The 18-room mansion at the Emlen Physick Estate on Washington Street in Cape May, New Jersey, was designed by architect Frank Furness. Built in 1879, it is considered to be one of the finest examples of Victorian Stick Style architecture in America. The Estate was designed for Dr. Emlen Physick, descendant of a wealthy and famous Philadelphia family.
     Physick’s grandfather, Dr. Philip Syng Physick was known as the Father of American Surgery. But Physick himself did not follow in the family tradition. He never completed his medical training or practiced medicine, opting instead to live the life of a country gentleman and animal breeder in Cape May.
     The exterior of the Estate is distinguished by the architect’s trademark oversized features, including upside-down corbelled chimneys, hooded jerkin-head dormers, and the huge stick-like brackets on the porch. The complex is all done up in the tradition Victorian three-color scheme. The Carriage House, also designed by Furness, was built in 1876 before the main living quarters were completed. The Carriage House now houses the offices of the Mid-Atlantic Center for the Arts, which was formed to save the estate from demolition.