Restored Ballantine Mansion In Newark Celebrates City’s Past, Future

NEWARK, NJ — Newark is a city defined by its history-laden past – and its dynamic future. And both of those will be on display when the newly restored Ballantine House at the Newark Museum of Art reopens.

The Ballantine House, located at 43 Washington Street, will reopen to the public on Friday, Nov. 17, with a ribbon cutting ceremony scheduled for 11 a.m.

The “remarkably preserved” 1885 urban mansion is a rare architectural survivor from the late-19th century. According to the museum, the three-story, 27-room brick and sandstone mansion was built for Jeanette and John Holme Ballantine and their four children. The house sits across the street from Harriet Tubman Square, in what was once a residential enclave where the city’s elite built their dream homes.

The Ballantine House, however, is the only urban mansion in the area that survives and is open to the public.

“It’s a unique example of a late-Victorian house frozen in time,” museum administrators said, noting that the property still has original 1885 and 1891 interior décor.

“Few homes from the period remain in such pristine condition, especially in an urban context, across America,” administrators said.

The mansion has been closed since March 2020 for the multi-year restoration project. Now reborn, the house will offer visitors new experiences through installations that “celebrate Newark’s dynamic heritage” – while also spotlighting the museum’s contemporary art and decorative arts collections.

As visitors move through the mansion, they will get a chance to learn about the Ballantine family who made their fortune in the beer industry, the Irish, British and European immigrants who worked in or built the house, and the African American community that lived nearby.

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The house will also feature a strong presence of works by BIPOC artists, the museum said:

Party Time: Reimagine America (2009) by British-Nigerian artist Yinka Shonibare CBE will return to the Ballantine House’s opulent Dining Room for which the installation was originally commissioned — the artist’s use of wax print textiles is a visual signifier of hybrid identities and post-colonial legacies.

Stay: The Black Women of 19th-Century Newark (2023), an installation by Newark artist and historian, Noelle Lorraine Williams, will center women of Newark’s 19th- century Black community, profiling several prominent leaders, activists, and artists. These notable women lived only blocks away from The Ballantine House and were as respected in Newark’s Black community as the Ballantines were in theirs.

G.O.A.T. The Art Game (2023) is a contemporary artwork created by DARNstudio for The Newark Museum of Art. This playable board game features the Museum’s renowned collection of African American art and is set up for play in a dedicated G.O.A.T. Game Room. Visitors are invited to role play and learn the “rules'' of the art world, buying and selling their favorite works at auction.

Jewelry: From Pearls to Platinum to Plastic (2023) Whether made of natural materials or marvels of human invention, jewelry has adorned people’s bodies with jewelry since prehistoric times. This installation showcases jewelry by material from across the centuries and the globe. Contemporary artists, luxury brands, Newark 19th-century manufacturers, and anonymous makers are all represented. The installation will include two recently acquired four-knuckle rings by contemporary jewelry artist, Johnny Nelson.

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