Piscataway building serves as University president's residence

As the 19th president of the University, Richard L. McCormick oversees one of the largest research universities in the nation. But after a long day of working to enrich thousands of students, staff and alumni experience, he retreats to his residence in Piscataway.

Since McCormick was named president in 2002, he lives with his family on 1245 River Rd., the official residence of the University president, University spokesman E.J. Miranda, University spokesman said.

"The President's Residence is more than a home. It serves an important role in the University community," McCormick said via email correspondence. "Its warm atmosphere and convenient location provide an excellent setting to welcome donors and visitors to Rutgers and to celebrate the achievements of our faculty, staff, students and alumni."

The house was privately built in 1929 for Roberta Johnson and her husband Robert Nicholas, members of the Johnson family, Miranda said. When the owners retired in 1936, the house came on the market.

"Several members of the Rutgers Board of Trustees raised money privately in order to present the house to the University as a gift that would provide an appropriate home for presidents to live and host guests on behalf of Rutgers," he said.

At the time, there was no official residence for University presidents and most had lived in private homes, Miranda said.

"The house and surrounding property was purchased by the Trustees in 1939 for $39,000 and donated to the University," he said. "The house was renovated for the use of Robert C. Clothier, who was president of the University from 1932 to 1951."

The house subsequently served as the home of President Lewis Webster Jones, President Mason W. Gross, President Edward J. Bloustein and President Francis L. Lawrence, Miranda said.

During the 1960s, the house went through major structural changes, including the addition of a room on the first floor and the construction of a bay window to enlarge the dining room, he said.

Taylor Reveley, president of the College of William and Mary, has the privilege of living in the nation's oldest official residence for a college president.

"The President's House [located on campus in Williamsburg, Va.] was completed in 1733 and was built by Henry Cary and is the oldest official residence for a college president," Reveley said via email correspondence.

James Blair, the College of William and Mary's first president who served from 1693 to 1743, was the first president to reside there, and all but one of the college's 27 presidents lived in the house, he said.

Reveley, who lived in the house since 2008, said he enjoys living there but was initially unsure about living in a historic property.

"Like the house itself, most of its furniture, portraits and the like are very old and valuable," he said. "But the house has proved to be surprisingly comfortable."

Reveley said he also likes that the President's House is only a short walk from the president's office.

"This makes me very happy, because I've had some awful commutes in years past," he said.  

McCormick considers staying at the University's President's House to be an enormous privilege.

"I am honored to be among those Rutgers presidents who have had the privilege to live there," McCormick said.