The Walker House at 171 Middle Street in Portsmouth is a wood-frame Italianate-style residence that was greatly modernized at the turn of the 20th century into the Colonial Revival style, showcasing how differing styles can actually blend together fairly harmoniously. The house was built around 1857 for Nathaniel Kennard Walker (1807-1880), a ship owner who operated a hat shop in town. After his death in 1880, Nathaniel’s youngest son, Arthur Willard Walker (1855-1906), inherited the home, and some time after his marriage in 1886, modernized the family home in the then fashionable Colonial Revival style, popular in many New England towns as a callback to historical designs. Original details of the Italianate style that remain include: the overhanging bracketed eaves, wide cornice, centered gable at the roof, and the window trim. Colonial Revival additions to the Walker House include: the entrance with leaded glass fanlight transom and sidelights, entry portico, two-story fluted pilasters at the facade, and Palladian window at the second floor stairhall.