Two buffets, one attributed to Frank Furness, find home in Physick House Museum

Kathy Evers and Doug Hillstrom of Hartsdale, Pa., visited the 1879 Emlen Physick Estate Jan. 31 to see two Victorian era buffets on display in the museum’s dining room — recent donations they’d made to Cape May MAC. Evers and Hillstrom donated the two pieces to the museum’s collection this winter after searching for just the right museum to accept them. “We are simply overjoyed that these wonderful pieces of furniture have landed in such a great house — and with such a dedicated group of caretakers,” said Evers. “We were absolutely thrilled to accept them,” said Cape May MAC Director and CEO Jody Alessandrine. “To have a buffet in the dining room that is attributed to Philadelphia architect Frank Furness, in the Cape May museum that Furness designed, along with an additional Victorian-era buffet to complete the set, is just phenomenal. “We look forward to sharing the news about these new pieces with our visitors this year, and we are so very grateful to Kathy and Doug for their generosity.” Design of the large buffet is attributed to renowned Victorian architect Frank Furness, and its construction is attributed to Daniel Pabst. The small buffet was purchased around 1995 from an antiques shop on Atlantic Avenue in Brooklyn that specialized in Victorian-era antiques.

-- SK