A Settled Commonwealth

Welcome!

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This is a pictorial collection of First Period houses in Massachusetts; that is, houses built in the first colonial period, commonly (but not always) given as the hundred years between 1625 and 1725. This style is also known as Post Medieval.

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I'm not an architect, nor am I knowledgeable enough to comment on the architectural features of these houses. My interest is mainly historical and aesthetic; these are the houses that I slow down the car for. If you'd like to know more about the architecture, I've listed some books about colonial architecture on the Bibliography page.

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There are over 250 First Period houses in the commonwealth, so this is just a tiny sampler. In addition to some well-known properties, I hope to highlight some lesser-known old survivors, and an interesting few that are no longer standing.

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All dates are from MACRIS, the database of the Massachusetts Historical Commission. Where I'm aware of some debate about the dating of a house, I've tagged it as "disputed," but for the purposes of this collection, the Massachusetts Historical Commission has the final say.

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Labels such as this—"SWA.71"— are each property's Massachusetts Historical Commission inventory number. If you'd like more information about a house I've featured here, use this inventory number to find the property record on MACRIS. The blue INV button will download a PDF of the inventory survey, which includes architectural information. 

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I've used many photos from the Historic American Buildings Survey (HABS), a project of the Library of Congress, National Park Service, and private partners to document historic buildings in the United States.

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The James Luxford quote on the Home page is shamelessly borrowed from Abbott Lowell Cummings's book The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay, 1625-1725. See the whole letter here at the Massachusetts Historical Society.

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Enjoy!