3 East Main Street (Rose Lawn)

Dating from 1890, this is a marvelous reminder of the eclectic Victorian period. The house is predominantly a simple Italianate form, to which Queen Anne and French Second Empire elements have been added. Three towers were added on, each different, while an elaborate porch wraps the first floor, ballooning out into an outdoor living room on the south side. The porch bays feature a zigzag broken arch, very characteristic of many Flemington houses. Decorative brick chimneys, cast-iron roof cresting, slate roofs, wood gable-end trusses with cutout boards – there is a lot to look at!

The single house now remaining was one of three established on this site by William Edgar Emery who was a local boy who made good. Born in 1842, he clerked in retail locally and in New York City before founding a large department store in Kansas City. He became a successful businessman, and one of the largest shareholders in the Lehigh Valley Railroad before returning to Flemington where he made this estate his home. When he died in 1912 his pall bearers included G H Large (see 2), Dr W Hawke (see 1) and James E Brodhead (see 12).