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Checking In
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| By: Ilene Dube
, TimeOFF |
10/18/2002 |
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The Martin Coryell House Bed &
Breakfast is one of 13 sites open for viewing on the
Lambertville Historical Society House Tour.
Staff photos by Frank
Wojciechowski |
| Rich and Mary Freedman, above, welcome guests
to the Martin Coryell House B&B. |
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| Ever since Mary
and Rich Freedman married 11 years ago, they have been
spending their anniversaries at Bed & Breakfasts. So
enchanted were they by the pampering offered in comfortable
historic homes with freshly baked breakfast treats, they
decided to open an inn of their own.
Ms.
Freedman, a former folksinger and human resources executive
who hails from Rockland County, N.Y., and Mr. Freedman, a
software engineer, bought the Martin Coryell House on Union
Street in 1998. After four years of floor sanding,
sheetrocking, painting and curtain hanging, they opened their
B&B Sept. 28. The Martin Coryell House B&B will open
its doors to ticket holders on the Lambertville Historical
Society House Tour Oct. 20.
Built circa
1864, the red-brick Federal-style building with Italianate
front porch was sold to Myra Coryell, second cousin and wife
of Martin Coryell, in 1876. Both Myra and Martin were
descendants of Emanuel Coryell, original owner of Coryell's
Ferry, for which the town was originally
named.
The Coryells' descendants lived in
the house until 1959. Their granddaughter, Camille, deeded the
house to the First Presbyterian Church in 1953 for use as a
parsonage, and she continued to live on the second and third
floors for six years. The church converted the three-story
building with red tin roof into a two-family
dwelling.
When the Freedmans bought the
house, it was structurally sound but needed cosmetic work. The
couple had been living in Hatboro, Pa., before they began
their search — "our great adventure," as they refer to it.
Staff photo by Frank
Wojciechowski |
The architecture is Federal style with an
Italianate porch, above.
| "We both had an
entrepreneurial bent but hadn't yet figured out what to do
with it," says Mr. Freedman, who first met his wife while she
was performing at the Philadelphia Folk Song Society Spring
Weekend. When asked if he, too, is musically inclined, Mr.
Freedman described himself as an
"audient."
"We took a course on how to
start a B&B on a whim, and it seemed feasible, so we
started looking all over the East Coast." At first they
planned to buy an existing B&B but soon realized it was
more economically viable to convert an old house into a
B&B. At the suggestion of the course instructor, Mike
Wass, owner of the Whitehall Inn in New Hope, Pa., they looked
at properties in Lambertville, which already had four
B&Bs. After scouring the town on the New Jersey side of
the Delaware, they were ready to give up when they spotted the
"for sale" sign on the Coryell House. "It was large enough, we
liked the architecture, and we knew we wanted either brick or
stone," said Mr. Freedman.
What made the
property affordable was its second-floor apartment, from which
they could derive income while working on renovations. The
couple lived on the first floor while renting out the
apartment for two years, then began going through the process
of getting zoning approval to run it as an inn. When the
approval came through a year ago, they started construction
drawings and put the project out to bid. Work began in
January. The third floor need plumbing and electrical work,
and three more bathrooms had to be added so each room has its
own.
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The innkeepers have
created a Victorian look in the library, left,
with a faux-leather textured wall. Oak bookcases
with glass doors are original to the
house. |
| Staff photos by Frank
Wojciechowski | |
| One of the beds is dressed with a
coronet, right, and other beds are decorated with
white Battenberg-lace parasols. |
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| | Mr.
and Ms. Freedman, whose one daughter is away at college, live
in an apartment on the first floor in back of the
5,500-square-foot building.
"We had a
five-year plan, and we're slightly ahead of that," says Mr.
Freedman, sitting in the spacious first-floor parlor. The
couple had entertained the Bucks County B&B Association
earlier in the day, and a fresh plate of muffins still sat on
one table.
After construction was
completed, Kate Marchesini of Acorn Design in Frenchtown was
brought in to lend the finishing touches — faux marble
fireplaces, Chinoiserie (Chinese-like) hand-painted wallpaper,
and murals. The dining room ceiling has been painted to
resemble one in a New Orleans
ballroom.
Many original architectural
details have been preserved, such as bronze hardware on the
front doors and Minton-Hollins mosaic tile on the floor of the
vestibule. The floors are quarter-sawn oak, and there is
original wainscoting in the front rooms, as well as oak
bookcases with glass doors and a stained glass window in the
library, probably added by the First Presbyterian Church
during its ownership.
Besides hiring a
decorator and mural painters, the Freedmans were hands-on
contributors, painting a wallpaper textured like old tin
ceilings with a faux finish to resemble leather. A chess table
is all set for players in the
library.
The innkeepers had a ball
shopping for the furnishings, everywhere from flea markets to
the People's Store and Brandon's Home Furnishings. Most of the
guests are couples looking for a romantic getaway. The
Freedmans make the breakfasts themselves — stuffed French
toast, fritatas, muffins and scones, and fruits — for weekend
guests. They can accommodate 17 guests at a time, and each
room has cable TV, high-speed Internet access, a private
telephone and a desk.
Guest rooms have
been named for the Coryell family members — Camille, Martin,
Myra, Emma Lilly, Alice and Torbert. Most of the
accommodations are suites with a separate sitting area. At the
center of each room is a sumptuous bed so high it invites
sinking in. The beds all have feather beds, says Ms. Freedman,
which give them loft. The rooms feature electric fireplaces —
romantic living at the touch of a remote.
Staff photo by Frank
Wojciechowski |
The dining room, above, seats 10 for
breakfast.
| Some rooms have
whirlpool baths with double showerheads — a detail the
Freedmans picked up from one of their own B&B stays — and
some rooms have original claw-foot tubs. The outsides of the
tubs have been given a decorative finish, but the porcelain
inside is whiter than most new tubs, thanks to the scrupulous
housekeeping of the innkeepers.
Details
abound — Mr. Freedman scanned vintage family photos into his
computer, made reproductions, and framed them for an authentic
touch in each room.
There is a coronet
over one of the beds, and other beds are decorated with white
Battenberg-lace parasols. Butterflies fly freely on the
wallpaper in Camille's room. Living in such an enormous house
with a dining table that seats 10, does the couple ever get
the urge to throw wild parties between busy
seasons?
"We've had 100 people here for
music blow-out weekends," says Ms. Freedman. "We invited all
our friends from the Philadelphia Folk Society and New York
folkies. We'd be picking and singing all over the
house."
Running a B&B is a labor of
love — everything from getting a historic building in shape,
maintaining it and keeping it spanking clean, to preparing
scrumptious breakfasts, and always a smile for even the most
difficult of guests. When do the innkeepers relax? They answer
in unison: "Sunday afternoon, when the guests check
out."
The Lambertville Historical Society House Tour
takes place Oct. 20, 11 a.m.-5 p.m., with visits to 13
sites: homes, museums and churches. A guided walking tour
along the towpath begins at 11:30 a.m. Tickets costs $15 in
advance, $20 day of the tour. For information, call (609)
397-0770. On the Web: www.lambertvillehistoricalsociety.org
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| ©Packet Online 2002
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