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^^Tuckahoe Doctor and Wife ^iVlerge Two Traveled House?

TUCKAHOE - They move houses in this farmland community like a chess master manipulates pawns Take the case, for instance, of Dr. Irving Braverman and his creative wife. Kleanor. who own an attractive red rustic house on busy Route 50 here. Actually, ii’s two well traveled houses that they merged into one comfortable contemporary abode Their story is a remarkable illustration of ingenuity, perseverance and good old lashior#! hard work Some 20 years ago when they were still hvmg m Somers Point and Dr. Braverman was a highly successful obstetrician, they f ame ac ross a ramshackle 150 year old house on Houle 50. It looked like it was . ready to collapse the first tmje Mrs Braverman breathed on it It contained two bedrooms on the* second floor, a living room and a lean l/i kitchen I«a!cr research developed that the house had-boen moved to that site way back in IH79 ISSPIBKI) BY TIIK challenge and look .mg ahead to Dr Braverman's semiretirement. the couple (anight the house and began restoring it. ripping out plaster, installing insulation and performing sundry other chores with professional help ‘ In the meantime, they saw a second house, about the same age. in another section of town It Was not quite as bad as the first, but it was hardly a candidate for Better Homes and Gardens This house on Marshallville Road had two bedrooms, living room, dining room and kitchen They purchased it in I%4 and decided to move the structure to their Tuckahoe property right next*to the first house they owned It was moved in two sections, first the main part and then an addition Eleven years after they purchased the

first house Dr. and Mrs Braverman moved into their new residence created out of two old houses, among many that have been moved about the town of Tuckahoe during the past century ••IT WAS FUN. but it was hard work,” said Mrs Braverman in retrospect. Although modern, the house still has traces of its historic past. The walls of the living room consist of siding from an old corn crib. The lean-to kitchen has been extended, and the roof raised. The dining room wall is of Honduras mahognay wood Upstairs, a. favorite with the BraVer mans is a bedroom with walls 'of weatherbeaten boards taken from one of the old houses Dr Braverman. now a general practitioner. converted part of the house he bought in 1964 into an office where he attends to patients He is still on the staff of Shore Memorial Hbspita^fn Somers Point having served there 10 years as ad-

ministrator

While the inside of the house is charmingly unique, the well manicured property is testimonial also to the horticultural handiwork of Mrs. Braverman. Flowers bloom in abundance and when the first chill arrives many of them, poinsettas. greens and others, are brought inside to the mini-greenhouse where they are kept comfortable unUlthe first signs of spring. ‘‘We came here because I like outdoor gardening and because I wanted my husband to cut down on his work." said the artistic doctor-’s wife. "I love to be here This

is living."

ALTHOUGH HE GIVES much of the credit to his wife. Dr. Braverman is really no slouch at the gardening bit himself. He had a two acre garden on which he grew

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(Photos by-Doris Ward) ONCE TWO HOUSES situated in different sections of Tuckahoe. this combined structure is now the home of Dr. and Mrs. Irving Braverman in Tuckahoe.

corn and garden vegetables. He says his wife made him cut it down to one acre which still gives him enough land to fulfill his frustrations as a farmer. Dr. and Mrs. Braverman own 100 acres next to their house (houses) and for awhile his wife grew strawberries there and sold them. Why strawberries? “My wife likes strawberries." he said

with a shrug of his shoulders. "We had a lot of strawberry shortcake those years.” Now a neighbor grows hay and alfalfa on that property. Dr. Braverman has no plans for it in the immediate future unless he finds another run down house he likes. And who knows? Maybe then he'll decide to ’move still another house and make his comfortable accommodations even larger.

6 AUGUST 25, 1992