List of the oldest buildings in the United States

This article attempts to list the oldest extant freestanding buildings constructed in the United States of America by Europeans (English, Spanish, Dutch, French, Swedish, Germans), Africans, Native Americans and other immigrants and native born people. The list also includes sites in current states and territories that were not part of the original Thirteen Colonies when the United States of America was founded in 1776. Sites on the list are generally from the First Period of American architecture or earlier.

Building Image Location State First Built Use Notes
Ancestral Puebloan communities New Mexico, Arizona, Colorado, Utah NM
AZ
CO
UT		 750 - Pueblo construction begins in AD 750 and continues to present Villages Majority of settlements abandoned, but some very well preserved. Buildings have been within the U.S. since 1848, when New Mexico was annexed.
Taos Pueblo north of the modern city of Taos, New Mexico NM 1000 - Built between 1000 and 1450 AD Residential Said to be the oldest continuously inhabited houses still occupied. Buildings have been within the U.S. since 1848, when New Mexico was annexed.[1]
Acoma Pueblo on top of a 367-foot (112 m) sandstone mesa in Cibola County, New Mexico NM 1000- Built between 1000 and 1200 AD Residential Said to be the oldest continuously inhabited site in the U.S.. Buildings have been within the U.S. since 1848, when New Mexico was annexed.
Cathedral of San Juan Bautista Old San Juan, Puerto Rico PR 1521 Religious Part of the San Juan National Historic Site. Oldest church building on US soil (extensive additions and renovations). The Cathedral has been on U.S. territory since Puerto Rico was annexed in 1898.
San José Church Old San Juan, Puerto Rico PR 1532 Religious Part of the San Juan National Historic Site. Additions and renovations over the centuries. The church has been on U.S. territory since Puerto Rico was annexed in 1898.
La Fortaleza Old San Juan, Puerto Rico PR 1533 Government Part of the San Juan National Historic Site. Oldest executive mansion in the New World. Extensive reconstructions took place. Building has been within the U.S. since 1898 when Puerto Rico was annexed.
Castillo San Felipe del Morro Old San Juan, Puerto Rico PR 1539 Government Part of the San Juan National Historic Site. Construction started in 1539, with extensive additions over the centuries. Building has been within the U.S. since 1898 when Puerto Rico was annexed.
Porta Coeli San Germán, Puerto Rico PR 1609 Religious The church has been on U.S. territory since Puerto Rico was annexed in 1898.
Palace of the Governors Santa Fe, New Mexico NM 1610 Government Oldest seat of colonial government (Spanish). Building has been within the U.S. since 1848, when New Mexico was annexed.[2]
San Miguel Mission Santa Fe, New Mexico NM 1610 Government Said to be the oldest church structure built in the USA. The original adobe walls and altar were built by the Tlaxcalan Indians from Mexico, but much of the structure was rebuilt in 1710. Building has been within the U.S. since 1848 when New Mexico was annexed.[3]
St. Luke's Church Smithfield, Virginia VA 1632 (or 1682) Religious Said to be the oldest church in the United States in one of the thirteen original colonies, National Historic Landmark.[4]
Fairbanks House Dedham, Massachusetts MA 1637 Residential Oldest house in the United States of timber-frame with date verified using dendrochronology.[5]
John Humphreys House Swampscott, Massachusetts MA 1637 circa Residential Oldest house in Swampscott; moved in 1891 to present site (99 Paradise Road) from Elmwood Road.
C. A. Nothnagle Log House Gibbstown NJ ca. 1638-43 Residential Purportedly the oldest surviving log house in the U.S. and the oldest house in New Jersey.
Jamestown Church Jamestown, Virginia VA 1639 Religious Oldest building in Jamestown, the first British settlement.[6]
Henry Whitfield House‎ Guilford, Connecticut CT 1639 Residential Oldest stone American Colonial house;[7] oldest house in Connecticut.
Loomis Homestead Windsor, Connecticut CT 1640 Residential One of the oldest timber-frame houses in America. The oldest part of the house was built in 1640 by Joseph Loomis, who came to America from England in 1638 [1][2]. Later additions to the Loomis house were made around the turn of the eighteenth century. The house is now adjacent to the Loomis Chaffee school.
Sparrow House Plymouth, Massachusetts MA 1640 Residential Oldest house in Plymouth, MA.
De Vargas Street House Santa Fe, New Mexico NM 1646 Residential Previously alleged to be oldest house in the USA and Santa Fe.
Old House (Cutchogue) Cutchogue, New York NY 1649 Residential One of the oldest houses in the state; moved in 1661 to present site from Southold.
Pickering House Salem MA 1651 Residential Oldest house in Salem, MA.[8]
Wyckoff House Brooklyn NY 1652 Residential Oldest house in New York City.[9]
Block House Claymont, Delaware DE 1654 Residential One of the oldest structures in Delaware, built by the Swedish.
Bray House Kittery Point, Maine ME 1662 circa Residential Oldest house in Maine.
Bronck House Coxsackie, New York NY 1663 Residential Oldest house in upstate New York.
Richard Jackson House Portsmouth, New Hampshire NH 1664 Residential Oldest house in New Hampshire.[10]
Bacon's Castle Surry, Virginia VA 1665 Residential Oldest building with satisfactorily credible age authentication and in reasonably decent or better condition (i.e., not a ruin) still standing in the Commonwealth of Virginia; also possibly the oldest brick building still standing in the United States.
