Pierce-Hichborn House

The Pierce-Hichborn House (circa 1711) is an early Georgian house located at 19 North Square, Boston, Massachusetts. It is immediately adjacent to the Paul Revere House and is now operated as a nonprofit museum by the Paul Revere Memorial Association. An admission fee is charged.

Design

The Pierce-Hichborn House is three stories tall, faced in common-bond brickwork with decorative belt courses and large sash windows. Its narrow side elevation faces the street, with its main facade opening onto a compact private passageway. Inside it is laid out on each floor as a narrow central hallway and stairway with a single heated room to either side. Framing is oak and the trim is pine, including fireplace mantels. Originally each room had two front-facing windows and two side windows although later extensions to the side of the house farthest from the street eliminated those side windows. The house is not rectangular and its street-side corner is very sharp to take full advantage of the small urban lot.

History

The house is an excellent example of early Georgian architecture and one of the earliest surviving brick structures in Boston. It was built by Moses Pierce, a glazier, and was later owned by Nathaniel Hichborn, a boatbuilder and cousin of Paul Revere. Even then the neighborhood was urban, and the house stood three doors down the square from the close-by Revere House.

References

External links

• About the house

Further reading

• Ross, Marjorie Drake. Book of Boston: the colonial period, 1630-1775. NY: Hastings House, 1960.
• Eldredge, Joseph. Architecture Boston. Barre, MA: Barre Publishing, 1976.
• "Pierce/Hichborn house: a new look at an old landmark," Alliance Letter, May 1983, p. 5, 10-11.
• "Paul Revere and Moses Pierce-Hichborn houses in Boston," Antiques, Feb. 1984.
• Vila, Bob. Bob Vila's guide to historic homes of New England. NY: Lintel Press, 1993.
• "Three days in Boston," Interiors, April 2000, p. 75-76.