TRENTON, N.J. – The lavishly decorated Kelsey Memorial Room reminds us that valentines come in many forms. Filled with the treasured souvenirs of a lifetime of collecting – art porcelain and glass, cherubs, charms and china – the century-old installation was recently restored.
Dedicated to Prudence Townsend Kelsey, the room is located on the second floor of the Kelsey Building in Trenton, N.J., and is a showcase for objects Mrs. Kelsey collected on her annual trips to Europe and throughout the U.S. with her husband, Henry Cooper Kelsey.
Kelsey, a banker who served as New Jersey secretary of state for 27 years at the end of the 19th century, wanted a lasting memorial to his wife. He had made gifts to churches she’d attended and donated to hospitals in her name. Determined to do better by her memory, he bought land in Trenton’s State House block in 1909 and hired Architect Cass Gilbert to design a new building to house the local School of Industrial Arts.
By the time it was finished in 1911, Kelsey had spent more than $3.55 million in today’s money on what is still called the Kelsey Building. The room he concentrated on was the Prudence Townsend Kelsey Memorial Room, entered through a door case of Siena marble and double doors, the outer mahogany and the inner inlaid satinwood decorated with enamel. Pottier & Stymus Co. of New York designed and furnished the room to house objects Mrs. Kelsey collected, which were arranged by her husband. He kept the only set of keys to the room until his death in 1920, permitting one public viewing a year.
A nine-month restoration of the rarely seen room has just been completed by Thomas Edison State University, which has occupied the Kelsey Building since 1979. “We’re the stewards of this building,” said Dr. George A. Pruitt, the university president. “We began by realizing that the cracks in the decorative plaster had to be addressed and the more research we did, the more we appreciated the quality of the room.”
Restoration of the PTK Memorial Room was carried out by John Canning Co., of Cheshire, Conn. Reinstallation of Mrs. Kelsey’s collection was managed by Ellen Paul Denker, an independent exhibition curator formerly with the New Jersey State Museum, now based in North Carolina.
The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1992, as “one of the most important visual landmarks” of the State House Historic District. Gilbert was the president of the American Institute of Architects when hired by Kelsey and had completed the Minnesota State Capitol; he went on to design the state capitols of West Virginia and Arkansas and the U.S. Supreme Court building, but is best known as the architect of the Woolworth Building in New York. Pottier & Stymus, one of the premier 19th century American cabinetmakers, boasted 750 employees in 1875. Works by the firm are on view in the current Metropolitan Museum of Art exhibition, “Artistic Furniture of the Gilded Age.”
The university plans to open the room for group tours by appointment in the coming months, in conjunction with the New Jersey State Museum and the Tour Office of the New Jersey State House.
Toni M. Terry, BA