All Images are Copyright of William Owens
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.
Wentworth-Coolidge Mansion (various stages - 1650-1750), Little Harbor, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Interior - Council Chamber Hearth (black and white).
Moffatt-Ladd House (1763), Portsmouth, New Hampshire, with a small roof balustrade, full, three-story quoins, broken-scroll pediments over second story windows and pedimented portico. In accordance with sea-coast New Hampshire custom, this house was built as a wedding gift for the bride-groom.
Shortridge-Sherburne House (c 1770), Portsmouth, New Hampshire. A fine broken-scroll pediment (said to be original) mounted over Corinthian pilasters is the outstanding feature of this house which also has broken scroll pediments over the roof dormers.
Stoodley's Tavern (1761), Portsmouth, New Hampshire. James Stoodley, the proprietor served with Rogers' Rangers in the last French and Indian War (1754-1763). In December, 1774, Paul Revere rode up from Boston to warn that the British planned to reinforce Fort William and Mary. A conference took place at Stoodley's, and, no doubt, Revere took some refreshment from his journey. Under the handsome dormered gambrel roof was a ballroom extending the length of the building.
Chase House (1762) Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Detail of East portion during snow storm. A handsome Georgian gambrel - part of the Strawbery Banke museum.
Chase House (c 1762), Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; North facade and West end. Strawbery Banke is an outdoor and indoor museum preserving some of Portsmouth's early houses and demonstrating skills and crafts of the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.
Chase House (c1762) Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; North facade and East end. Chase's north facade sports a gambrel roof with three dormers, two-story quoins and a segmental pediment over the door.
Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Lowd, Sherburne and Shapley-Drisco Houses in Spring.
Strawbery Banke, Portsmouth, New Hampshire; Lowd, Sherburne and Shapley-Drisco Houses during a winter snow storm.