Greek Revival

Ashland Town Hall // 1871

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The Ashland Town Hall in Ashland, New Hampshire, was built in 1871, three years after the town separated from Holderness, due to its growing economy as an industrial village compared to its mother-town’s more agricultural character. Constructed of brick, the facade is dominated by its gable roof which reads as a pediment and bays divided by brick pilasters which harkens back to the Greek Revival style; while the use of arched brick mouldings which is a common element in the Italianate style. The handsome, well-proportioned structure was used for town meetings and elections until 1950, and in 1952, the building was used by the school district as the village school. The building returned to municipal functions in 1972 and has since housed the Ashland Town Offices. The Old Ashland Town Hall was listed in the National Register of Historic Places in 1983.

Old Howe School // 1852

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The Howe School, originally Howe Academy, in Billerica, Massachusetts, is a stellar example of a Greek Revival style school building that shows the emergence of the Italianate style in the 1850s. The school was founded following a generous bequest in the will of Dr. Zadok Howe, as a young men’s college-preparatory academy. When it was built in 1852, most Massachusetts towns divided themselves into smaller school districts, with each district erecting its own school building for pupils to get to the schools easier, improving attendance. The building committee hired Lowell architect, Daniel G. Bean, and it featured an innovative ventilation system for heating and bringing fresh air into the classrooms. The Howe School continued privately until 1897, when it became a public school. By the early 20th century, the small school building was deemed too small and ancient to remain the town’s high school, and a new building was constructed nearby. For years it operated as a grade school, and later as the school department offices. Following an extensive renovation that saw a rear addition, the Howe School building reopened as Billerica Access Television (the town’s public-access television station) as well as space for community events and meetings.

Holmes W. Smith House // c.1835

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The architecturally distinguished Holmes Smith House on South Summer Street in Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, showcases the range in which the Greek Revival style could showcase whimsy and unique architectural details from the typical side-hall gable-end form seen all over New England. The house appears to date from the mid 1830s with its strong, symmetrical facade of flushboard siding, its three bays divided with paneled pilasters, and elaborate parapet containing a central dormer and arched fan motifs. The house was originally owned by Capt. Holmes Wass Smith (1798-1849) and his wife, Sophia (Coffin) Smith and later in the 19th and early 20th centuries by members of the Pease family. The residence is now a summer home and has been thoughtfully preserved as one of the most excellent and unique examples of its style on Martha’s Vineyard. 

Nunnepog House // c.1840

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Located on South Water Street in Edgartown, Massachusetts, the Nunnepog House stands as one of the finest mid-19th century homes on Martha’s Vineyard. The residence was built by Joseph Allen Athearn (1807-1867), who is listed in the Census as a carpenter. The first known owner is Edmund Bradley (1786-1869), then a retired sea captain, who lived here until his death. In the 1930s, the house became well known as The Seagull and the Whale, a shop in which Louise Meikleham sold homemade jams, jellies, and breads and later became her residence, known as the Nunnepog House, derived from the original Wampanoag name for the area encompassing Edgartown and Oak Bluffs on Martha’s Vineyard. The residence was moved to its present site in the 1950s or 60s and was more recently renovated and expanded from plans by Patrick Ahearn Architects. The residence is unusual for its four-bay facade with offset entrance and features many hallmarks of the Greek Revival style, including cornice returns, paneled corner pilasters, a wide frieze, and classical entry. The half-fan windows and corresponding shutters are a great design element of the facade which makes it stand out from other period homes.


Martha’s Vineyard National Bank Building // 1855

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Living on an island in the 19th century wasn’t as easy as you may think. Before this bank building in Edgartown on Martha’s Vineyard was constructed in 1855, all banking was done on the mainland, mostly in New Bedford. As Edgartown thrived as a whaling capital and later as a vacation destination, it was clear that a bank be built on the island for easy depositing and withdrawal of funds for residents. This bank, the first brick building constructed in Edgartown, was built to house the newly formed Martha’s Vineyard National Bank. It’s first president was Dr. Daniel Fisher, who made his money as a merchant and operator of one of the largest whale and sperm oil processing facilities in the country. The bank eventually relocated to Vineyard Haven and the Edgartown National Bank was created to fill the void in town. Amazingly, the building is still to this day occupied by a bank, Rockland Trust, seemingly adding to the continuous occupancy of the building by banking facilities for well over a century. The late iteration of the Greek Revival style is evident here with the heavy lintels over the oversized windows and the dentilled pediment at the facade.

