Jeremiah Lee Mansion

Jeremiah Lee House

The Jeremiah Lee Mansion
Location Marblehead, Massachusetts
Coordinates 42°30′12″N 70°51′6″W / 42.50333°N 70.85167°W / 42.50333; -70.85167Coordinates: 42°30′12″N 70°51′6″W / 42.50333°N 70.85167°W / 42.50333; -70.85167
Built 1768
Architect Unknown
Architectural style Georgian
Part of Marblehead Historic District (#84002402[1])
NRHP Reference # 66000766[1]
Significant dates
Added to NRHP October 15, 1966
Designated NHL October 9, 1960
Designated CP January 10, 1984

The Jeremiah Lee Mansion is a historic house located at 170 Washington Street in Marblehead, Massachusetts. It is operated as a house museum by the local historical society, and is open during the warmer months; an admission cost $10. Built in 1768, it was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1960 as one of the finest Late Georgian houses in the United States. It features original wallpaper and finely-crafted woodwork.[2]

Description

Jeremiah Lee, oil on canvas, John Singleton Copley, 1769. Wadsworth Atheneum
Mrs. Jeremiah Lee, oil on canvas, John Singleton Copley, c. 1769. Wadsworth Atheneum

The mansion is a large wooden house in the Georgian style, with imitation stone ashlar facade, built in 1768 by Colonel Jeremiah Lee, at that time the wealthiest merchant and ship owner in the Province of Massachusetts Bay. The facade may be based on Plate 11 of Robert Morris' influential patternbook Rural Architecture (London 1750; retitled Select Architecture in later eds.).[3] It was one of the largest and most opulent houses of the late-colonial period in America.

The mansion is now owned by the Marblehead Museum and Historical Society. It contains a notable collection of early American furniture, and many of the mansion's original decorative finishes have been preserved, including rare 18th-century English hand-painted wallpaper, intricate carving in the rococo style, and a grand entry hall and staircase paneled with mahogany. On either side of its landing are copies of the full-length portraits of Jeremiah and Martha Lee by John Singleton Copley.

The mansion was declared a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1966.[1] In 1984 it was also included in the Marblehead Historic District.[4]

See also

References

  1. 1 2 3 National Park Service (2007-01-23). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. ↑ "NHL nomination for Jeremiah Lee House" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-02-25.
  3. ↑ The Center for Palladian Studies in America, Inc., "Palladio and Architectural Patternbooks in Colonial America"
  4. ↑ "MACRIS inventory record for Jeremiah Lee Mansion". Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Retrieved 2014-01-17.


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