Historic House Museums in Boston, Massachusetts

In downtown Boston, there are five historic house museums open to the public. Most of them are not very well known, but all of them are truly special. A visitor can experience more than 200 years of Boston history and gain an appreciation of how Boston grew from a colonial town to a Federalist capital to a Victorian city.

Revere House

The Revere House is the oldest extant house in downtown Boston. Dating to 1680, this wood framed house was purchased by Paul Revere in 1770, and he and his family lived here during the pivotal years of the American Revolution.

During the course of the 19^th century the house had deteriorated and was used as tenement housing and various commercial enterprises including a bank, a cigar factory, and small retail shops. When threatened with demolition in the early 20^th century, the house was saved, restored, and opened to the public as a museum. The Revere House is one of America's very first historic house museums to be opened to the public.

Tours of the Paul Revere House are self-guided. The ground floor recalls how the interior of the house would have looked in the late 17^th century. The upper floor reflects how the house looked during Paul Revere's residency here. It actually includes furniture that was owned by the Revere family.

The Revere House is located at 19 North Square in Boston's North End (on the Freedom Trail).

Admission is $3.

Harrison Gray Otis House

The Harrison Gray Otis House is the oldest extant house designed by the famous architect Charles Bulfinch. Though associated with the Beacon Hill area of Boston, this house is technically located in Boston's West End. The house, built in 1796, is the best reflection of the new tastes that were developing in the Federal Period after the American Revolution.

The house is today owned by the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities, and the Harrison Gray Otis House is in fact the Society's headquarters. As a result, the presentation of this house has been rigorously studied, and the visitor is treated to one of the most historically accurate house museums in the world. Some of their work has been controversial because they debunk many of the closely held ideas of what an early American house looked like.

Harrison Gray Otis grew up in the West End of Boston and was a childhood friend of the architect Charles Bulfinch. Otis was a member of the Otis clan that stood at the forefront of arguing for American Independence. He held various public offices, but his work as a real estate developer is his true legacy. He was the man who envisioned and developed the are known today as Beacon Hill.

The Harrison Gray Otis House is located at 141 Cambridge Street, several blocks down from Boston's City Hall.

Admission is $8.

Nichols House

The Nichols House was also designed by the famous builder of Boston, Charles Bulfinch. Built in 1804 near the Massachusetts State House, this town house was one of the first to be built in the Beacon Hill area of Boston.

Today the house is named for its last private owner, Rose Standish Nichols (1872-1960). A political activist, landscape architect, and author, Ms Nichols was at one time featured in Life magazine for her work. And her house, as it is presently displayed to the public is a product of her tastes and her imagination. And it's quite a trip in time travel! There are original Federalist elements, there are Greek Revivalist elements, there are elements of the Victorian Era, then there are early modernist elements.

A special treat is that owing to the fact that Augustus St. Gaudens was a familial relation, the house is dotted with his sculptural work, mostly smaller versions of his most famous works.

The Nichols House is located at 55 Mount Vernon Street on Beacon Hill.

Admission is $7.

William Hickling Prescott House

Designed by Boston's second best Federal Era architect, Asher Benjamin, and constructed in 1808, the Prescott House set the rhythm for what would become one of America's most famous streets, Beacon Street. Typically Federalist on the outside, the interior becomes a mixture of Federalist, Greek Revival, and Victorian tastes.

Today, the house is named for William Hickling Prescott, who lived at this residence from 1845-1859. Prescott was one of his generations most important historians. In fact, he was the first to write about the global Spanish Empire in the English language.

Prescott was not the last resident of the house, however. It remained in his family as a private residence until 1944 when it was purchased by The National Society of the Colonial Dames of America. It is today operated by this Society and is open to the public.

The William Hickling Prescott House is located at 54 Beacon Street, facing Boston Common.

Admission is $5.

Gibson House

The Gibson House dates to 1860 and is probably the best preserved example of Victorian Era life in Boston. It was one of the first houses to be built in the Back Bay area of Boston and displays a clear architecture break with the earlier Federal houses one can find on Beacon Hill today. Designed by Edward Clarke Cabot in the Italian Renaissance style, this home, at first glance, stands out mostly because it is clad in brownstone, probably shipped up from New Jersey.

The house was originally commissioned by Catherine Gibson, and only three generations of the Gibson family lived in the house before it was officially turned into a house museum in 1957.

Its well preserved Victorian interior, as well as its wealthy collection of decorative art and textiles, makes this truly a special house for the contemporary visitor.

The Gibson House Museum is located at 137 Beacon Street near the Public Garden.

Admission is $7.