Captain Thomas Milton House // 1840

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Located on the idyllic South Water Street in Edgartown, Martha’s Vineyard, the Capt. Thomas Milton House stands as a fine and well-preserved example of a sea captain’s house built in the Greek Revival style. Captain Thomas Milton (1787-1862) was born in Liverpool, England, and first arrived to the island as a young man aboard a whaling vessel. He served as a Lieutenant and privateer during the War of 1812, when England restricted trade to maritime ports, which severely crippled the Edgartown economy. After the embargo ended, Captain Milton led whaling vessels and trade routes to as far as China. On his last trade excursion to China in 1837, Captain Thomas Milton brought back a sapling of a Pagoda Tree that was planted on the lot of his soon-to-be-built house on Water Street. Construction began on the house in 1840, which is unique for its asymmetrical four-bay facade and low hipped roof. Captain Milton died in 1862 and by the turn of the century, his residence was converted to an inn, which is now a part of the multi-building, Harborside Inn complex. The property has stood here for nearly 200 years joined by the ever-growing Pagoda Tree, which is believed to be the largest of its kind in North America. 

Captain Abraham Osborn House // 1834

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Built in 1834, this early Greek Revival house with Gothic Revival detailing, sits on Edgartown’s South Water Street, a notable street lined by large mansions built for early whaling captains on Martha’s Vineyard. The residence was built for Abraham Osborn (1798-1865), a whaling captain, soon after his marriage to Eliza Norton. Captain Abraham Osborn owned several whaling ships based out of Martha’s Vineyard and New Bedford, and one of these large vessels, the Ocmulgee, came to an untimely end early in the Civil War. When captaining the ship in September 1862, the Ocmulgee was approached by a ship flying British flags. When it got within speaking range, the British flags were replaced by Confederate colors and the rebel captain took over the ship, which contained 250 barrels of whale oil. The Confederates detained the ships officers and Captain Osborn in chains bringing them aboard their ship, the Alabama, which was known for stealthy operations to damage the economy of the Northern states. The rebels torched the Ocmulgee, forcing Captain Osborn and his crew to watch their profits burn up and sink into the ocean. The crew was detained for a few days and ultimately released near the Fayal Islands where they received help. Captain Osborn returned home and would die just three years later. The Osborn house was later inherited by his son, Abraham Jr., a retired sea captain himself, who eventually converted the large family home into a hotel called Ocean View. A famous guest at his hotel was Alexander Graham Bell, who was on island to study the extensive deafness prevalence for those on the Island. The house has since been converted back to a single-family residence and maintains its stunning Greek Revival entry portico and tripartite window in the gable with shuttered lancet openings.

Captain Tristam P. Ripley House // c.1835

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One of the great old captain’s houses in Edgartown, Massachusetts, stands here on South Water Street and is emblematic of the history of the harbor community in the 19th and 20th centuries. The five-bay Greek Revival style mansion was built in about 1835 and was owned later by Tristam Pease Ripley (1821-1881) a wealthy sea captain, originally from New Bedford, who operated whaling ships while out at sea for months or a year at a time. After becoming a Master Mariner on the sea, Captain Ripley settled down back in Edgartown and worked as a coal dealer, likely bringing ships from the mainland to the island carrying coal for sale to keep these grand homes warm during the brutal New England winters. The house was purchased by a local inn during the 20th century and significantly renovated inside and out, and is owned by the Harborside Inn.

Dr. Aretus Rising House // 1854

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Aretus Rising (1800-1884) was born in Suffield, Connecticut, and tended to his father’s farm before graduating from the Berkshire Medical College in Western Massachusetts in 1826. Dr. Aretus Rising operated his medical practice in Suffield in the 1840s and would eventually build this unique home in 1854. Designed in the Greek Revival style with the emergence of the Italianate style, the home features a square form with broad overhanging eaves and a wrap-around porch supported by latticed columns.

