122 Broadway, West Cape May
It’s a story heard time and time again: boy meets girl, boy and girl fall in love, get married, and honeymoon in Cape May, where they fall in love with the city. Over time, the city’s irresistible pull connects the couple and the island together until the deal is sealed with a legal deed.
After a decade of searching, John and Jeanne Cunningham found a property they loved in West Cape May and put a ring on it.
“We’ve been dreaming of owning a piece of Cape May since my wife and I honeymooned here 10 years ago,” said John, who with Jeanne, purchased the 150-year-old property at 122 Broadway in West Cape May in 2023. “We were married July 12, 2014, and my wife’s birthday is July 14. We just fell in love with Cape May and have dreamed of owning a place since. We ended up buying this house in 2023 on my wife’s birthday, July 14. This summer we hope to have the house completed and spend our 10-year wedding anniversary in the house on the 12th.”
A 2024 New Jersey historic preservation survey refers to the house as the George W. Ownen House and puts construction between 1860 and 1870. The survey describes the house as a “two-story, side gabled Folk Victorian with a two-story rear, possibly built later. The second floor and dormer windows are six-by-six and appear original, while first floor windows are one-by-one replacements.”
“All of the house appears to be original, except for the rear enclosed portico,” said John. “The side porches were enclosed in the 1970s with jalousie windows, but the original porch flooring and beams are still there. The cedar shake siding on the outside of the house is installed over top of the original 1880s wood clapboard, which is completely intact and in good condition.”
The house is sheathed in wood shingle siding, and a detached one-car garage also sits on the fenced property.
“I plan on removing the cedar shake and restoring the original clapboard at some point in the future,” said John. “All of the windows in the house, except for two, also appear to be original or prior to 1920. The house originally had a cedar shake roof, but currently has asphalt shingles. I plan to go back to a cedar shake roof at some point.”
The historic survey shows the property was the residence of G. W. Ownen, whose name appears with the property on an 1872 Beers Census map. George W. Ownen, circa 1800-1881, is listed in the 1870 U.S Census as a 70-year-old carpenter.
“I’m in the process of renovating and restoring this property,” said John. “I’m trying to keep the house as original as possible—all the original windows and such—and preserving it. But I’m still a couple months from completing it. At this point we’re still doing interior renovations—drywall is happening soon. We’re installing kitchens and baths. We did all new electric, plumbing, and HVAC in the house.”
The house is currently configured as a three-story single-family residence with four bedrooms and two-and-a-half baths. Before the Cunninghams’ owership, the house was configured as a duplex with separate residences above and below.
“It’s been a full circle thing. After 10 years we own a piece of Cape May, and we really wanted a historic property,” John said. “I renovated an 1880s Victorian in my hometown of Media, Pennsylvania. I like preserving and restoring properties. We wanted something historic, and this fit the bill. Plus, we have four kids, and dogs, so we needed a yard and some space. This came up and we fell in love. We’ve got down to the original 1880s yellow pine floor and we’re refinishing them throughout the first floor. I love being able to preserve all that original woodwork in the house.”
“Historic preservation is so important in our community,” said Ami Menz, a local real estate agent and vice chair of the WCM Historic Preservation Committee. “It safeguards the unique historic and architectural essence of West Cape May. From the buildings to the streetscapes – these elements are what our residents and visitors like about this area, and we’re dedicated to preserving our local treasures for generations,”
The house sits at the corner of Second Avenue and Broadway near Wilbraham Park and is only a short stroll to the Washington Street Mall in Cape May City.
“I love the location, being in West Cape May,” said John. “It’s close enough that it’s a short walk to the beach and downtown Cape May but we’re in this little pocket. But we still have the Exit Zero Filling station nearby, and other restaurants—we just love the location.”
The survey points out that 122 Broadway, and its immediate neighbor to the south, 120 N. Broadway, have nearly identical footprints on the 1890 Sanborn maps, as well as other similar features including the dormers. The surveyor suggests it’s likely that both houses were both built by the same carpenter, possibly George Ownen or his son, Joseph, both of whom were carpenters.
“I bought the property from the estate of Susan Graham, and she lived in the Philadelphia area,” said John. “I only met her son at settlement, and he lives in New York. He sold me the house as is with everything in it—all the furniture. I only got a little of the back story on how Susan Graham came to own the house. She was gifted it by Grace Collins at some time in the 1970s. Grace Collins was an artist, and a bunch of her original artwork was left in the house. So of course I have all of that. The furniture that was left behind was also antique furniture, likely from the 1920s, so that is staying with the house as well. I’m not sure how long Grace Collins owned the house, or whether she bought it from the original owners—I don’t know.”
The house sits within the Historic District in West Cape May and is listed as a “contributing” historic structure.
“As we opened an old ceiling, we did find an old picture probably from the 1880s. We also found a ticket to a gala for the Union Railroad from the same time period. So yeah, that was cool.”
