Somerville Borough Hall and Public Library

Daniel Robert House

Constructed in 1888, the Daniel Robert House is a faithful copy of an award-winning design by Alexander Jackson Davis. The Gothic-revival “castle” served as the Lodge of the Somerville Elks from 1923 to 1959. Today it serves as Somerville's Borough Hall and Public Library.

The mansion was listed on the National Register in time for the 100th anniversary of the Borough’s incorporation.

The story of how Somerville acquired its “castle”, the man who built it, and the preservation of an award-winning classic of American Gothic Revival architecture stretches from the 19th to the 21st century. It involves the growth of a small town and the rise and fall of a colorful, but not widely known, colonial-American family.

History and architecture buffs will be intrigued by the artistry and planning of one man’s private castle, one that is now a building serving the public and a National Register site. To learn more, The County’s Handsomest House is available in paperback or digital editions.

Public Library

Somerville Public Library, located in the former Elks Ballroom, has its own New Jersey Room with many historic and rare volumes on state and local history, as well as vintage photographs of Somerville. The library maintains a vertical file as a local history resource and is a branch of the Somerset County library system.

Tours

For a booklet on the history of Borough Hall and tours of the former mansion, contact us.