Allen House Restoration Project
2024 - 2026
The Allen House was originally built in 1710 for Richard Stillwell. The house has seen numerous owners. It's been a private home, a tavern, a doctor's office and pharmacy, a dry goods store, a tea shop, and an antiques store. It's undergone numerous additions, repairs, and renovations. The roof has burned off twice - once in 1914 and again in 1932. Now, the Monmouth County Historical Association is restoring one of the area's oldest surviving structures. This restoration project will ensure the site's survival for another three hundred years.
PHOTO GALLERY
As one of the earliest structures still standing in Monmouth County, the Allen House has been photographed frequently.
In 1936, architects and photographers from the Historic American Buildings Survey project documented the Allen House.
The Allen House in the early 1960s. The Association became the owners of the house on May 1, 1968.
The Allen House opened to the public in the spring of 1974, fully furnished to reflect its years as a tavern.
A rare interior view of the Allen House taken around 1890. The house's original staircase can be seen at left.
Joseph Allen added a small addition to the original structure in around 1870 and ran a dry goods store. This image shows house and store around 1890, when Shrewsbury resident A. Holmes Borden took over operation of the business.
The Allen House circa 1880, when Route 35 and Sycamore Avenue were still dirt roads.
Project Funding
This major restoration project is estimated at $850,000 dollars. We're honored to receive major funding from the New Jersey Historic Trust. We're also grateful for the generous sponsors who are helping to raise the necessary matching funds for this major grant:
UPDATES
Here's where I will be placing the updates about grant awards, new sponsors, discoveries, restoration achievements, and so on.
EVENTS
Although the house will be closed to the general public for tours until the completion of the Restoration Project, we will be offering outside tours, special behind-the-scenes tours, and hard-hat tours at scheduled intervals.
HISTORY
70 Court Street
Freehold NJ 07728
732 - 462 -1466
Monmouth County Historical Association received an operating support grant from the New Jersey Historical Commission, a division of the Department of State.