L’Hommedieu House

The L’Hommedieu House is an excellent example of late 18th- and early 19th-century domestic architecture. This stylish town house originally stood on Spring Street in Morristown on a lot first owned by Nathaniel L’Hommedieu and later sold to John Gwinnup in 1775. Although the exact age of the present structure is not known, the center hallway and staircase clearly date to a remodeling done in the early 1800s. The house has four rooms on each floor and a basement with a large fireplace for cooking. Its gambrel roof allows more second-floor headroom, and notable features include a beautifully paneled front door with small-paned sidelights and transom. Much of the clapboard siding is original. In the 1960s, a Morristown redevelopment project planned a three-building complex called Headquarters Plaza on the block between Speedwell Avenue and Spring Street, with Water Street to be realigned and part of the town’s oldest section, including a pond, mill site, and many historic buildings, slated for demolition. The L’Hommedieu House on Spring Street was among the houses to be destroyed. The area of Morristown called The Hollow was once an important crossroads, and nearby at the southeast corner of Spring Street and Water Street stood Dickerson’s Tavern, the site of Benedict Arnold’s court-martial for minor offenses in 1779, shortly before his treason at West Point. In 1969, the town donated both the L’Hommedieu House and the Estey House, which had stood across the street, to Historic Speedwell. The house was renovated and became Historic Speedwell’s Visitors Center, with admissions, exhibits, and a gift shop on the first floor, staff offices above, and a restored basement with a working open-hearth fireplace for educational programs.

Morristown, New Jersey · United States