Alexander Standish House Duxbury, Massachusetts MA 1666 Residential Home of the son of Pilgrim Capt. Miles Standish.
Peter Bulkeley Esq/Reuben Brown House Concord, Massachusetts MA 1667 Residential Built in 1725 by the town saddler, Reuben Brown. There is also a strong tradition that the house was the home of Peter Bulkeley, which is why the house is often referred to as the Peter Bulkeley / Reuben Brown House. The date contributed to Peter Bulkeley is 1667, which also marks the date of his marriage to Rebecca Wheeler. The evidence is still unclear whether or not the Bulkeley's did build the house some 300 years ago. What historians can conclude is that the house was either completely updated or built by Reuben Brown in 1725.
Jabez Howland House Plymouth, Massachusetts MA 1667 Residential Only extant house in Plymouth occupied by Pilgrims. John Howland and his wife, Elizabeth Tilley Howland, who both came over on the Mayflower, spent their winters here with their son, Jabez, one of their 10 children. Also a National Historic Landmark.[11]
House of the Seven Gables Salem, Massachusetts MA 1668 Residential National Historic Landmark, setting of the Nathaniel Hawthorne novel.
Chaplin-Clarke House Rowley, Massachusetts MA 1670 Residential
Newport Tower Newport, Rhode Island RI 1670 circa (disputed to be older) Commercial Colonial windmill.[12] No roof or floors since the mid-18th century.
Nehemiah Royce House Wallingford, Connecticut CT 1672 Residential A typical saltbox, this house was visited by George Washington in 1775.
Castillo de San Marcos St. Augustine, Florida FL 1672-1695 Government Oldest masonry fortification in the United States.
White Horse Tavern Newport, Rhode Island RI 1673 Tavern Oldest tavern in America.[13]
Smith's Castle Wickford, Rhode Island RI 1678 Residential Possibly the oldest house in Rhode Island, now a museum.
Clement Weaver House East Greenwich, Rhode Island RI 1679 Residential Oldest (privately-owned) house in Rhode Island.[14]
John Balch House Beverly, Massachusetts MA 1679 circa Residential John Balch received the deed to the land on which the house sits in 1635; the building was constructed by Balch's son and grandson in 1678/1679,[15] and is one of the oldest continuously privately deeded properties in the United States. The original structure in the front dates to 1679, while the back half addition is dated to 1721;[15] these data have been verified using dendrochronology.
Paul Revere House Boston MA 1680 circa Residential Oldest building in downtown Boston.[16]
Old Ship Church Hingham, Massachusetts MA 1681 Religious Oldest church in continuous ecclesiastical use in the United States; only remaining 17th century Puritan meeting house in America.[17]
Third Haven Meeting House Talbot County, Maryland MD 1682 Religious Oldest building in Maryland. Oldest Quaker meeting house in the United States.
Caleb Pusey House Upland, Pennsylvania PA 1683 Residential Oldest English-built house in Pennsylvania. Only extant building known to have been visited by William Penn. Completed in 1696.
Old Indian Meeting House Mashpee, Massachusetts MA 1684 Religious Oldest Native American church.
Old Dutch Church of Sleepy Hollow Sleepy Hollow, New York NY 1685 Church Oldest church in the State of New York.
Spencer-Peirce-Little Farm Newbury, Massachusetts MA 1690 circa Residential One of the oldest stone buildings in New England, now a nonprofit museum.
Old Quaker Meeting House (Flushing, New York) Flushing, Queens NY 1694 Religious The only surviving example in New York State of a typical 17th century ecclesiastical frame structure of medieval design.[18]
Wren Building Williamsburg, Virginia VA 1695 School Oldest school building in America, original The College of William & Mary structure.[19]
Merion Friends Meeting House Merion Station PA 1695 Religious One of the oldest Quaker meeting houses in America.
Gloria Dei
(Old Swedes' Church)		 Philadelphia PA 1700 Religious Oldest surviving church in Philadelphia.
Old State House (Boston) Boston, Massachusetts MA 1713 Government Oldest surviving public building in Boston. The Bostonian Society Museum.
Perth Amboy City Hall Perth Amboy, New Jersey NJ 1714-1717 Government Oldest city hall in USA.
Gonzalez-Alvarez House St. Augustine, Florida FL 1723 circa Residential Oldest house in St. Augustine, the oldest continuously occupied European-established city in the continental United States.[2] [20]
Oxford Furnace Oxford Township, New Jersey NJ 1741 Furnace First hot blast furnace in United States.
Mount Holly Firehouse Mount Holly, New Jersey NJ 1752 Firehouse Oldest firehouse in the USA, established by what is now the oldest continuously operating volunteer fire department in the USA.[21][22]
Proprietary House Perth Amboy, New Jersey NJ 1762 Government Oldest remaining colonial proprietary governor's residence in the original Thirteen States.
Touro Synagogue Newport, Rhode Island RI 1763 Religious Oldest synagogue building in the United States.[23]
Fort Pitt Blockhouse Pittsburgh PA 1764 Government Oldest structure in Pittsburgh. One of the oldest colonial structures west of the Allegheny mountains.
Sandy Hook Light Sandy Hook, New Jersey NJ 1764 Lighthouse Oldest original lighthouse in USA.
Mission San Juan Capistrano San Juan Capistrano, California CA 1776 Mission Oldest surviving building in California.
Burlington County Prison Mount Holly, New Jersey NJ 1811 Prison Possibly oldest prison building, which operated from 1811 to 1965.

