By DONALD WITTKOWSKI
From the road, the house at 223 85th Street is barely visible, obscured by a mini-forest of tall cedar trees and a motley thicket of overgrown bushes and shrubs.
The Dutch Colonial Revival-style home is dilapidated now, but old photos showing the house in its early 1900s heyday make clear that it was once an architectural gem formerly owned by one of Sea Isle City’s most prominent families.
Soon, the home that once served as a summer retreat for the Cronecker family of Cronecker’s Bellevue Hotel fame is expected to be torn down, erasing a piece of early 20th century history in Sea Isle’s Townsends Inlet section.
“There’s a lot of history on this street. This must have been the house,” Jeri Musselman, a resident of 85th Street, said while marveling over the old home.
Tax records indicate the old house is owned by 92-year-old Marie Regina Thomas of Philadelphia. Contacted by phone Wednesday, Thomas said she has transferred the deed to her children, who could not be reached for comment.
Musselman said she spoke recently with Thomas’ son, who told her the now-empty house will be demolished. The two-story home sits on a sprawling double lot, creating different options for the property’s development or possible sale in the future.
“Nobody has decided on anything yet,” Musselman said of her conversations with the son about the family’s plans for the land.
The old house is included in a binder book of locally significant homes compiled by the Sea Isle City Historical Society & Museum. The museum’s description of the house notes that it dates to 1905 and was once the summer estate of the Cronecker family.
Online real estate records, though, indicate the house was built in 1889. The caption for an old black-and-white photo in the museum’s records of the Cronecker family says the house dates to 1895.
The photo shows members of the Cronecker family standing on the front porch of the house while celebrating the marriage of Clarence Pfeiffer and Minerva “Minnie” Cronecker.
The Cronecker family rose to prominence first by operating the old Tivoli Hotel in Sea Isle. In 1890, the family purchased the Bellevue Hotel and renamed it Cronecker’s Bellevue Hotel. It stood at the corner of 40th Street and Landis Avenue, but was demolished in the 1960s to make way for what is now the LaCosta Lounge, according to museum records. The Croneckers were a force in the hotel business for 70 years.
Their summer estate at 223 85th Street reflected their wealth. The basement of the home once housed an indoor swimming pool, said Mike McHale, a trustee of the Historical Society & Museum and a former Sea Isle mayor.
“They had money,” McHale said of the Croneckers. “Back then, whoever heard of someone having a swimming pool in their own house?”
Musselman said 85th Street was formerly known as Cedar Street. The towering cedar trees that hide the old house from view create a sense of mystery. The front of the property is also protected by a waist-high decorative concrete wall. In the middle of the wall are two columns and a rusty iron gate.
An old style concrete block staircase trimmed with wood leads to the front entrance. A peek inside through the front door reveals a jumble of old furniture, books and other odds and ends. There is also an old piano, sitting quietly without anyone to play it.
Architectural touches on the now weather-beaten façade give a hint of just how special the house once was. Among them is elaborate wood shingle siding that has a variety of patterns. The dwelling is topped by a distinctive cross-gambrel roof, according to museum records.
The indoor pool in the basement was later converted into living space. Musselman said the owners would rent out the basement each summer to the same group of people, who enjoyed singing and playing music. A violin and two guitars were left behind in one room of the basement.
Also left behind was a collage of memories of each summer that the renters spent in the house from 1980 to 2018. It is titled “Eulogy for the Place I Loved,” an apparent reference to the house’s pending demolition.
The “eulogy” includes photos of the renters attached to a large piece of plywood, as well as diary-like entries describing highlights of each summer.
“I was reading it and thought, ‘Oh, my God, this is so awesome,”’ Musselman said.
The last bit of writing on the plywood board is titled “Part 12 – The End.” It was penned by someone named Martha and includes a heart symbol.
It reads, “And so, goodbye, my happy place – we really did enjoy the heck out of you! Your memories will stay with me until the day I no longer remember anything. 39 years – it was a great run!”
“I am forever grateful to the Thomas family for letting us stay for so long,” it continues. “But now, not a summer will go by that I will not think about this place and wish with all my heart that this house and I could still be here.”
