By Dr. J. Shaffer

About three years ago, Dave and Arlene Philo sold their house at 30 Olin to buy 58 Lake. They had won a Preservation Award from the Ocean Grove Historical Society for their work on the Olin cottage, but, apparently, the Philos’ thirst for preserving architectural gems was not satisfied.

58 Lake is a long building – stretching over two lots between Lake and Asbury Avenues – with ample yard (in Ocean Grove!) both in front and back. The house has a complex history. It is clear from the exterior, with its varying roof heights, that it was built in three sections. The central third of the house is the oldest. Dave and Arlene have been told that this original structure is the “Cookman Cottage” and thus dates to early in Ocean Grove’s history. The front third, with its distinctive witch’s hat turret, was probably built in the 1890’s, when the Queen Anne style was all the rage. The rear third, towards Asbury Ave., was probably added in the 1920’s.

Over the years, the exterior of 58 Lake had all but disappeared. The wrap-around porch had been turned into a sunroom using odds and ends of lumber and windows of various sizes. The entire house had been encased in aluminum. Although previous owners had removed some of the siding on the front to reveal the original Queen Anne sheathing, which includes dragon scale shakes and sawtooth siding, the Philos knew there had to be more. They decided to uncover and preserve it all.

Dave came before the HPC with photos which showed that, while portions of the porch had been destroyed to make way for the sunroom, some original elements were still embedded in the walls. He planned to save the four turned posts, three sections of railing, and nine decorative brackets, and proposed to use these original elements to replicate, down to the last detail, what was needed to complete the porch – five posts, four sections of railing, and nine brackets.

The Philos had old postcards looking across Wesley Lake from Asbury Park (apparently there were no marauding Canadian geese back then) that showed the original façade of 58 Lake with a stick and ball railing on the small second floor porch. Dave proposed removing the later twentieth-century wrought iron railing and recreating this typical Queen Anne detail.

While the Queen Anne front of the house is spectacular – indeed, the Queen Anne style was all about being spectacular – the Philos were excited to uncover the middle third of the house. The HPC asks homeowners to try to find out what the original siding on their home is if they are proposing exterior work. Dave’s exploratory surgery revealed no less than four (!) layers on this section. Outermost was the aluminum, then came asbestos siding, below that wood clapboard, and, finally, the original board and batten – so typical of Ocean Grove’s earliest summer cottages, but so rarely intact today. Dave proposed uncovering and preserving this vertical siding. As for the 1920’s addition, the goal was to reveal and preserve its wood clapboard.

The Philos’ application was a no-brainer for the HPC; their plans, which included repainting the house in historic colors, were approved unanimously. Thanks to the Philos, 58 Lake now proudly reveals its quirky history – its simple board and batten cottage core, its stunning Lake Ave. front with classic Queen Anne forms and over-the-top decorative detailing, and its small, clapboard rear addition.

This building’s mixture of forms, styles and materials is typical of Ocean Grove’s historic homes. Few of them were built all of a piece. Rather, they are additive works that can tell us much about changing forms and tastes in the nineteenth and early twentieth centuries.

Dave still has to uncover the east side of the house – removing those multiple layers is no easy task! After that, there is still more work to be done. Dave says that his next big project is to rehabilitate the windows, many of which – most noticeably the exquisite Queen Annes, with their small panes of colored glass – are original. He plans to remove, scrape, putty, paint, re-weight and re-hang each one, which will add even more luster to this jewel at 58 Lake.

- Dr. J. Shaffer is an architectural historian. She has been on the HPC for almost three years.