Historic House Blog

Published in 1979, The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay, 1625-1725 was a giant contribution to the study of vernacular architecture, and it remains a foundational reference work for scholars of colonial architecture in Massachusetts and beyond. Focusing on the “first period” of settlement, from roughly 1620-1720, Cummings’ excellent work is an encyclopedic and systematic evaluation of [...]

When it comes to admiring old houses, I tend to favor rustic, 200-year old post & beam structures.  Yet some of my favorite historic houses are much more modern:  Craftsman-style bungalows.  This article will highlight the history & characteristics of this beautiful architectural style.

So, this really exists.  An 18th century farmhouse (dating to 1795) that is now a McDonald’s restaurant on Long Island in NY.

Even among historic house lovers, I am probably one of the few crazies who would actually love to live in a rustic 17th- or early 18th-century home.  An old “New Englander” would be especially nice, with creaky wide-board floors, exposed beams, and wood-paneled walls.  I can picture myself enjoying Thanksgiving dinner with my family, gathered [...]

Georgian architecture was the dominant style of 18th century America.  This style is called Georgian because it was dominant from approximately the reign of King George I who ascended the throne in 1711, until the end of the American Revolution (King George III).  By the early 1700s, English colonies in America were a bit more [...]

This one is, well,  just a tad unique.  In 1976, a black couple — Donald & Thelma Smith — bought a beautiful mansion (circa 1912) in the historic Hill District of Pittsburgh.  While doing some renovations a few years later, some exterior wood was removed from the facade to reveal — surprise, surprise — a [...]

I really like Marshall, Michigan. I’ve only been there once, and that one visit was only a few weeks ago.  However, I am smitten.  I had long been looking forward to visiting Marshall (well, “long” being since March 2009), when I bought an old copy of Mabel Cooper-Skjelver’s Nineteenth Century Homes of Marshall, Michigan (see left).  Flipping through musty pages of old black and [...]

In an upscale neighborhood in Atlanta, a man named Ruben Jones recently purchased the “Henry B. Tompkins House” (asking price $2 million) and among the renovations, he painted his 1922 Georgian Revival home.  No problem, right?  Except that he painted it ORANGE . . . a far cry from the original GRAY stucco, which, for 88 years, [...]

Sandra Bullock has joined a growing list of celebs who have purchased historic homes, as she begins her new life after Jesse James by purchasing a Gothic Victorian in the “Garden District” of New Orleans. 

When I received my latest e-newsletter from the National Trust for Historic Preservation, I was pleased to find an interesting interview with Charles Drayton, which  made me recall my own visit to historic Drayton Hall in 2007.   [Click here to read that National Trust article]. If you’ve never been, Drayton Hall is a stunning, circa 1742 plantation house outside [...]