://architecturestyles.org/georgian-1700-1850/