See also

References

  1. ^ www.taospueblo.com (accessed October 3, 2009)
  2. ^ "Old Santa Fe: A Brief Review of History, 1536-1912" by James J. Raciti (2003) pg. 38
  3. ^ http://www.nosfarchives.org/sanmiguel.html
  4. ^ "Modern Perspectives in Western Art History: An Anthology - Page 315 by W. Eugene Kleinbauer, Medieval Academy of America - 1989
  5. ^ Elsie Lathrop "Historic Houses of Early America" (Kessinger, New York: 2006) pg. 218 (accessed on Google Book Search)
  6. ^ "Historic Churches of America" - Page 8 by Nellie Urner Wallington (1907)
  7. ^ [Elsie Lathrop "Historic Houses of Early America" (Kessinger, New York: 2006) pg. 305 (accessed on Google Book Search)]
  8. ^ Pickering House
  9. ^ "Guide to New York City Landmarks" - Page 270 by Andrew Dolkart, Matthew A. Postal (2003)
  10. ^ "Directory of Historic House Museums in the United States" Page 209 by Patricia Chambers Walker, Thomas Graham (1999)
  11. ^ [1]
  12. ^ William F. McNeil, "Visitors to Ancient America" (McFarland: 2004), 78.
  13. ^ Architecture and Town Planning in Colonial North America - Page 1036 by James D. Kornwolf, Georgiana Wallis Kornwolf (2002)
  14. ^ [2]
  15. ^ a b [3]. The Salem News. Retrieved on December 31, 2011.
  16. ^ [4]
  17. ^ National Park Service description of Old Ship Church
  18. ^ National Survey of Historic Sites and Buildings, 1970
  19. ^ "The Wren Building". College of William & Mary. http://www.wm.edu/about/history/historiccampus/wrenbuilding/index.php. Retrieved 19 December 2011. 
  20. ^ "Oldest House Museum". Florida Heritage Tourism Interactive Catalog. Florida's Office of Cultural and Historical Programs. 2007-09-23. http://www.flheritage.com/services/sites/fht/record_t.cfm?ID=754&type=c&index=55. 
  21. ^ http://www.mounthollyfd.com/history.htm
  22. ^ http://firehistory.org/oldest-fd/oldest-paid/
  23. ^ Pencak, William (2005). Jews & Gentiles in Early America: 1654–1800. Ann Arbor, Mich.: University of Michigan Press., pg. 92, 95 ISBN 0-472-11454-9.

External links