The Carroll Villa, now a 22 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.

 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 forsocializing 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 Kulkowitzfirst 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 Villatriggered 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 itvery 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.