List of the oldest buildings in Massachusetts

This article attempts to list the oldest buildings in the state of Massachusetts in the United States of America, including the oldest houses in Massachusetts and any other surviving structures. Some dates are approximate and based on architectural studies and historical records, other dates are based on dendrochronology. All entries should include citation with reference to: 17th century architectural features; a report by an architectural historian; or dendrochronology. Sites on the list are generally from the First Period of American architecture. Only houses built prior to 1700 are suitable for inclusion on this list or the building must be the oldest of its type.

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Building Image Location First Built Notes
Fairbanks House Dedham, Massachusetts 1637 c. Oldest wood-frame house in America, dated using dendrochronology, and the oldest house in Massachusetts.[1]
Richard Sparrow House
Richard Sparrow House
 Plymouth, Massachusetts 1640 c. The Richard Sparrow House is a historic house at 42 Summer Street in Plymouth, Massachusetts and the oldest surviving house in Plymouth.
Wing Fort House East Sandwich, Massachusetts 1641[2] The oldest home in New England continuously owned by the same family; now a museum.[2]
James Noyes House Newbury, Massachusetts 1646
General Israel Putnam House Danvers, Massachusetts 1648 Owned by the Danvers Historical Society.
Newman-Fiske-Dodge House Wenham, Massachusetts 1658
Bellingham-Cary House
Chelsea, Massachusetts 1724[3] The Bellingham-Cary House is a historic house museum at 34 Parker Street in Chelsea, Massachusetts. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
James Blake House Dorchester, Massachusetts 1661 Oldest house in Boston (dendrochronology in 2007 determined the actual construction date [dorchesterhistoricalsociety.org])
Pickering House Salem, Massachusetts 1664[4] Oldest house in Salem still being lived in. It is located at 18 Broad Street in the Chestnut Street District.
Pickman House Salem, Massachusetts 1664 Located on Charter Street behind the Peabody Essex Museum, the oldest continually operated museum in America. The house abuts the Witch Memorial is also next to the second oldest burying ground in America.
Gedney House Salem, Massachusetts 1665
Jabez Howland House Plymouth, Massachusetts 1667
House of the Seven Gables Salem, Massachusetts 1668 National Historic Landmark, setting of the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel.
Swett-Ilsley House Newbury, Massachusetts 1670
Judge Samuel Holten House Danvers, Massachusetts 1670
The Witch House Salem, Massachusetts 1675 Also called the Jonathan Corwin House, this was the home of Judge Jonathan Corwin and is the only structure still standing in Salem, Massachusetts with direct ties to the Salem Witch Trials of 1692. The house is now a museum operated by the City of Salem, and is open seasonally.
Hoxie House Sandwich, Massachusetts 1675 c. One of the oldest houses on Cape Cod.
Narbonne House Salem, Massachusetts 1675 The house is on the waterfront in Salem at the Salem Maritime National Historic Site and owned by the National Park Service. The site has 12 historic structures, including the Customs House, and a replica of the sailing ship Friendship of Salem.
Deane Winthrop House Winthrop, Massachusetts 1675 Dated by dendrochronology to 1675,[4] with an addition of 1695. Currently it is owned by the Winthrop Improvement and Historical Association. This building is one of the oldest wood frame houses in the country and it is the oldest continuously lived-in home. Located at 40 Shirley Street, the Deane Winthrop House is a registered National Historic Site.
John Whipple House Ipswich, Massachusetts 1677 National Historic Landmark.
Peter Tufts House Medford, Massachusetts 1677–8 c. The oldest brick house in Massachusetts.[5][6]
Coffin House Newbury, Massachusetts 1678 One of the oldest extant examples of the principal rafter/common purlin roof.
John Balch House Beverly, Massachusetts 1679 c.
Paul Revere House Boston, Massachusetts 1680 c. Oldest building in downtown Boston.[7]
Old Ship Church Hingham, Massachusetts 1681 Oldest church building in Massachusetts; only remaining Puritan 17th century meetinghouse in America; oldest church in continuous ecclesiastical use in America.
Ironmaster's House Saugus, Massachusetts 1681 Also known as the Appleton House. This was part of the Saugus Iron Works, which was a major industrial complex. It has been restored and is open to the public.
Cooper-Frost-Austin House Cambridge, Massachusetts 1681 Oldest house in Cambridge, verified using dendrochronology.
Parson Capen House Topsfield, Massachusetts 1683 Oldest house in Topsfield.
Pierce House (Dorchester, Massachusetts) Dorchester, Massachusetts 1683 One of the oldest houses in Boston.
John Ward House Salem, Massachusetts 1684 This house is a National Historic Landmark at 132 Essex Street in Salem, Massachusetts in the Downtown Salem District; it was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1968.
Quincy Homestead Quincy, Massachusetts 1686 Home to four generations of Quincys, including Dorothy Quincy Hancock. Maintained by Commonwealth of Massachusetts Department of Conservation and Recreation as well as the National Society of Colonial Dames in America in the Commonwealth of Massachusetts.
Jethro Coffin House Nantucket, Massachusetts 1686 Oldest house on Nantucket Island.
William Murray House Salem, Massachusetts 1688 A historic house at 39 Essex Street
Claflin-Richards House Wenham, Massachusetts 1690 Constructed with ogee braces, an architectural hallmark of 16th- and 17th-century English dwellings.
Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm Newbury, Massachusetts 1690 or earlier One of the oldest stone buildings in New England.
Old Jail Barnstable, Massachusetts 1690 Oldest wooden prison in America.
Boardman House Saugus, Massachusetts 1692[8] Formerly known as the Scotch Boardman House. Also known as the Bennet-Boardman House.
Kimball Tavern Haverhill, Massachusetts 1692 The Kimball Tavern is among the oldest buildings in Massachusetts, and one of the oldest buildings in the city of Haverhill. A plaque identifies it as the site of the founding of Bradford College in 1802.
Stanley Lake House Topsfield, Massachusetts 1693 Stanley Lake House, built in 1693, is a historic house at 95 River Road in Topsfield, Massachusetts. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1990.
Browne House Watertown, Massachusetts 1694 Oldest house in Watertown.
Parker Tavern Reading, Massachusetts 1694 The saltbox tavern was built in 1694 by Abraham Bryant, a farmer and blacksmith. During the American Revolution, Ephraim Parker acquired the house and operated a tavern on the premises. Parker allowed Scottish prisoners of war to be housed in the tavern. The town of Reading acquired the building in 1914. In 1923, Reading Antiquarian Society purchased the building from the town for a nominal price and has maintained and operated the museum without public funding. The building was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1975. It is currently operated by the Reading Antiquarian Society.
Hart House Lynnfield, Massachusetts 1695 c.
Isaac Goodale House Built in Salem, Massachusetts; moved to Ipswich, Massachusetts in 1928. 1695 c. Date from architectural survey, available on Massachusetts Cultural Resource Information System website.[9]
Manning Manse Billerica, Massachusetts c. 1696
Dwight-Derby House Medfield, Massachusetts 1697
Isaac Winslow House Marshfield, Massachusetts 1699 Residence of a governor of the Plymouth Colony; now a museum.
Solomon Kimball House Wenham, Massachusetts c. 1700[10] Although the house is named for its nineteenth- and early twentieth-century owner Solomon Kimball, it was built by Thomas and Mary (Solart) Kilham (or Killam). The date of construction is based on a March 6, 1695/6 timber grant to Thomas Kilham by the town of Wenham, of enough pine timber to yield 700 boards.[11]
Hatch Homestead Marshfield, Massachusetts 1700 ca.[12] Purportedly the oldest continuously occupied house in Massachusetts.
John Alden House Duxbury, Massachusetts ca. 1700 A National Historic Landmark, dating to ca. 1700 .[13]
Rebecca Nurse Homestead Danvers, Massachusetts ca. 1700 This house was built around ca. 1700.[14]
John Humphreys House Swampscott, Massachusetts 1700 c.[15]
Old Powder House Somerville, Massachusetts 1704 Oldest stone building in Massachusetts
Peak House Peak House, Medfield MA.jpg Medfield, Massachusetts 1711 The Peak House is a first period cottage featuring peak style architecture and post-and-beam construction. It is the only freestanding structure of its kind and one of the earliest surviving examples of Post-medieval (Elizabethan) architecture in the United States.[16] First built in 1668, the original structure burned during King Philip's War in 1676 and was later reconstructed.[17]
St. Michael's Church (Marblehead, Massachusetts) Marblehead, Massachusetts 1714 Oldest Episcopal parish church building on its original site in New England.
Boston Light Boston 1716 / 1783 First lighthouse established in the USA, 1716. The current tower, built in 1783, is the second oldest existing lighthouse in the USA (after Sandy Hook Light, New Jersey).
John Adams Birthplace Quincy, Massachusetts 1722[18] Oldest existing building within which a future President of the United States was born (John Adams, October 30, 1735)

