The Withington Estate, also known as the Heathcote Farm, is a farmstead located on Spruce Lane near the Kingston section of South Brunswick in

Middlesex County, New Jersey Middlesex County is located in central New Jersey, United States, extending inland from the Raritan Valley region to the northern portion of the Jersey Shore. As of the 2020 United States Census, the county's population was enumerated at 863,1 ...

. The farm is adjacent to the Cook Natural Area and the

Heathcote Brook Heathcote Brook, also known as Heathcote Run, is a tributary of the Millstone River in central New Jersey in the United States. Course Heathcote Brook starts at , near the intersection of New Road and Route 1. It runs through a residential area ...

. It was added to the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

on September 27, 1984, for its significance in agriculture, architecture, landscape architecture and politics/government. In addition to the main residence, a stone barn and carriage house contribute to the property. With

History and description

In 1850, the State of

New Jersey New Jersey is a state in the Mid-Atlantic and Northeastern regions of the United States. It is bordered on the north and east by the state of New York; on the east, southeast, and south by the Atlantic Ocean; on the west by the Delaware ...

started development of the property as the New Jersey House of Refuge, a juvenile penal institution. When the project was abandoned in 1852, the property became the country estate of Isaac Chandler Withington, the original owner. The two and one-half story

brownstone Brownstone is a brown Triassic–Jurassic sandstone that was historically a popular building material. The term is also used in the United States and Canada to refer to a townhouse clad in this or any other aesthetically similar material. Type ...

building was designed and built by two prominent architects from

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

Gamaliel King Gamaliel King ( Shelter Island, New York, 1 December 1795 — 6 December 1875) was an American architect who practiced in New York City and the adjacent city of Brooklyn, where he was a major figure in Brooklyn civic and ecclesiastical architectu ...

and

John Kellum John Kellum (1809–1871) was an American architect in practice in New York City. Kellum, born in Hempstead (town), New York, Hempstead, Long Island, was trained as a carpenter; he was largely self-taught in architecture, and was taken int ...

. The stone barn was constructed later by Withington using the remaining brownstone. The carriage house is of frame construction and features

Italianate style The Italianate style was a distinct 19th-century phase in the history of Classical architecture. Like Palladianism and Neoclassicism, the Italianate style drew its inspiration from the models and architectural vocabulary of 16th-century Italian R ...

. In 1914, the property was purchased by Joseph Garneau of New York City. In 1926, it was purchased by Grace Bigelow Cook, who named it Heathcote Farm. In the 1970s, she donated the property to state, becoming the Cook Natural Area.

References

{{NRHP in Middlesex County, New Jersey South Brunswick, New Jersey National Register of Historic Places in Middlesex County, New Jersey Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New Jersey Houses in Middlesex County, New Jersey Italianate architecture in New Jersey 1850 establishments in New Jersey Houses completed in 1850 Stone houses in New Jersey New Jersey Register of Historic Places

History and description

See also

References