Craftsman Farms In Parsippany Gets $750K Preservation Award

PARSIPPANY, NJ — Craftsman Farms has earned statewide recognition, along with some funds. The Stickley Museum received a New Jersey Historic Preservation Award, receiving a $75,000 grant for its education center.

Because of the pandemic and damage from Tropical Storm Isaias, the Stickley Museum has been closed to the public, except for ground tours. But they look forward to fully reopening next year.

The garage and workshop building at Craftsman Farms was constructed in 1912 — about a year after the log house, the key building at the National Historic Landmark site. The building suffered a major fire around 1950, after which the upper portion of the structure was reconstructed as two residential apartments.

Working with HMR architects, construction was recently completed on rehabilitating the administration building as the new education center. The upper floors were rebuilt to replicate the original building, reinstating the stucco finish, gable roof, symmetrical fenestration and rear shed extension.

The building will house administrative offices on the first floor with flex space for educational programming, lectures and conference space in the original garage at ground level. A library, reading room and archival storage space are on the second floor.

"Good news has been in short supply over the past year, and we were so pleased to receive the announcement that the Education Center is being recognized for an award by Preservation New Jersey," said Vonda Givens, executive director of the Stickley Museum. "Rehabilitating this original, Stickley-era garage structure has been a long-held dream for the Stickley Museum at Craftsman Farms."

Gustav Stickley established Craftsman Farms, a 650-acre Craftsman utopia in the early 20th century. In 1989, the township purchased the remaining 30 acres of Craftsman Farms, which was designated a historic landmark the following year.

Today, the nonprofit Stickley Museum shares its story with Stickley fans around the world.

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