David
Meadow leads a short tour through his home, known to the Princeton NJ community
as “the McCosh house” because it was the residence of the James   McCosh, president of Princeton
University from 1868 -1888.  

In recent
years, the mansion had been divided into two large condominium units and last
year, Meadow and his wife Lisa Mirin have taken up residence in the larger
side.

Meadow
relates that McCosh had built the structure in 1887 as his retirement home.
Before it was moved to its present location on Princeton’s main street, Nassau
Street, in 1906, it was originally situated on Prospect street, where it had
housed a student eating club [the “Quadrangle” of which novelist and
Princetonian F. Scott Fitzgerald wrote about in “This Side of Paradise.”] 

On
Nassau it sat on a large tract of land and its owner in 1980, Architect Robert
Hillier sought to tear it down for a townhouse development. The Historical
Society and the community waged a battle in the local newspapers to preserve
the historical house. Hillier relented, and was able to comply with regulations
concerning the housing development by moving the house once again, but this
time only 20 feet closer to the street.

Meadow
points out the elaborate, original stained glass work, woodwork, and scrollwork
in the main entrance area and along the grand stairway to the second floor. 

When
the house was moved in 1980, some of the original stucco was uncovered a
curious feature was revealed: The year “1888” and McCosh’s initials where
McCosh presumably had scratched them into the wet stucco.

Watch video interview and tour here.