The House

Included in the Veblens' donation of 96 acres for Princeton's and Mercer County's first nature preserve were two buildings of particular significance for public use: the 1931 Veblen House and an 1875 farm cottage that includes a small barn and corncrib. The buildings are located on a lovely wooded site in northeastern Princeton, on the edge of what has become three hundred acres of preserved land along the Princeton ridge.

Owned by the municipality, the buildings represent the only public infrastructure on the east side of Princeton. In contrast, the west side of Princeton has Mountain Lakes House, Clark House at the Battlefield, and the Historical Society's Updike Farm. All these buildings support programming and complement the open space that surrounds them. Eastern Princeton deserves infrastructural support for its open space as well.

The Veblen House and Cottage are unique, and tell stories otherwise untold. Though neither was built by the Veblens, it was they who generously donated them for public use. The Cottage was built by smallholder farmers eking out a living on rocky ground along the ridge, then became a study and getaway for Veblen and colleagues like Albert Einstein. The House was bought by the Veblens in 1941 and became their home, but had quite a life prior to that.

An early prefab, the House was moved from Morristown to Princeton in 1930 by an itinerant and very wealthy Manhattan couple, Jesse Paulmier Whiton-Stuart and Mary Marshall Ogden. Jesse's ancestors made their fortunes in railroads and banking. Mary's ancestry extended back to Chief Justice John Marshall and the 17th century pilgrim John Ogden. 

There were multiple reasons why the Whiton-Stuarts would have moved to Princeton. Research has revealed ancestral connections to the Pyne and Stockton families. Princeton provided an outlet for their love of horses, and Jesse's interest in math.

Like Whiton-Stuart, who was raised on Park Avenue in Manhattan but became an avid outdoorsman, the Veblens maintained a down-to-earth sensibility while traveling in elite academic circles. Oswald Veblen and Einstein were the first faculty members appointed to the Institute for Advanced Study, yet Veblen was also drawn to nature, and said he did his best thinking while chopping wood. Elizabeth Veblen was an avid gardener whose brother and brother-in-law won Nobel Prizes in physics.

When Elizabeth died in 1974, she bequeathed the house and its 14 acres to Mercer County with the expectation that it become "a part of the proposed library and museum of Herrontown Wood." The county instead rented it to local arborist Bob Wells and his family until 1998. In that fateful year, the county closed and boarded up a number of houses of historical importance. Like the others, Veblen House quickly became a target for vandalism. The Friends of Herrontown Woods fought off county plans to demolish the House in 2017, then convinced the town to accept transfer of Herrontown Woods from the county. In 2020, FOHW officially leased the House and Cottage to begin renovations to realize the Veblens' vision expressed 46 years prior. 

These photos, probably taken by Oswald Veblen in the 1950s, show the house was originally 2-toned, with brown for the second floor and black for the first. An intact foundation, durable roof, and solid construction helped sustain the house through 22 years of neglect.

The Veblens made extensive revisions to the house, adding a new roof and balcony. The Friends of Herrontown Woods has conducted extensive research on the materials that went into the house's unusual prefab construction.

Near the house were a hay barrack and a so-called dove cote, which was meant to house pigeons. The dove cote was likely installed by Whiton-Stuart, who was an avid hunter and outdoorsman. The "hay barrack", serving as a woodshed in the background, was a European design typically used to store excess hay after the barn was filled. Its four corner posts allow the roof to be raised to accommodate more hay. There are only a few such structures remaining in New Jersey. Though this hay barrack was torn down by the county in 2008, the goal is to rebuild it on-site.

The living room, with chestnut paneling, was a lovely green color enhanced by light streaming in the large, semi-circular windows. Einstein and others of considerable fame frequently visited the Veblens. The painting was one of two the Veblens owned by Charles Oppenheimer, a British painter. Many of the Veblens' furnishings evoked the 1920s.

Even the garage looks attractive in this 1950s photo, with its gray wall and red roof, ornamented by azaleas, mayapples and other spring flowers.

Born in York, England, Elizabeth Veblen brought to Princeton a love of English gardening. She hosted meetings of the Dogwood Garden Club, members of which continued to care for the grounds even after she died.

Elizabeth particularly loved daffodils, which she would propagate and plant in circular clumps in the field. This field east of the house borders a five acre privately owned pasture where two head of cattle grazed each summer until recently. Most of the pasture has been preserved to help buffer Herrontown Woods from surrounding residences.

Max Latterman was the Veblens' faithful groundskeeper, continuing to work there even after they had died. He appears in this photo to be as enthusiastic a wood splitter as Oswald Veblen was reputed to be.

The balcony shown here is a replacement, but care was taken to replicate the original baluster design.

A Russian cabinet maker is said to have been hired for two years by the Whiton-Stuarts to add various touches to the inside of the house.

In 2001, a local architectural firm determined that the "Veblen House and Cottage are eligible for listing as an historic district, for their association with the nationally significant mathematician and scholar Oswald Veblen." That listing was not made, but attests to the historical importance of the buildings.

Here's a view of grounds from the balcony--a very pleasant spot.

Up a short path from the Veblen House is the 1870s Douer farm cottage, a small barn and a corn crib. Acquired by the Veblens before the house, it served primarily as Oswald's study--a place where he could get away, sit next to the wood stove and read. Descendants of a family that lived there in the 1930s say that Einstein would sometimes wander by, and be invited in for a sandwich.