The House's Changing Architecture
William Trent built his country home north of Philadelphia, in what was known as West Jersey, in about 1719. It was a large, imposing brick structure, built in the newest fashion. By 1721 he and his family and enslaved servants made the House their full-time residence until his death in 1724.
After Trent died, his oldest son James sold “300 acres plus the brick dwelling house” to William Morris of Barbados who was the half-brother of his father’s second wife, Mary Coddington Trent. The house was purchased by George Thomas, Governor of the colony of Pennsylvania, in 1733. It was under his ownership when Lewis Morris became Governor of New Jersey , formed in the merger of East and West Jersey.
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Governor Morris offered to rent the house from Thomas under the condition that a separate kitchen building be built adjacent to the house in place of the basement kitchen. The kitchen was constructed in 1742 and details of the building were included in a 1759 advertisement for the sale of the property. |
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Archeological excavations of the area to the east of the Trent House where the 1742 kitchen building once stood have yielded many artifacts from the colonial and early federal period. In 2022 the archaeologists conducting the research reported on their findings from the excavation of the kitchen building, as well as evidence of Native American life on the site prior to European settlement and during the period of contact between Native people and Europeans. |
During the 19th century, the house that had first been called "Kingsbury" and then "Bloomsbury" was renamed "Woodlawn" by Joseph Wood after he purchased the property in 1852.
By that time, substantial changes had been made to the house's architecture, as shown in a photograph taken in the 1850s when James M. Redmond owned the house. (See below.) The roof had been lowered, the cupola removed, and porches added.
By that time, substantial changes had been made to the house's architecture, as shown in a photograph taken in the 1850s when James M. Redmond owned the house. (See below.) The roof had been lowered, the cupola removed, and porches added.
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It was during these renovations that we believe a single shoe, probably one made to be worn by a woman servant, was left in the roof infrastructure. This shoe was found again during roof repairs in 2018. How did this shoe, which experts estimated was made in the 1830-1850 period, get into a roof constructed in the 1700s? And if it was deliberately placed there, why? Read this brochure to learn answers to these questions.
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The Trent House's architecture changed again after Joseph Wood bought the house and renamed it Woodlawn. By the late 19th century it had been transformed into a "Gilded Age" mansion, though in an area surrounded by factories and rowhouses. Two large structures, additional porches on both south and north sides, and a greenhouse had been added by the time the photograph below was taken in 1899.
For the next nearly seven decades the house was occupied by two generations of the Stokes family, until it was given to the City of Trenton in 1929 by Edward A. Stokes. At that time, the house looked as shown below.
View of south and east sides of the house before restoration
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View of the east and north sides of the house before restoration
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During the 1930s the house was restored to its colonial appearance for use as a public cultural institution as required by Stokes' deed of gift.
Restoration of the house between 1934 and 1936 was undertaken as a project of the New Deal's Works Progress Administration.
Restoration was completed in 1936 and after furnishing the house was opened as a museum on June 1, 1939.
The restored house now stands as an outstanding example of colonial Georgian architecture.
Restoration was completed in 1936 and after furnishing the house was opened as a museum on June 1, 1939.
The restored house now stands as an outstanding example of colonial Georgian architecture.
This architectural style is based on classical forms of the Italian Renaissance period and was the first architect-inspired design built in America, reflecting a period of growth and prosperity and a desire for more formally designed buildings. Construction followed building manual called "pattern books" that began arriving in the colonies around 1700.
Common features of Georgian style buildings include: a symmetrical form and window placement; multi-paned sliding sash windows; five bays with center doors and hall; hipped or side-gabled roof with dentilated or modillioned cornices; brick or stone walls with a water table and/or belt course; and a transomed window over a paneled front door. These features are all found on the Trent House.
Common features of Georgian style buildings include: a symmetrical form and window placement; multi-paned sliding sash windows; five bays with center doors and hall; hipped or side-gabled roof with dentilated or modillioned cornices; brick or stone walls with a water table and/or belt course; and a transomed window over a paneled front door. These features are all found on the Trent House.
Analysis of building materials used in the Trent House indicates that the exterior walls are made of locally produced brick conforming to 1683 regulations on a foundation of fieldstone. The dentilated roof is crowned by a hexagonal cupola with weather vane. Segmental arches over the main windows are of imported Dutch brick and pointing was sand and lime mortar. Structural and trim woodwork, both interior and exterior, is of oak and pine, with exterior paint in two layers – a reddish brown primer with high oil content on which was a white lead-in-oil finish paint.
Click here for a detailed description of the architectural evolution of the house and its initial restoration in 1934-1936, as documented by Kevin Joy.
