On the Market: Victorian Guest Palace in Cape May

Not only will you live like a king or queen in this elaborately restored Queen Anne guesthouse, but your guests will get the royal treatment too.


house for sale cape may victorian guesthouse exterior front

501 Hughes St., Cape May, N.J. 08204 | Images via Chris Clemans Sotheby’s International Realty

You are hereby summoned to an audience with the Empress at the corner of Hughes and Decatur streets in historic Cape May, N.J.

You may arrange a suitable time and date for the audience with her secretary, whose name appears below.

Upon your arrival at the stipulated location, you will be presented with this elegant and exuberant Queen Anne house for sale.

house for sale cape may victorian guesthouse front parlor

Front parlor

house for sale cape may victorian guesthouse side parlor

Side parlor

Its current owners took this 19th-century gem and scoured the planet for finery with which to dress it up. Working with their architect and designer, they transformed it into the Empress guest house, a totally 21st-century throwback to the Gilded Age.

house for sale cape may victorian guesthouse dining room

Dining room

“Opulent” fails to capture the level and quality of the decor in this place. “Baroque” might be more appropriate. As you should be able to discern from the photos of the main-floor public spaces, the owners pulled out all the stops in making the parlors and dining room palatial.

house for sale cape may victorian guesthouse kitchen

Kitchen

They kept going when they got to the kitchen, whose up-to-date range comes straight out of the late 1800s. (It has a more modern oven and microwave backing it up to its left.) What I would like to know, however, is: What’s that contraption on the island do? (My guess is it’s a 19th-century scale.)

house for sale cape may victorian guesthouse guest bedroom

Guest bedroom

And they didn’t stop there, either. All eight of the house’s bedrooms are plush and richly decorated with authentic period furnishings, drapery and fixtures.

house for sale cape may victorian guesthouse master suite

Master suite

The top-floor master suite also has an especially commodious sitting room, and it and several of the other bedrooms have their own private balconies.

house for sale cape may victorian guesthouse basement rec room

Basement rec room

The basement contains all sorts of goodies for you and your guests. The rec room has a game table, a player piano, an antique soda fountain and a popcorn machine.

house for sale cape may victorian guesthouse theater

Theater

That last means that you and your guests can watch movies in the 12-seat theater in true movie-theater style.

house for sale cape may victorian guesthouse barber shop

Barber shop

There’s also a barber shop and dressing room on this floor. The house also has a dumbwaiter so your guests don’t have to haul their luggage upstairs.

Buy this oh-so-elegant house for sale and you will be able to treat yourself, your friends and your guests like royalty. Don’t be surprised if the visitors who check in address you as “Your Majesty.”

THE FINE PRINT

BEDS: 8

BATHS: 8 full, 2 half

SQUARE FEET: 4,563

SALE PRICE: $3,800,000

501 Hughes St., Cape May, N.J. 08204 [Chris Clemans | Chris Clemans Sotheby’s International Realty]