Guide Me Home to North Jersey

This ornate Colonial Revival house, c.1908, was built by famous architect Frederick Cowperthwaite for Mr. & Mrs. Frederick Harvey Lum. Mr. Lum, who worked for the law office of Whitehead & Guild in Newark, and was admitted to the bar in 1870, was elected the first Mayor of Chatham in 1897. A life long resident of Chatham, he was a leader in Chatham Borough’s separation from Chatham Township. Edward Harris Lum, Frederick’s brother, born in 1857, graduated in 1880 from Harvard, and was in the same class with Theodore Roosevelt. Charles Lum, also a brother of Frederick’s, was born in 1860, and graduated Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University in 1881. Ernest Lum, Frederick’s son, who also resided in this house, would become Mayor of Chatham in the 1930’s. Today there is a Lum Avenue, and a new Lum Turf Field located behind the Municipal Building.

Set on a hill with distant views, this stately property combines a number of elaborate exterior details from earlier classical forms, such as the full-height colonnaded portico with Ionic capitals, “Adam” Style fan-lighted doorway, keystone window lentils, and pediment dormers with Palladian windows. The interior floor plan consists of a “four square” layout with a “kitchen ell.” Grand in scale, yet very livable, this home features an updated kitchen, eight bedrooms, three full floors, five fireplaces, two side-porches, pocket-doors, detailed moldings and wainscoting, and craftsmanship from a bygone era.

Owned by a musical family, this home once housed three Steinway grand pianos. Over the years, house concerts have been presented by members of the Emerson String Quartet, the Metropolitan Opera’s Jane Bunnell and Paul Plishka, pianist Jeffrey Swann, and cellist Sergey Antonov – the 2007 winner of the Tschaikovsky Gold Medal.

Lyrica Chamber Music in Chatham, now in its 22nd season, was founded here by one of the property’s owners, Mariel Bossert. Lyrica is now directed by her daughter, violinist Laura Bossert, and pianist Adam Waite. On a typical concert weekend at 202 Fairmount Avenue, the house is filled with music played by classical musicians who rehearse diligently for Sunday’s concert.

This landmark house was also used to film the movie “Imaginary Heros” starring Sigourney Weaver and Jeff Daniels a few years ago. This evolved into a Chatham “happening” with many locals coming to watch the filming, and receiving Sigourney’s autograph!

The property includes a Carriage House, which was once used as the living quarters for the Lum’s coachman, and stables for their horses. It is now used as a 2-car garage.

For additional information on this premier property located on “Mansion Row on The Hill” please click here.

Posted by: Cynthia Edgar