We all knew it was coming.
Scaturro's, the last in a string of restaurants to occupy 'The 1841 House', went out of business back in early March, 2016. It was reported then that a Royal Farms would be going in its place. But for some reason, its demolition on Monday, September 17, 2018, still seemed sudden, even though it had been unoccupied for 2.5 years and was clearly becoming a hazard.
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| Scaturro's demolished, 9/17/18 |
Before it became a pile of rubble, it had a long history in Evesham.
The Lippincott Family Home
The land on which the 1841 House was built was part of an 835 acre planation purchased in 1735 by Samuel Lipponcott. Over the next 205 years, the land stayed in the Lippincott family for 8 generations. The house was built in 1841 by William Cooper Lippincott, the great great grandson of Samuel.
William Cooper Lippincott was a farmer and part owner of the Milford Glassworks in Kresson, and was at one time a Burlington County sheriff. He was married on April 15th, 1841 to Deborah C. Evans at the Cropwell Meeting House in Evesham. Presumably, this house was built for him and his new wife.
The house appears on an 1876 Map of Evesham (circled in red, noted as Res. W.C. Lippincott). A relative, Charles Lippincott is also on the map just to the north, with Nathan Lippincott across the street (where Route 73 is now). If you click the link and look at the entire map, in the Main Street area, there is also a Clayton Lippincott, Mark Lippincott, mutiple 'Heirs of Josh Lippincott', Josh Lippincott, Freedom Lippincott, and Albertson Lippincott
Mr Lippincott lived in the house until he died on December 22, 1885 of Bright's Disease. The home stayed in the family for several more generations.
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| William Cooper Lippincott tombstone, Cropwell Friends Meetinghouse Cemetery, Marlton, NJ |
The house was moved further back from the road in 1949, when the highway was widened.
The 1841 House (1978-1995)
In 1977, the house was purchased by Carol Weiman, and became a restaurant in October of 1978, when the '1841 House' opened. Articles from 1978 refers to it as 'Mori's 1841 House' (named after Chef and part owner Richard Mori), but all other references call it the '1841 House'. 'The original parlors [from 1841] serve as small dining rooms, two of them with working fireplaces, and the decor is a mix of Victorian and Williamsburg.' (1) 'It tries to reflect the warmth of a family home...and preserve the atmosphere of the lovely old house. If it were not for blackboards on the walls used to advertise daily specials, they would have succeeded.' (2) The dining room tables were made from old sewing machines.
'Bathed in spotlights, the white 1841 Federal-style mansion with black shutters is highly visible along Route 73 in Evesham, two miles south of the Marlton Circle; enormous trees, some older than the building itself, frame as oasis of civility along the busy commercial highway.' (3)
The 1841 House closed in 1995 after 17 years in business.
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| Matchbook from the 1841 House |
Cafe Society May 1995 - 2003
Cafe Society open in May of 1995. It was described as 'stunningly barren yet smartly artful', the fare 'a United Nations of culinary creations.' (4) and was immediately a success. 'Although only open a month, Cafe Society is one of those rare restaurants that springs almost instantly into full flower.' (5) The success was attributed to the owner Ronnie Mills, who also owned Iguana and Gatsby's, nightclubs in Cherry Hill. In addition to good food, it apparently hosted a lot of singles events.
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| Bagel Ball for Jewish Singles, 1997 |
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| Singles event, 1997 |
Cafe Society closed its doors in 2003.
841 Wood Fired Grill and Lounge 2004- March 28, 2005
The 841 Wood Fired Grill and Lounge, also called the 841 Grill, opened briefly in 2004. The 'feel is sophisticated yet resort-like. The menu is innovative and flavored with local fare.' (6) The owners were trying to create an upscale New York bistro. (To clear some confusion, the '1841 House' was so named because it was built in 1841. The '841 Grill' was named after its address, 841 Route 73 South.)
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| 841 Wood Fired Grill in 2004 |
Scaturros (2005-2016)
The Scaturro family purchased the restaurant in 2005. They also owned King of Pizza in Cherry Hill, and had sold La Posata (which didn't have a liquor license) in Marlton to purchase the 841 Grill (which did). Originally called 'Scaturro's Wood Fired Grill' but soon renamed 'Scatturo's Restaurant and Bar', Scaturro's planned to feature a high end Italian menu. Soon after opening, however, it was referred to as an Italian Steakhouse.
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| 2011 ad |
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| 2006 ad |
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| Scaturro's 2012 |
Scaturro's closed in March of 2016. At the time, the family stated they hoped to reopen in a new location. Unfortunately that did not happen. It ended up being a great real estate investment though. The developers wanting to build a Royal Farms paid a premium for the frontage on Route 73.
The Future
As mentioned earlier, the buyer of the land is trying to build a Royal Farms. Royal Farms is determined to get a left turn light at Route 73 north and Sunbird Drive, but the state seems reluctant to give that to them, so nothing has happened since the announcement in 2016. I spoke with Royal Farms 'Regional Site Selector' back in April, and he advised they are still negotiating with the state. I also spoke to a representative from the State Department of Transportation in June, when they were in town to give their recommendations for the Route 73 Expansion. She advised that Royal Farms was still negotiating with the State, that the plans have gone through numerous iterations to try to reach an agreement.
UPDATE: May 2019: Royal Farms was successful in petitioning the state for a traffic light. They returned to the Evesham Planning Board in November 26, 2018, where they received final approval to build their store.
However, as of May 2019, Royal Farms has pulled out of the planned shopping center.
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| Plans for Royal Farms at location of former 1841 House |
I'd like to thank Connie Evans from the Evesham Historical Society for providing much of the pre-restaurant history of the house.
(1) Philadelphia Inquirer 12/17/1978
(2) Courier Post 11/4/1978
(3) Philadelphia Inquirer, 2/27/1994
(4) Courier Post 6/23/95
(5) Philadelphia Inquirer 6/4/95
(6) Philadelphia Inquirer 9/5/2004
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