Threatened: Oldest Brewery Building in the United States
July 10, 2008
In 1770, the brewery was converted into a Georgian home.
Dear Preservation 911,
The oldest standing brewery building in the United States, c. 1690, was part of a compound of outbuildings built behind the first Governor of West Jersey's mansion, along the Delaware River in Burlington, N.J., right between Princeton and Philadelphia.
The brewery shares a back yard with the site of the former Collins Print Shop, where Ben Franklin, who was known to have a fondness for good brew, was contracted to print money for the colony of New Jersey.
About 1770, the brewery was added onto and converted into a symmetrical Georgian home. All the extant woodwork, four fireplaces, masculine stairwell, entryway, etc., date from that moment. A straightforward Victorian era addition was added 1850ish, extending the house towards the river.
Nearly all the details of the 1770 house were hidden under 1960s paneling, and the most elaborate of the fireplaces (Pennsylvania blue marble inserts and excellent details) actually had boards nailed across the front with glued on cast white facing stone attached.
We started the process of removing layers in preparation for restoring what we thought was a delightfully quirky 1770 house, but when we pulled the ceiling down in the dining room, which is the heart of the house, we discovered accordion lath and very, very early nails, incredibly strange beams, etc.
A visit to the Burlington County Historical Society library revealed much research done in the 1970s by a local historian named Dr. Henry Bisbee, but that information did not make it beyond the distribution of his Xeroxed newsletter.
The West Jersey History Group has recently added some of that research to their website at http://westjersey.org/ivy.pdf
Circumstances took us back to Philadelphia, and we put the property on the market. Here is the odd Preservation 911. The property hasn't sold, and we have reduced the price so low in an effort to free ourselves from the monthly financial burden, which used to be a nuisance and now feels like a mill stone, that the danger is that someone will buy the house, cover everything back over with paneling and sheetrock, and turn the place back into a low rent rental. There is no restriction in place with the City of Burlington to keep that from happening.
We've listed the property, accompanied by a lengthy and rather funny missive about the place, on Craigslist. We update it every week or so, but if you go to Craigslist Philadelphia Real Estate For Sale, and tap in BREWERY, the latest incarnation will come up: http://philadelphia.craigslist.org/rfs/
Any other town in the United States would acquire this property and utilize it as a linchpin for their tourism efforts. Burlington is so ancient (1677) that we've all become numb to the treasures right in front of us. Further, there are probably more serious brew fans in the Delaware Valley than anywhere else in North America (no offense, Milwaukee), yet this river view brewery sits.
All the best,
Todd Kimmell
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