Swett-Ilsley House, c. 1670
4 High Road
Newbury, Mass.
Directions
Open 11am - 3pm on :
Saturday, June 7
Saturday, July 5
Saturday, August 2
Saturday, September 6
Saturday, October 4
Admission : Free on June 7; $5 other dates; Free to Historic New England members.
Private Heritage Tours available with advanced reservations.
Please call 617-227-3956, June 1 through October 15.
Purchased by SPNEA, now known as Historic New England, in 1911, the distinctively-evolved Swett-Ilsley
House was the organization's first architectural acquisition. Built by Stephen
Swett, the original portion of the house was constructed on a
single-room plan with chimney bay and faced south.
Passing through a series of owners, the house remained essentially
unaltered until about 1720, when it was enlarged in an atypical
fashion with the addition of a second unit of single-room plan to the
north of the original block. A new roof -- made in part with the
salvaged rafters of the old roof -- was built over the whole,
changing the ridge pole direction from an east-west to a north-south
axis. Although the chimney, which was then located at the
northwestern corner of the main block, was retained, the upper stack
was probably modified when the new roof was installed.
The house was further extended to the north, although a need to conform to the
irregular lot line necessitated the termination of the eastern wall a
full two feet before the western wall ended. The original chimney was
demolished, and a new central chimney was added to serve the 1650 and
1720 portions of the house.
The irregular perimeter of the house was somewhat rectified in
1756, when the purchase of land to the north yielded an opportunity
to build a final northern addition of single-room plan with
stair-hall and separate chimney. The building achieved its present
form. With the construction of a kitchen lean-to at the western end
of the house, complete with one of the most massice fireplaces of the
period, containing three behive ovens.
Discover more about the Swett-Ilsley House in the Historic
New England magazine archives:
