This Queen Anne-style Tower Cottage is certified eligible for listing in the New Jersey and National Registers of Historic Places for its association with the beginnings of Point Pleasant Beach. It was constructed as one of the first dozen houses in Point Pleasant "City" in the early 1880s. The house was also briefly owned by Edward H. Murphy, and Peter Backes, who bought the house at a sheriff’s sale. Murphy, a Trenton, NJ businessman, and Backes were both involved in developing the town. Murphy would become the first mayor of Point Pleasant Beach Borough after its incorporation in 1886. Backes was the first municipal clerk. Since it was certified eligible for listing in 2006, the private owners of Tower Cottage have since restored the top stage of its tower, and the resource substantially reflects its late-nineteenth-century appearance. 

Tower Cottage serves as a reference property for a Municipal Planning Project, the scope of which will apply to the whole of Point Pleasant Beach Borough. A beachside report community founded in 1886, the Borough has a Historic Preservation Commission but currently has no substantive protections for historic resources. Only two resources within the Borough have thus far been certified eligible for listing in the State and National Registers of Historic Places. 

The 2022 Trust grant will help fund a Historic Preservation Master Plan Element, Reconnaissance-Level Architectural Survey, and GIS StoryMap for the Borough of Point Pleasant Beach.