Allen House, Shrewsbury

Artist Conrad Newman

Period1972

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions20 × 24 in. (50.8 × 61 cm)

InscribedDated on the reverse, "3/25/72."

SignedSigned lower left, "Conrad."

ClassificationsLandscapes & Still Life

Credit LineGift of Conrad Newman, 1972

Object number1972.3

DescriptionView of a large two story, gambrel-roofed structure with a one-story section to its left that extended to the rear with a lean-to addition. The main block has a three bay facade, as does the lower section. Chimneys are located against the gable end of the main block, and against the gable end of what is apparently a kitchen dependency due to the presence of a brick oven extending from the rear of a large fireplace. A small white-painted structure stands in the yard to the left of the main buildling, and a well house appears in the distance. The structure is painted white, as is a picket fence along the roadway in the foreground. A couple is walking toward the building from the left, while a carriage drawn by a single horse is heading from right to left in the roadway which forms the foreground. Bare trees surround the building, while others are depicted in the background under a partly cloudy sky.
Curatorial RemarksBorn in Red Bank, Monmouth County, Conrad Newman has spent his entire career as a commercial artist, as well as a fine artist primarily working in oil. At one time he owned and operated The Loft Gallery in Princeton, NJ.NotesThe painting depicts the Allen House in Shrewsbury, Monmouth County, which sits in the northwest corner of the intersection of Broad Street and Shrewsbury Avenue. Construction of the main portion of the Allen House took place between 1702 and 1715. But the building gained its present appearance following alterations undertaken between 1740 and 1750 or later. These changes included the addition of the kitchen wing, and the familiar gambrel-shaped roof. Josiah Halstead purchased the Allen House in 1754. From then until 1814 it was operated as the Blue Ball tavern. Owned since 1968 by the Monmouth County Historical Association, the first floor is furnished as a local tap room might have looked between 1780 and 1815. Community meetings and court sessions were also held in the building, so the back room has been set up as if a meeting is about to be held.

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