Chester Harding House
| Chester Harding House | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| National Register of Historic Places | |||
| National Historic Landmark | |||
| Historic District Contributing Property | |||
 The house in 2008 |
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| location | Boston , Massachusetts , United States | ||
| Coordinates | 42 ° 21 '28.8 " N , 71 ° 3' 45" W | ||
| Built | 1808 | ||
| architect | Thomas Fletcher | ||
| Architectural style | Federal style | ||
| NRHP number | 66000764 | ||
| Data | |||
| The NRHP added | October 15, 1966 | ||
| Declared as an NHL | December 21, 1965 | ||
| Declared as CP | October 15, 1966 | ||
The Chester Harding House is the historic home of the American painter Chester Harding on Beacon Street in the Boston district of Beacon Hill in the state of Massachusetts in the United States . Although Harding lived there only four years, it is still associated with him today. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1965 and was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966 . The building is also a contributing property of the Beacon Hill Historic District.
architecture
The house stands on a nearly rectangular lot opposite the junction with Bowdoin Street. The four-story house with a flat roof was designed by Thomas Fletcher in Federal Style in 1808 and built from brick . Due to its size and lavish furnishings, it was initially referred to as Amory's Folly ( German, for example, Amory's useless magnificent building ) after the first owner .
To the external features include a supported with column inlet canopy, flat sheets on the windows, the size of which decreases with each floor as well as from tooth sections existing cornice at the roof line. Next to the entrance an archway led to the rear of the house. The interior layout corresponded to most other houses of this era in Beacon Hill, ie the kitchen was in the basement, the salon and dining room were on the ground floor and the bedrooms on the upper floors.
After Chester Harding moved out in 1830, the appearance was significantly changed, which is particularly evident today in the entrance area, which was redesigned in 1885, the roofing of which was significantly widened so that the roof area could be added to the first and second floors. In the 1920s, the Unitarian Church Association converted the house into an office building.
In 1963 the Boston Bar Association took over the building and renovated it again. A kitchen and a dining room were set up in the basement, a reception desk on the ground floor, offices and conference rooms on the first and second floors and a library on the third floor. The electrics and heating system were also modernized and the extension of the second floor was dismantled. The interior has been carefully restored and some parts are still original.
Historical meaning
Chester Harding, who was born in Conway in 1792, lived in this house from 1826 to 1830. He was one of the most successful portrait painters in the United States and, even before moving to Boston, had sparked an euphoria that Gilbert Stuart referred to as the Harding fever . Although he only lived there for four years, the house is still associated with his name due to his personality and the importance of his works.
See also
- List of National Historic Landmarks in Boston
- List of entries on the National Register of Historic Places in northern Boston
literature
- Polly M. Rettig: National Register of Historic Places Inventory - Nomination Form. (PDF) United States Department of the Interior , National Park Service , July 1975, accessed November 24, 2016 .
Web links
Individual evidence
- ↑ Listing of National Historic Landmarks by State: Massachusetts. National Park Service , accessed August 11, 2019.
- ↑ a b c d cf. Rettig, p. 2.
- ↑ cf. Rettig, p. 3.