Junior League Of Greater Princeton To Hold Designer Showhouse And Gardens At 75 Cleveland Lane

Princeton, NJ -- The 19th Designer Showhouse and Gardens will take place this spring at 75 Cleveland Lane in Princeton, the Junior League of Greater Princeton (JLGP) announced.

The home will be open for public tours on Sunday, April 30.

The event continues Thursday-Sundays through Saturday, May 27, from 11 a.m.-4 p.m.

The Showhouse will also play host to lectures, luncheons and special events.

Proceeds from this biennial fundraiser support the Junior League’s mission, and are reinvested back into the community via programs that benefit local women’s and children's initiatives, grants to area community organizations and scholarships for female high school seniors who have demonstrated a strong commitment to community service and voluntarism.

The Showhouse event also aims to raise awareness about the rewarding opportunities and valuable leadership training the JLGP provides its volunteer members.

The Junior League is seeking talented, innovative and creative interior and landscape designers to join them in making this Designer Showhouse a success in raising critical funds for the JLGP and its community projects in the Greater Princeton area.

A Designer’s Open House will be held on site on Nov. 16 and 17, 9 a.m. to 1 p.m. for interested interior and landscape designers. Designers planning to attend the open house must register online at https://www.jlgp.org/showhouse/ by Nov. 14 to reserve their spot. Space is limited.

Since 1974, the JLGP has produced 18 Designer Showhouses, showcased more than 500 curated spaces inspiring tens of thousands of home and garden design enthusiasts, invested thousands of volunteer hours and raised nearly $2 million dollars.

Renowned luxury home builder, Jay Grant of Grant Homes, joined with JLGP to create this showcase.
Internationally celebrated cabinetry designer and craftsman, Christopher Peacock will install his classic British cabinetry to the Showhouse kitchen.

75 Cleveland Lane is well-known by Princeton insiders and art aficionados alike as a creative hive.

The impressive stone house was once home to J. Seward Johnson Jr, sculptor and founder of Grounds for Sculpture and his first wife, Barbara “Kristina” Johnson, a student turned fashion model turned one of America’s Top 100 Collectors of Art and Antiques (1986-1996).

After their highly publicized divorce in 1964, Kristina Johnson, along with her daughter Jeniah “Kookie” Johnson, remained in the house up until her death in 2013. Her passion for the arts influenced the transformation of her manse into part home, part museum housing her immense and eclectic collection of fine, folk, ceramic and ethnographic arts.

Fast forward to today, contractors, craftsman and carpenters—all artists in their own right—are buzzing inside the hive, rebuilding the house inside the stone hull at the direction of Jay Grant, who purchased the property from Kookie Johnson in December of 2015.

The view of 75 Cleveland Lane has always invited curiosity—the front of the house positioned away from the street. Passersby have only been allowed to see the back of the house enclosed by a stone wall with a custom wrought iron gate, a side view of the carriage house, a hint of courtyard and a smattering of whimsical sculptures dotting the grounds.

Grant’s plan transfigures the front of the house to face Cleveland Lane, lifting the veil and opening the new front door to Showhouse guests.

Tours will include the three floors of the main house featuring 5 bedrooms, 5 bathrooms, 2 powder rooms and 4 fireplaces, the carriage house which boasts a 5 bay-garage and 1-bedroom apartment and the estate’s gardens and grounds.

The carriage house bays will house the Showhouse cafe and boutique.

The Junior League of Greater Princeton is an organization of women committed to promoting voluntarism, developing the potential of women, and improving communities through the effective action and leadership of trained volunteers.

The Junior League of Greater Princeton focuses its efforts on the needs of women and children in Mercer and Bucks counties, as well as the surrounding areas.

Women over the age of 21, committed to voluntarism, regardless of race, religion or national origin are welcome as members.

The Junior League of Greater Princeton is part of the Association of Junior Leagues International, which includes 293 Junior Leagues in the United States, Canada, Mexico and Great Britain.

For more information, visit www.jlgp.org.