This restored 135-year-old Tenafly home is on the market for $1.65M. Take a peek inside
A 135-year-old Queen Anne Victorian in Tenafly's East Hill section is where the borough's foundation was laid.
On the market for $1.65 million, 54 Magnolia Ave.'s first residents were Frederic L. Colver and his wife, Lillian (Warren) Colver.
The home's first owner
Frederic Colver was a noted publisher who spearheaded the township's 1894 incorporation and later became mayor. Lillian Colver had an outsized social influence and was "one of those responsible for Tenafly Public Library," The Record reported in her March 1932 obituary.
"They moved to Tenafly in the spring [of] 1888, where they have since been identified with every important civic, religious and social activity," the newspaper reported.
A 19th-century exterior with a remodeled interior
Their home was restored by the current owners in the mid-2000s under the watch of an expert in historic preservation, said Reed Tighe, a real estate agent with Corcoran Baer & McIntosh.
The home has custom stained-glass windows, three wood-burning fireplaces and a wraparound porch. It also features 19 styles of parquet flooring spread over three finished floors that sit atop an unfinished, walk-out basement. Deeply set back, the home nonetheless has a backyard big enough for a pickleball court, Tighe said, and adding a pool is a possibility.
Though it appears decidedly 19th-century from the outside, the kitchen and bathrooms have been remodeled within the last four years, he said. All but one of the four bathrooms feature radiant heating.
The modern amenities blend into the six-bedroom home's rustic spaces, Tighe said. In a market that generally demands new construction, he said, the home is not necessarily for everyone. It is, however, for those who appreciate historic craftsmanship and charm, he added.
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In a historic district
The Victorian-era ambiance goes beyond the home. Fifty-four Magnolia features meticulous landscaping and is flanked by two other historic homes amid the Magnolia Avenue Historic District.
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"It's on a street that is just lined with historic homes," Tighe said. "They all are magnificent in their own way, but this one's just a little bit more unique. Each room tells a different story."
People behind the home's history
The area was developed by local lawyer Ashbel Green to lure middle-class and wealthy New Yorkers, according to borough records. Among those he attracted was 24-year-old Colver, a Milwaukee native who had been living in Brooklyn for the previous 22 years, James M. Van Valen wrote in his 1900 "History of Bergen County."
A publisher by the age of 17, Colver ran a publishing syndicate with a future Pulitzer Prize-winning author, Edward Bok, before starting as an ad manager for the Frank Leslie Publishing House in 1889. A decade later, he succeeded Leslie as president and majority owner. He sold the company in 1906 before working for The New York Times, Lippincott's Magazine and Boy Scouts' publications, the Times reported in his November 1927 obituary.
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Locally, Colver made his name fundraising for the 1912 construction of an old Tenafly Borough Hall, spending 25 years as the superintendent of Tenafly Presbyterian Sunday School, and organizing the movement that led to the borough's 1894 incorporation. He was also the editor of the Tenafly Record newspaper, a member of the first Borough Council and mayor in 1912-13.
This article originally appeared on NorthJersey.com: Historic Tenafly home for sale for $1.65M. See inside
