Crane-Phillips House

The Crane-Phillips House, located in Cranford in Union County, New Jersey, United States, is a Victorian cottage in the architectural style of Andrew Jackson Downing, the first American architect. The Crane-Phillips House is now a museum operated by the Cranford Historical Society that offers visitors a glimpse of what life was like for a modest family in the Victorian era of opulence. It illustrates the late 19th century as the era of invention and highlights inventions that changed everyday life for the average person by way of the house's second owners, the Phillips family. Henry J. Phillips, a Civil War veteran of the 7th New York Militia, was one of the first inventors of the modern kitchen range hood. His brother, Dr. Charles H. Phillips, was the inventor of Phillips Milk of Magnesia. The museum features a collection of Native American artifacts, American Revolutionary War and American Civil War artifacts, other arms and armaments, 19th century tools and farm implements, a Victorian parlor, and a Victorian girl's bedroom circa 1870. Changing exhibits include major displays from the Society's extensive antique clothing collection.