Before wealthy Portsmouth merchant and auctioneer, Samuel Larkin (1773-1849), built his brick Federal style mansion (last post), he lived in this more traditional Federal style house next door at 160 Middle Street. The three-story mansion was occupied by Samuel Larkin, his wife, Ann, and seven of their children who lived to adulthood, before the War of 1812, when he made his fortune auctioning goods stolen from British vessels by Portsmouth privateers. When he built his home next door, he retained ownership of this home, and rented it out to boarders until financial hardship in the late 1820s required that he sell his mansion and move back here to live out his retirement. The facade of the Samuel Larkin House is symmetrical with a central entrance door with fanlight and pilasters under a flat-roof portico supported by fluted columns with scrolled capitals.
Buildings of New England 