All Images are Copyright of William Owens
Wentworth-Gardner House (1760), Portsmouth, New Hampshire; View from east with reflection.
Wentworth-Gardner House (1760), Portsmouth, New Hampshire; View from Pierce Island.
Wentworth-Gardner House (1760), Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Southeast parlor hearth with ornate mantel.
Wentworth-Gardner House (1760) Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Interior - Upstairs Hall. The panelled hall is flanked by fluted Ionic pilasters under a modillioned cornice. The balustrade leads down to an arched window at the rear of the house flanked by pilasters, flowered fretwork and a panelled reveal.
Tobias Lear House (c 1740), Portsmouth, New Hampshire. A modest, yet plump hip-roofed Georgian showing few decorative elements. It was built by the grandfather of Tobias Lear, a secretary to George Washington.
John Paul Jones (Capt.Gregory Purcell) House (1758), Portsmouth, New Hampshire (2008 photograph). US naval hero John Paul Jones lived here for a short time.The house therefore bears his name.
John Paul Jones (Capt.Gregory Purcell) House (1758), Portsmouth, New Hampshire (2005 photograph). The house is the headquarters of the Portsmouth Historical Society which has owned the building since 1920.
Jaffrey Center Meeting House (late 18th century), Jaffrey Center, New Hampshire; Fall 2010 photograph. There is a legend that the meeting house was under construction on the day of the Battle of Bunker Hill (June 17, 1775), and that the sound of cannon fire from the battle could be heard at the meeting house site. This is most unlikely, as the battle took place in Charlestown, Massachusetts - approximately sixty miles away "as the crow flies".
First Congregational Church (1799), Exeter, New Hampshire. Central pavilion with three entrances and arched windows at second story. Three stage tower: the lower bearing four pilasters, arched window and clock; the second an arched octagonal with small balustrade on top; the top stage is an arched cupola with weather vane.
Gilman Garrison House (1709), Exeter, New Hampshire. Garrison houses were New England's log cabins, usually built from hewn logs dovetailed at the corners. They were intended as a defense against Indian - often French and Indian attack.
Old Parsonage (1710 or later), Newington, New Hampshire. A remarkably well preserved sea coast New Hampshire salt box. Clapboard with center chimney, front door entablature with angular pediment. Small addition or ell in rear.
Sandown Meeting House (1774), Sandown, New Hampshire. The simple wood-clapboard exterior houses a galleried interior with box pews and an elaborate "wine-glass" pulpit. The exterior ornamentation is restricted to a modillioned cornice and two handsome angular-pedimented door entablatures.
Sandown Meeting House (1774), Sandown, New Hampshire; Interior. "Wine-glass" pulpit with sounding board (canopy), box pews, gallery and some marbleized (painted to look like marble) columns and pilasters on the pulpit.
John Langdon Mansion (1784), Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Langdon was a strong patriot and also a privateer during the American Revolutionary War. He later served in the Federal Constitutional Convention, then as US Senator and later Governor of New Hampshire. George Washington, visiting Portsmouth in 1789 thought Langdon's mansion the best in town. It has a balustraded hipped roof pierced by three pedimented dormers, two-story corner pilasters, and a half-oval portico over the entrance.
John Peirce Mansion (c 1799), Portsmouth, New Hampshire. High Federal style architecture came to Portsmouth with the building of this house. Note the ornate cupola, the full balustrade and the central section of the facade accented by pilasters and decorative panels.
Barrett House (c 1800), New Ipswich, New Hampshire. Another elegant Federal style mansion - in the south-central part of the state. The house has a pilastered central pavilion topped by a pediment, three-story corner pilasters and the traditional (for Federal style) fan light over the front door.
Fremont Meeting House (1800), Fremont, New Hampshire. An almost severely plain exterior but with enclosed stair porches at both ends.
Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion (various stages- 1650-1750), Little Harbor, Portsmouth, New Hampshire. The first independent governor of New Hampshire, Benning Wentworth, set up shop here and had his council come to him.
Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion (various stages - 1650-1750), Little Harbor, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; In Snow. Historical note: Prior to 1741 when the Massachusetts/New Hampshire boundary dispute was finally settled, the governor of New Hampshire was a Massachusetts lieutenant-governor.