John Imlay, of Imlaystown, decided in the year 1790 that he was going to build a mansion for him and his family in Allentown. With a brick foundation and flush to the street, the house is one of the most famous old houses in New Jersey today. The house saw the end of the eighteenth century, made it through the whole ninteenth century, and is still standing today in the twentieth.
The house looks as though it was built yesterday standing proud surrounded by old trees. Taking a walk through the house models the wide halls, the spacious garden in the rear, a broad, winding, hand-carved stairway that took one man six months to build, and a fireplace in every room.
One room holds an old portrait of John Imlay, founder of the house, while other rooms hold various relics from the past. The most amazing example is the wallpaper in one of the guest rooms. It was ordered and put on the walls in 1794, and still holds the original color today that it did in 1794.