Built the same year as the Old Kingston Town House in Kingston, Massachusetts, this handsome Greek Revival style house sits on the town’s Main Street and has ties to two of the communities oldest and most significant families. The house was constructed in 1841 with matching side porches for Horace Holmes (1809-1855), a merchant and son of Joseph Holmes, a wealthy ship owner and builder. Horace operated a store near his home until his death in 1855. The property was later purchased by Captain Charles Stetson, a master mariner. The couple’s weath soon allowed them to sell this older residence and they built a “modern” Italianate style house at the rear garden (now 20 Green Street) to reside in. After successive ownership, the Greek Revival style house was converted to a store, but has since been reverted back to a residence, retaining much of its original fabric.
Overlooking the town green in Kingston, Massachusetts, this stately Greek Revival home was once the original town house for the community, containing meeting hall, town offices and even a jail cell! Before we go into that further, it is helpful to learn about history first. Present-day Kingston was within the tribal homeland of the Wampanoag people, who in the decades prior to the arrival of the Mayflower, saw their populations decimated from a rapidly spreading pandemics due to earlier contacts with Europeans. Originally part of Plymouth, Kingston was first settled by Europeans shortly after the landing of the Pilgrims at Plymouth Rock in 1620. In 1717, residents in the northern part of Plymouth petitioned the General Court to be set off from Plymouth as a separate township or a precinct. They were allowed to become the north precinct of Plymouth on the condition that they maintain a suitable minister. The northern precinct was wealthier and led to present-day Kingston incorporating as its own town in 1726, following a tax dispute. Early town meetings were held in the parish church until the separation of church and state necessitated a new town hall. The town hall here was built in 1841. As the town grew the building was re-oriented southward and enlarged in 1871 from plans by architectLuther Briggs. Further alterations were made to the building in 1935 under the guidance of the architectural firm of J. Williams Beal & Sons. In the early 2000s, space, parking, and accessibility concerns led the Town of Kingston to sell the 1841 Town House, which was purchased by private owners and converted to a residence. Inside, remnants of the old town house include old signs, office doors for city departments, former vaults converted to closets, and even a jail cell in the basement. Talk about a unique adaptive reuse!
In 1731, Captain John Stacey, a merchant and shipowner in Marblehead, had this gambrel-roofed house built on family land. Due to its orientation from the main street, a passageway allowed access to the rear of the property where other buildings were constructed by the family. By 1850, the house was jointly owned by Hawkes and Brown, with Mr. Hawkes operating a store in the first floor corner room. Eventually, by 1912, Brown had bought the whole building and moved his meat market into the store in this building. The property was later purchased and restored by Donald Mackenze Stacey (1916-1998), a contractor and descendant of the home’s original owner, John Stacey. Donald was a veteran of the U.S. Navy and served in World War II, before moving back to Marblehead and worked in the building trade. In town, he restored antique clocks, furniture, and buildings, including the Old Town House and Abbott Hall, the current town hall.
One of the great Colonial-era houses of Marblehead is this stately residence, the John Pedrick Mansion on Washington Street. The house dates to about 1756 and was built for John Pedrick (1733-1780), a wealthy shipping merchant. According to ‘The History and Traditions of Marblehead’, Pedrick’s “ships sailed to nearly every port in England, Spain, and the West Indies, and his transactions were with some of the largest mercantile houses of Europe. At one time, it is said, he owned twenty-five vessels engaged in the foreign trade.” The Revolutionary War, which proved so disastrous to the merchants of Marblehead, bore with especial severity upon Major Pedrick, as several of his vessels were destroyed by British cruisers in Massachusetts Bay, and many others rotted in port from blocades and engagements. The property was likely modernized after John Pedrick’s death in 1780 with a more Federal form, possibly adding the third floor and shallow hipped roof. The building’s facade is scored to resemble ashlar masonry, giving it a more stately appearance, but the bright blue really diminishes the feature, which should typically be colored a natural stone.
Marblehead is one of the oldest towns in America, first settled by colonists in 1629 and incorporated twenty years later. For the following decades, the coastal community grew, and was even one of the ten largest towns and cities in the colonies in 1790! From this history, the town has worked to preserve the unique character and walkable warren of narrow streets, that makes the town feel so charming and a great place to visit. There are dozens of pre-Revolution houses in Marblehead’s downtown area, including this side-hall Georgian house on Franklin Street, with a neighboring “sister house”. The residence dates to about 1750 and was occupied early on by Richard Russell, who according to the house plaque, was a fisherman. Later, in 1850, the house was occupied by John Goodwin Jr., who fought in the Civil War, and ultimately lost his life in the Battle of Roanoke Island, on February 8, 1862, when he was killed when he was struck in the chest by a cannonball. After his death, local Marblehead veterans established the G.A.R. Hall, John Goodwin Jr. Post 82 in his honor. The Russell-Goodwin House remains one of the many charming Colonial-era houses in Marblehead’s walkable village, telling a story of the generations of families who made this coastal community home.
