Jersey Shore Magazine

j e r s e y s h o r e • s p r i n g 2 0 1 4 55 that it was abandoned preserved the original architecture," she said. For her, standing in front of the Swain House was like entering a portal and being transported back in time to the extravagant Gilded Age. Bookended by the end of the Civil War and the beginning of the twenti- eth century, the Gilded Age witnessed the birth of American progress and prosperity. Robber barons such as Carnegie and Rockefeller made lav- ish fortunes in this new corporate environment—and spent them just as lavishly. This money enabled urban high society to develop tony new compounds in seaside towns as respite from the teeming, sweltering hoi polloi. New train lines sped the well heeled from cities to new sum- mer resort towns in Newport, Nantucket…and Spring Lake. Spring Lake's architecture became sym- bolic of the Gilded Age, as its initial development was directly tied to the Centennial Exposition held in Philadelphia in 1876. The exposition's Public Comfort Building was removed and reconstructed as the new town's Lake House Hotel. Lumber from its Agricultural Hall was used to create the Spring Lake rail station, a bridge over Wreck Pond, and private homes. Spring Lake was positioned as a playground for the elite, and William James Swain wanted in. He was the privileged son of William Mosley Swain, one of the founders of the Philadelphia Public Ledger, "the first penny paper in Philadelphia, the first to establish a pony express, and among the first to use the telegraph," Lavelle stated. He was an established member of Philadelphia society, as Lavelle explained, "His co-worker was Samuel B. Morse (Morse code). Enough said." "Following in the footsteps of his father, William J. Swain founded the Philadelphia Public Record, which still serves Philly today," Lavelle said. Interestingly, Swain's Philadelphia manse became the world's first Ronald McDonald House in 1974. Swain amassed enough of a fortune to not only build this mansion, but also a summer residence in one of the most fashionable towns on the Jersey Shore. He purchased four lots on the corner of Passaic and First Avenues and broke ground sometime in the late 1800s. The house was built in the fashion of the day: the Queen Ann architec- tural style. Also known as Queen Ann Victorian, this style reached its height of popularity in the late 1800s, and is known for homes with asymmetrical façades, porches, irregular rooflines, and gingerbread décor. "Everything from its towers to its pointed roofs to its bracketed cornices—the expression put into the architecture—is charac- teristic of the times," Lavelle said. The Spring Lake Historical Society describes the seven-bedroom Swain House in its prime: A lovely weathervane, finials, and ornamental metal cresting accent the uneven roofline, and a round cornice with decorative brackets adorn the sec- ond floor façade. A tall corner conical turret pierced by pleasing dormers with steep splayed roof graces the east side of the home, and a round corner of the first floor porch exhibits a lovely conical roof reminiscent of a "paddy hat." A tower on the north side of the dwelling has a louvered eyebrow win- dow opening set in a steep hexagonal- shaped roof. There are a variety of patterned shingles, including fish scale, diamond, and flat shapes, as well as second-floor bay windows and some multi-pane stained glass windows. The face of the bow-shaped roof above the front entry is highlighted by a decora- tive sunburst. A corbelled brick chimney is visible toward the center of the structure. There is a rear porch and a porte-cochere. "Everyone talks about the portico," Demolition, December 2013. Courtesy of the Spring Lake Historical Society continued on page 56

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