Second Baptist Church, Suffield // 1840

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Early Baptists in the area of present-day Suffield, Connecticut, organized in the western part of town, and built a church there in 1769, far from the town center, which began to rapidly develop in the early 19th century. By the turn of the 19th century, residents not wanting to travel all the way to West Suffield to attend services, petitioned to create a Second Baptist Church congregation. By 1840, the members were able to fund this handsome brick edifice, built in the Greek Revival style by architect, Henry A. Sykes, who had trained under Ithiel Town of New Haven, clearly where he mastered church designs by a prominent practitioner of the Greek Revival style in New England. The Second Baptist Church of Suffield features a massive portico on its facade with six fluted, Ionic columns supporting the pediment above. The tower of the church is two stages, one squared and the upper round, with fluted piers and Ionic columns and carved consoles. The tower is capped by a gilded dome with weather vane.

John W. Loomis House // c.1840

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This stunning home sits on Main Street in Suffield, Connecticut, and was apparently built as a center-chimney home in the 18th century. By the 1840s, it was purchased by John Wells Loomis (1805-1879), and altered to fit the then-fashionable Greek Revival style, replacing the center chimney with two smaller chimneys, new pilasters were added to the corners and at the entry. John Loomis was the head of the Loomis family which made a fortune in the tobacco industry in Suffield, rolling and shipping products as far away as California. He operated his cigar business in a large warehouse, now gone, behind the house. Before his death, John Loomis built his son George a house nearby, knowing that his son would carry on the business, which he did until a couple years after his father’s death, until he sold the business and moved to New Haven. The Loomis House is one of the finest examples of a Greek Revival residence in the community.

Dr. Asaph Bissell House // c.1835

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Dr. Asaph Bissell was born into the wealthy Bissell family which started here when John Bissell, the progenitor of the family in America, came from Somerset, England, and landed in Plymouth, Massachusetts, in 1628. He became one of the settlers of Windsor, CT. His descendant, Asaph Bissell (1791-1850) became one of Yale’s earliest medical graduates and built this stately Greek Revival style home on Main Street in Suffield, Connecticut, where he practiced medicine. Dr. Bissell often made house calls from his home right on Main Street until his death in 1850, after which, it was inherited by his eldest son, Charles Bissell. The house is Greek Revival in style with its entrance on the side elevation sheltered by a Classical porch, all facing southwards. The street-facing facade is four bays with large corner pilasters, a massive entablature, and pedimented gable-end with fanlight set within it.

Rowe House // 1767

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One of the older homes on Main Street in Suffield, Connecticut, the Moses Rowe House was built in 1767 was later “modernized” to its present appearance. The house was constructed as a two-story Georgian home with minimal detailing, as the family home of Moses Rowe (1733-1799), his wife, and nine children. According to historical maps of the area, the home appears to have been purchased by Horace Sheldon, who in the 1830s, modified the home in the Greek Revival style, increasing the height of the home, adding side porches and the entablature at the roofline.

West Suffield Academy Hall // 1855

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Built in 1855 as the West Suffield Village school, Academy Hall served as one of Suffield’s public school buildings until 1913, when consolidated schools were built in town. Like in many New England communities, the old, wood-frame school building was repurposed, and due to the large agricultural community in Suffield (it was a major grower and exporter of tobacco), the old Academy Hall was occupied by the local Grange club, a social organization that encouraged families to band together to promote the economic and political well-being of the community and agriculture. The handsome structure is owned by the non-profit West Suffield Village Improvement Association, and as of April 2026, the building is leased to the Suffield Historical Society, and is available for events. The structure features a Classical door surround, corner pilasters, entablature, and a large square cupola at the gable roof.

West Suffield Congregational Church // 1839

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Nestled in the heart of West Suffield, Connecticut, the West Suffield Congregational Church remains as a unique example of the typical village church form from the first half of the 19th century. The church was established in 1743, when after decades of having to travel to the center of Suffield to worship, families in the western part of town established the Second Ecclesiastical Society. Within a year, a meeting house in West Suffield was built as a rustic structure. As the congregation thrived, a second meeting house was built in 1775 on the site of the present building, which too was rebuilt, this structure, in 1839 using the earlier foundation. The present church was dedicated in 1840 and it stands as a stunning example of a Greek Revival house of worship, with projecting portico supported by fluted Doric columns, paneled parapet, and multi-stage tower.