Preservation. The Warren County Board of Chosen Freeholders (currently the Warren County Board of County Commissioners) acquired the property in 1984 for $64,500. Negotiations by the former Warren County Cultural & Heritage Commission were made to purchase the property. The county further appropriated $23,000 to have a structures report completed. In 1984, the F.M. Kirby Foundation of Morristown, New Jersey gave the commission a $10,000 grant to help with restorations. Governor Thomas H. Kean signed a supplementary budget in 1985 totaling $150,000 for the Manor's restoration. This site is related to the Oxford Furnace in Oxford, NJ, and both are properties of the County of Warren in New Jersey. Both sites are listed on the State & National Register of Historic Places (1984). Design The manor is built in Georgian style with local stone. The walls are two feet thick and there are three chimneys. The ground floors is divided into six rooms. The upper floor consists of two bed chambers and four garret rooms. According to the National Register of Historic Places, "Shippen Manor is a large, stone, 18th century dwelling prominently sited on the hillside overlooking the village of Oxford, an 18th and 19th century iron mining and manufacturing center for which it long served as the ironmaster's residence." Exterior: The main block of Shippen Manor is a five bay, 2-1/2-story, gable-roofed, stone structure that measures about 55' wide and 36' deep. Due to the slope that the structure is built upon, it has a basement that is fully above grade on the east side and two stories above. A local granitic rock (gneiss), which ranges from brown to gray, often with reddish stains, was used to construct the Manor's rubble and coursed rubble stone work. Large, rough squared blocks were used for the corner quoins. Interior: The main and second story of the main block retained much of the early fabric and also reveal extensive 19th and 20th century alterations. On the ground floor, the floorplans are defined by the interior stone walls. On the first floor, there are five rooms, two at the south end, two in the middle that are connected by a hallway, and one on the north that extends the full depth of the house. The east hall houses the staircase to the second floor and the west end serves as the entry. The upper level of the building is similar to the