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Veteran Philadelphia journalist and former New Jersey state Senator Diane Allen and her husband have listed their historic Edgewater Park mansion for sale.The 3-acre Cottage Avenue estate sits along the Delaware River and boasts a rich history, having been previously owned by the president of the Continental Congress. The estate is listed for $1.75 million.
Allen, who worked as a television reporter and anchor in Philly from the 1970s to the 1990s, represented a section of Burlington County, N.J. in the state Senate for two decades, and was Republican gubernatorial candidate Jack Ciattarelli’s lieutenant governor running mate in 2021.
She said the decision to sell was made with an eye toward the future.
“The time comes when you look at yourself in the mirror and notice that time has passed,” she said. “Consequently, we’re downsizing to a continuing care retirement community.”
Allen said she and her husband frequently visit their daughter and her family in Texas. “We’re not around as frequently as we used to be,” she said.
She and her husband Sam never imagined they would wind up buying the property, but that quickly changed when they visited the estate 43 years ago.
“We just went out on a lark to see it and it was spectacular, I love historic homes, and it just really grabbed me, it grabbed both of us,” she said.
In the early 1700s the home started as a one-room farmhouse. According to the local Historical Society the property was owned by Elias Boudinot in the early 1800s. Boudinot had been president of the Continental Congress in 1783, and he later served as a Congressman from N.J. After that was appointed by President George Washington as Director of the United States Mint.
Allen said in 1855, a Philadelphia merchant bought the farmhouse and quite a bit of land along the waterfront. Shortly after that, extensive renovations were completed on the house: a third floor was added, the library, seven bathrooms, the huge stained-glass Palladium window and the grand staircase were added, as was a porte cochere, so guests would arrive under cover in their horse drawn carriages, and a 4th floor tower was added as a bedroom for the butler.