Arnold, Eleazer, House

History

It is now a National Historic Landmark owned by Historic New England, and open to the public on weekends.

The house is a relatively large "stone-ender," a building type brought from the western part of England and used most commonly in northern Rhode Island. This geographic-specific aspect may have been due to the attribution of the work to John Smith "the Mason" of Smithfield, Rhode Island and his family. It was built two stories in height, with four rooms on each floor, a lean-to, exposed fieldstone end-walls, wooden side-walls, and a pilastered chimney. By the 20th century, a gable had been added to the structure.

In 1919, the house was donated to Historic New England (then the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities) by Preserved Whipple Arnold. It has since undergone two phases of restoration. In 1920 the first stabilization efforts were led by Norman Isham; and in 1950, the house and chimney received a thorough structural rehabilitation. In this second restoration, later alterations were removed to return the building to its 17th-century appearance.

The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1968, and was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1974 for its architectural significance. In 2005 a dendrochronology survey of the tree rings confirmed the 1693 construction date.

Today, the building closely resembles its form during the early settlement in Rhode Island, though some details, including the leaded glass windows and the front door and its surround, are 20th-century replacements.

Excerpt from the Wikipedia article, licensed CC BY-SA 4.0. The official nomination form is linked under Sources.