The Carroll Villa Hotel Bed & Breakfast
Historic Cape May New Jersey Accommodations
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About Us
The Carroll Villa, now a 21 room bed and breakfast hotel, is a unique and special building in a city famous for its buildings. There were once many Victorian hotels in Cape May. Now there are only five. Each has its own special charm and ambiance. For its part, the Carroll Villa offers a wonderful combination of a grand, historic building with an unpretentious and creative atmosphere.
Read about our interior decorator, Emily Buehrle
Built in 1882 as a seaside escape for families, the Carroll
Villa was built in the Italian villa or American bracketed villa style. The Carroll Villa
was on the cover of the Cape May handbook as an architectural example of this style which
presents an imposing, sweeping porch, tall front windows, a symmetrical facade, and often
a cupola, as does the Carroll Villa. The history of the Carroll Villa shows that about a
decade 
later a second section was added to the main building . These new rooms were very
small, leading one to the conclusion that they were built as servant quarters for the
families occupying the main building. As was true of the seaside villas of the
Victorian era, the rooms of the Carroll Villa were spare and austere. When bathrooms were
added, they were 'down the hall', two to a floor. There was a common parlor
for socializing and a large dining room for meals.
When the present owners, the Kulkowitz family, purchased the Carroll Villa in 1978, there were 31 rooms and 8 bathrooms. Each room had an odd combination of a beautiful antique dresser and a rather worn out iron bedstead. Rooms were painted in dark colors. There were many connecting doors between the rooms. It was obvious that a restoration project had to begin. As became true with all restoration projects in Cape May, that of the Carroll Villa came to reflect the personalities and histories of the members of the Kulkowitz family.
The Kulkowitz Cape May history begins in 1974 when Harry
Kulkowitz first saw the Carroll Villa (actually he was playing poker there with the then
owner) and recognized the
potential for a marvelous restaurant. Previous to moving to Cape May, Harry had owned and
operated a fine arts gallery in Philadelphia, the Kenmore Art Gallery. The site of the
Carroll Villa triggered his creative spirits and tapped into a dream from childhood - the
creation of a special restaurant. Previously the Carroll Villa had been serving family
style meals to the guests of the hotel.What Harry saw was the big empty porch and he
envisioned it covered with tables and people eating wonderful food.The only problem was
that the sun would make it very uncomfortable - an awning was needed. But exterior changes
to a historic building can only be made with historic precedence. Enter, Olga Thoden with
a picture of the Carroll Villa from the beginning of the century showing the porch
sporting awnings. And so was born the beginning of a new restaurant-The Mad Batter.
The creation of the Mad Batter is one of tremendous spirit and fun with practically no money, but a lot of energy, creativity good friends, and family, Harry and his partner Vickie Seitchik started on an 'Andy Hardy' type adventure scouring junk yards, restaurant closings, basements for equipment. The now famous yellow striped awning went up on the front porch, two huge skylights were added to open up the dining room, a garden terrace was created at the rear of the building and marvelous, creative chefs were hired to start what became the Cape May restaurant renaissance. The Mad Batter is now famous throughout the country and serves award winning breakfast, lunch and dinner on its front porch, garden terrace and skylit dining room. The last addition was a double faced fireplace that warms up the chilly months.
Founder Returns to Normandy for D-Day
The Mad Batter's founder, Harry Kulkowitz, returns to Normandy for D-Day on June 7th, 2010 along with three generations of soldiers.
See Pictures
GOING “GREEN”
The Mad Batter Restaurant and Carroll Villa Hotel have been a leader in
the growth of Cape May over the last 25 years and now this historic
establishment is leading the way to a "greener" future.
Owners Mark Kulkowitz and his wife, Pam Huber have decided to take a stand in making environmentally sound choices while renovating their property. In 2008, while choosing to update their 125-seat dining space,
The bar countertop is something you won't normally see, made from recycled glass, shell and concrete from a nearby distributor in Clayton, New Jersey. Earthy American clay was used to construct the ceiling. It goes on like plaster would and there are no VOCs (volatile organic chemicals) in the paint. Upstairs in the rooms adorned with hand selected antique furniture and collectibles, corn carpet can be found covering the floors. Mark and Pam have also installed a new dishwasher that saves 25,000 gallons of water per year and new Energy Star light bulbs throughout the hotel and restaurant.
Even though going green is not as cost efficient as other methods, the owners are committed to doing their part for the environment and hope others will do the same. Guests are encouraged to participate by refraining from
Plans for 2009 include new energy efficient shower heads in all guest rooms. For the restaurant, they are awaiting the delivery of “smart” candles and tabletops that will not require tablecloths – further saving energy on multiple levels.
We've gone solar! In 2010, we added 38 solar panels to our roof, estimated to provide 10,293 KWH/year in electrical production. Approximately 7,987 lbs of CO2 will be offset annually which is equivalent to recycling 165,361 cans of soda, not burning 962 gallons of gasoline, and planting 1 acre of trees!
Green Press Release
National Historical Landmark Hotel and Restaurant Go Solar: The Mad Batter/Carroll Villa Bring Eco Tourism to the Jersey Shore by Erika Bleiberg.
Green In the News
Cape May historic group says windmills don't fit town's Victorian image Press of Atlantic City
Historic Cape May allows newfangled alteration Philadelphia Inquirer
Carroll Villa Bed & Breakfast and the Mad Batter Restaurant
19 Jackson Street - Cape May, NJ 08204 | Hotel 1-877-275-8452 | Restaurant
609-884-5970
© 2008–2010 Carroll Villa Hotel. All rights reserved.
Website design & hosting by Cape Publishing, Inc. | Photographs by Jumping Rocks Photography and David Michael Howarth