The Mansion House in Cadwalader Park, known locally as Ellarslie or the Ellarslie Museum, is an important example of Victorian Italianate Villa architecture. It is likely the earliest extant villa of its type in New Jersey designed by John Notman, who introduced the style to the United States in the early 19th Century. The Mansion House was built circa 1845, as a summer home for Henry McCall, a wealthy Philadelphian with business interests in Trenton. At the time, Notman was working in Trenton as an architect for the enlargement of the New Jersey State House. The house has lost significant Italianate ornamentation but retains its basic forms, including the ample proportions, free plan, and generous interior spaces that characterize Notman’s work. The house was sold to the Trenton Park Commission in 1898 and served several uses including as a monkey house for the City Zoo. Today the house is in good condition and serves as the Ellarslie Museum. It also retains excellent character of setting in the center of Trenton’s Olmsted-designed Cadwalader Park. 

The 2022 Trust grant will help fund the preparation of a Preservation Plan.