[19]

Josiah Day House West Springfield 1754 Oldest known brick salt-box style home in the United States.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Elsie Lathrop "Historic Houses of Early America" (Kessinger, New York: 2006) pg. 218 (accessed on Google Book Search)
  2. 1 2 "Wing Fort House". Wing Family of America. Wing Family of America, Inc. Retrieved 27 August 2016.
  3. ↑ "Oxford Dendrochronology Lab".
  4. 1 2 "Oxford Dendrochronology".
  5. ↑ Coolidge, Ruth Dame. Round About Old Medford, Medford Historical Society, 1934.
  6. ↑ Hooper, John H. "Some Old Medford Houses and Estates" Medford Historic Register. VII:3 (July 1904).
  7. ↑ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 2008-07-15. Retrieved 2013-06-15.
  8. ↑ "Boardman House".
  9. ↑ "MACRIS".
  10. ↑ "MACRIS Details". mhc-macris.net. Retrieved 2018-01-11.
  11. ↑ Wenham Historical Society, Wenham Town Records, 1642–1706 (Salem, Massachusetts: Newcomb & Gauss, 1930), 1:130.
  12. ↑ "MACRIS Details". mhc-macris.net. Retrieved 2018-01-10.
  13. ↑ "National Historic Landmark Nomination, page 4" (PDF).
  14. ↑ Cummings, Abbott (1979). The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay 1625-1725. Belknap. p. 123.
  15. ↑ "MACRIS".
  16. ↑ http://medfieldhistoricalsociety.org/historic-medfield/peak-house/
  17. ↑ https://patch.com/massachusetts/medfield/uniquely-medfield-east-main-street-the-gateway-into-medfield
  18. ↑ "Oxford Tree-Ring Laboratory".
  19. ↑ National Park Service description of the John Adams Birthplace, as part of the Adams National Historic Park in Quincy, MA.
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