page_title: David Compton House
section_title: Architectural history
hierarchical_section_title: David Compton House / Architectural history
caption_attribution_description: English: The original Federal style doorway of the David Compton House includes an 8-panel door, sidelights, and an elaborate fanlight. Also of note is the vaulted arch in the later porch ceiling, accommodating the original fanlight.
context_page_description: The David Compton House is privately owned historic home located in the small, unincorporated village of Mauricetown, New Jersey, located in Commercial Township, Cumberland County. The dwelling is composed of at least five distinct sections. It was built in 1816, originally as a 3-bay Federal style structure with a stylish entryway, including a decorative fanlight and sidelights, fluted moldings, and an 8-panel door. Probably during the 1830s, the house was enlarged to its present 5-bay façade with a Greek Revival porch spanning the center three bays. A large rear wing includes at least 3 distinct additions, including a room with exposed, beaded overhead joists, a rear ell kitchen addition with a winder staircase to the upstairs chambers, and flanking the main ells, a long shed addition that was reportedly a Victorian era porch before it was finished into interior living space.
context_section_description: The evolution of the house is complex, displaying evidence of at least five building periods. The main block of the Compton House was originally only a three-bay dwelling, including the current stair hall and north parlor—the only rooms with a cellar beneath. The house was expanded to a center hall plan around 1840 through the addition of the south parlor, which sits above a crawlspace. The Greek Revival porch, which spans the center three bays, was likely added at the same time. An interesting adaptation is the cut-out in the porch ceiling to accommodate the full height of the original fanlight above the original doorway. When David Compton died in 1838, his assets totaled $22,638, including a store on the property, several sailing vessels, a mill in the nearby village of Buckshutem, and significant grain and timber. Considering his wealth and his household size – 14 people including 4 adults – it seems likely that it was David who expanded his house from the original three-bay structure.
  The Compton house also has a two-story rear ell, for which the periodization is less clear-cut. One theory is that the middle portion of the ell was a one-story kitchen built at the same time as the more finished original house, and the ell was later expanded upward and backward. In the attic, an exposed fascia board for the front portion of the house indicates that at least the second story of the rear ell was a later building phase. Yet there are signs that the original ell could be an earlier, 18th-century structure that was attached to the 1818 house. The size and form of the middle section, which displays exposed beaded joists, resembles some 18th-century one-room dwellings in Cape May County. The rear portion of the ell was clearly a later addition, as revealed by the split rear stairs and a second set of carpenters marks in the attic.
caption: The original Federal style doorway of the David Compton House includes an 8-panel door, sidelights, and an elaborate fanlight. Also of note is the vaulted arch in the later porch ceiling, accommodating the original fanlight.
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