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CAPE MAY COUNTY MAGAZINE I JUNE '83

Inn Hosts Get The leftovers'

BARBARA METZI.ER

CAPE MAY - Five years ago il looked like a “rotting heap of lx>ards" to Larry Muentz. Today it is one of Cape May s finest restaurants. “We looked at the building for 10 minutes., just the outside because we didn’t have a key to gel in, and Diane fell in love with As a trained chef of The Restaurant School of Philadelphia, Diane Muentz had

The Mih*!/ family on Ihr stops of Alexanders.

more than a family mansion in mind when she saw the house. Now the owners and caretakers of Alexander’s Restaurant and Inn, the 19 room Joseph Hughes House, at 653 Washington St., keep a busv schedule as they work toward the continued restoration of the former mansion in order to complete the total “fantasy experience” for their clientelle. “When we bought this building, it was closer to being demolished than to being restored,” said Larry, a former sales executive for Xerox. “The building needed a new foundation, the back wall was falling away, and the second floor ’ was about to collapse.” IN THE FIVE YEARS that the former West Chester, Pa., couple have owned the building, they have worked to correct not only those problems, but many other more detailed ones regarding authentic restoration and decor. Four rooms on the second floor are now undergoing restoration by the Muentzs and several restaurant employes. They will be rented as guest rooms when completed, and the couple reported that they already have a waiting list of 150 interested takers. All the rooms will be furnished in Victorian decor, which, as usual, the couple has taken great pains to procure. “We’re getting more adept as time goes on,” Muentz said of the restoration. "We’re both still learning. One sentence in a magazine

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Alpxamtrr MurnU stands bctorc his family's restaurant in Cape May.

or something, will give us a clue as to how things should look. “WE TOOK CAREFUL pains to incorporate the 20th century with the 19th. For instance, the house is air conditioned, but you don’t notice it. The ducts are hidden. In the bathrooms, there are no exposed pipes.” Finding furnishings for the house is another difficult task When discovered, they are almost never in completely restored condition. "Every piece of furniture you buy is an adventure," added Diane. She has found many of the Inn furnishings locally. ‘‘I wouldn't dream of missing a yard sale in Cape May," she said. All the antiques, including the 1835 sofa, are usuable. Guests of the restaurant have free reign of the parlor and music room for between and after course smoking, and after dinner conversation. The Muentzs pointed out that their living quarters, on the third floor of the house, are not furnish-

ed as grandly as the other floors. “We get all the leftover pieces of furniture," they said. VICTORIAN LEGENDS and beliefs still influence our lives today, the Muentzs said. In the 19th century home, all bathroom fixtures were covered, said Larry, so that guests would not see the areas with which their hosts were most familiar. That includes the tub and sink, he added. “People still cover their toilet seat and tank today," he said, "and if you ask them why they do it, they don’t know why.” This is also the era that spawned the use of words like ‘‘powderoom’’ and “watercloset," which disguised the real function of the most intimate of rooms, and also covered the legs of furniture because they were H suggestive.” Forks and spoons at Alexander’s are turned down in due faithfulness to the Victorian belief: “that is the part that goes

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