Hixson-Mixsell House Pohatcong Township, New Jersey

Text courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Parks Service. Minor transcription errors or changes in formatting may have occurred; please see the Nomination Form PDF for official text. Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.

The Hixson-Mixsell House possesses local architectural significance for the ca. 1790-1820 western half of its rear wing, a rare northern New Jersey example of plank frame construction, a variant of English box framing in which vertical planks are employed instead of studs to support exterior cladding. The American hearth of this building practice appears to be New England, where early examples have been well documented and whence the method evidently was introduced to New Jersey in the decades before 1700. The house is also architecturally significant for its ca. 1836-40 brick main block, a good example of late Federal/Greek Revival style architecture, which appears to have been designed to accommodate commercial as well as domestic functions and clearly reflects the economic status of its builder David Mixsell as a successful mill proprietor and merchant in the village of Springtown. The period of significance extends from ca. 1790, the earliest construction date that can be established for the rear wing based on physical evidence, to 1898, when common ownership of the house and associated mills ended. Although the house suffered from neglect and inappropriate alteration during the 20th century, a remarkable amount of early fabric has survived, and the current owner has succeeded in preserving the building and restoring much of its historic architectural character.