Hidden away on a quiet country road in Westborough, Massachusetts, the Parker-Maynard Homestead sits as one of the best-preserved and significant properties in town. Revolutionary War veteran Isaac Parker (1750-1798), after the war, acquired land in town and built a farmhouse here around 1777. Upon the time of his death in 1798, his property listed in his will included: a homestead farm, grist mill, saw mill, a small dwelling house, a horse stable, and a pew at the town meetinghouse. The property was acquired by brothers Ebenezer and Ephraim Maynard, who lived in the house together with their respective families. The Maynard brothers worked as wheelwrights and had their shop on the property for years. Ephraim Maynard’s eldest son, Horace Maynard (1814-1882) was born here and after graduating from Amherst College, moved to Tennessee to teach law at East Tennessee University before getting into politics. Horace served in Congress between 1858-1873 as a representative from Knoxville. He spent much of his first two terms in Congress fighting to preserve the Union, and during the Civil War, he consistently urged President Abraham Lincoln to send Union forces to free East Tennessee from its Confederate occupiers. After the war, he was appointed minister to Constantinople by President Grant in 1875. In 1880 he returned to the United States and was appointed Postmaster General by President Rutherford B. Hayes. Horace owned the family homestead following the death of his father and uncle, and often returned to Westborough to see family and get away from politics.
As the town of Westborough emerged from rural agricultural community to commercial center, connections to Worcester and Boston via rail service opened the town to prosperity. As businessmen accumulated wealth, these merchants built stately homes to showcase their position in the community. Before the Civil War, the Greek Revival style was ever-popular in Westborough, even though the style was already waning in popularity in larger cities. This is the Gilman Morse House, built around 1850 for Mr. Gilman Wood Morse (1810-1899) on East Main Street. Morse was a merchant in town and clearly did well for himself, building this stately house for his family. The residence is Greek Revival in style with its facade bays broken up by pilasters capped with Corinthian capitals adorned by acanthus leaves. The house also features ornate window and door hoods, showcasing the emerging Italianate style influence.
The Sibley House is a historic house museum as well as the headquarters of the Westborough Historical Society. Located on Parkman Street in the center of Westborough, Massachusetts, the transitional Greek Revival/Italianate style house was built in 1844, by William Sibley, who was a blacksmith and wheelwright. Soon after the house was built, William married Jane Caroline Gibson, and the couple raised five children here. William joined Westborough’s Company K, 13th Massachusetts Regiment during the Civil War and was wounded at Antietam. After the war, William returned home and he and his brother Frank began to manufacture sleighs. At one point, they produced as many as 300 a year! The Sibley House was purchased by the Westborough Historical Society in 1990, nearly 100 years after the society was established in 1889. The house is open to visitors and provides a glimpse into daily life for Westborough citizens at the time.
Edwin Bayard Harvey (1834-1913) was born in Deerfield, New Hampshire, and attended Wesleyan University in Connecticut, pursuing his career as a teacher. He would teach for a few years until he shifted gears and enrolled at Harvard Medical School, graduating in 1866. With the intention of settling in the West, he went to Waukegan, Illinois, but was not satisfied, so he returned to New England, and made his home in Westborough, Massachusetts. Edwin operated a medical office from this house on West Main Street and resided here with his family until his death in 1913. He often made house calls around town travelling by horseback. During his time in Westborough, Dr. Harvey served as President of the Massachusetts Medical Society from 1898-1900, and served on local school and library boards in Westborough. Never giving up on his push for education, as a State Senator in the legislature in 1884, Dr. Harvey introduced and was instrumental to the passage of a bill to provide free textbooks to the children of the state. The Dr. Edwin Harvey House remains in a great state of preservation.
This lovely Queen Anne style home can be found on Highland Avenue in Somerville, Massachusetts. Built around 1890, the residence was built for Walter Saunders Barnes (1838-1931), a manufacturer with a paper box business in Boston. The property was sold in 1903 to Robert Luce (1862-1946), a prominent businessman and politician who founded the Luce’s Press Clipping Bureau before he was elected a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives in 1899 and 1901–1908. He was elected the 42nd lieutenant governor of Massachusetts in 1912. After serving as Lt. Governor, Luce would spend the next decades in the House of Representatives. His Somerville house is a well-preserved example of the Queen Anne style and includes a steeply pitched hipped roof with gable and dormers, asymmetrical plan, porch with braced supports, and a half-round window in the gable.
Buildings of New England 
