The 40 room mansion was built in 1888 by Gottfried Krueger (1837–1926), founder of Newark’s Gottfried Krueger Brewing Company. The construction cost at the time was $250,000. The mansion was sold to the Valley of Newark Scottish Right Freemasons in 1926 for $100,000. The mansion was purchased in 1958 by Louise Scott for $85,000. Scott operated a beauty school out of the first floor of the mansion while keeping the upper levels as her private residence. Scott died in 1982 and the city of Newark seized the house for back taxes. Under the ownership of the City of Newark the house was looted of much of its architectural detail and allowed to languish. In 1991, the New Jersey Historic Trust funded a bond for $625,812 to stabilize the exterior of the building.

In late 2020, the city and the company Makerhoods broke ground on refurbishing the mansion into live/work spaces for local experienced “makers” in the food, beauty, craft and other small-scale artisan industries. As of this post the project is well underway .

Even 134 years after its creation , the Krueger-Scott Mansion is still news. That goes a long way to explaining why almost since the paint dried in 1888 the mansion has been continually photographed. Sometime prior to 1926, when the house was sold by the Krueger’s, Shiels Commercial Photographer of 168 Lafayette Street , Newark created this image .

The photograph has a lot of interesting details. For instance, the three large carriage stepping stones by the curb haves either G.K. (Gottfried Krueger) chiseled on them or in the case of the center stone it is inscribed with both Gottfried Krueger and the initials G.K.. The right side of the front lawn has a rather ornate fountain which appears as a stone ring in later photos sans the statuary. There also appears to be an image of a woman in the last window to the extreme left on the ground floor. You can also discern the stained glass transoms above the windows. The photograph invites a close examination

On a separate note, I was told by the former director of the project that some of the looted decorative elements had been returned to the City. I hope they find their way back to their home.