Historic New England: Browne House
A few weeks ago in May 2023, I visited Browne House in Watertown, MA, yet another restored late 17th century building owned and maintained by Historic New England (HNE). Lest you become bored by my obsession with houses constructed in a style known as First Period, American colonial, or Post-Medieval English, fear not! For this house is different and special, as they all are. Browne House was officially the “first fully documented restoration” of an old building in the United States. While not a perfect restoration, and certainly contrary to modern standards, the house shows not only how the Browne family may have lived at the time the house was constructed sometime between 1694 and 1710, but also how early 20th century historians and architects learned to reconstruct old buildings.
In April 1919, forty-five year old William Sumner Appleton, Jr. continued his ongoing obsession with early American houses through the purchase of Browne House for $3,000 of his own money. He had previously founded the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA), the precursor to HNE, nine years earlier in 1910 after suffering a mental breakdown. The wealthy Anglo-American Appleton family supported their son during this crisis, allowing him to purchase multiple old buildings for his organization, including Swett-Ilsley House of Newbury, MA in 1910, Boardman House of Saugus, MA in 1911, and Eliezer Arnold House of Lincoln, RI in 1918. SPNEA had previously refused to fund the purchase of Browne House, as the building was literally falling down, but after Appleton fully restored the property, they accepted the house in May 1922.
Many years before Appleton fixed up the derelict property, the Browne family constructed the house on land given to family patriarch Abraham Browne (also spelled Brown). Two of his children, Jonathan Browne and Abraham Browne, Jr., each built houses on their father’s property, but neither of these houses turned out to be Browne House. Jonathan’s son, another Abraham Browne (also spelled Brown), built Browne House and raised nine of his own children there, along with become the legal guarding of Ephraim Williams, Jr., the controversial founder of Williams College in Williamstown, MA. To house all these children and guests, Abraham expanded the house on the north side. His son, Samuel Browne, inherited the house after his death. The Browne family lived in the house until 1897. The subsequent owners of Browne House did not do a great job with upkeep, allowing the building to fall into disrepair until Appleton discovered it in 1915, just as the Historical Society of Watertown approved the house for demolition.
When Appleton restored Browne House, he worked with the top builders of his time. Architect Joseph Everett Chandler had designed Red Roof for Abram Piatt Andrew, Jr. Through this connection, SPNEA was bequeathed the neighboring property Beauport, the Sleeper-McCann House, created by the “Godfather of Modern Interior Design” Henry Davis Sleeper. Foreman Frederick R. Mosher also oversaw a decent restoration of the House of the Seven Gables in Salem, MA, a poor restoration of Paul Revere House in Boston, MA, and a good restoration of HNE’s Cooper-Frost-Austin House in Cambridge, MA. Preservationist Norman Morrison Isham, a professor at Brown University and Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), wrote letters to Appleton instructing him how to restore the property and later took a hands-on approach to restoring Arnold House. As a true Rhode Islander, he seems to have not travel far from home.
While I went to Browne House on the only rainy day in the whole month, the atmosphere of the tour was cheerful. Electric lights brighten key elements on the ground floor. Other modern aspects of the house include 20th century radiators and plumbing, which Appleton installed in 1924 to operate the building as a tea room and gift shop. The house remains in a partially restored state, with building jacks holding up the second floor and roof, exposed holes in the walls displaying where windows had been, and gaps in the floorboards allowing guests to see between floors. A unique feature of the house is the herringbone pattern of bricks at the back of the fireplace in the kitchen. One sad loss from the restoration was the destruction of a Rumford kitchen, which was tossed out in Appleton’s effort to bring the property back to its 17th century state. (If you do want to see a Rumford kitchen, HNE’s Rundlet-May House in Portsmouth, NH has a beautifully preserved example.) A vintage exhibit on the restoration of the house is hung on the walls of the second floor, while the first reconstructed model of 17th century casement windows sits in the middle of that floor.
Tickets to Browne House have the simplest pricing scheme I have seen at a HNE property with a $10 flat rate for non-members and $0 for members and Watertown residents. Browne House is not often open, although its days have increased thanks to a recent re-restoration, so visitors should check the website for dates. Tours are on the hour from 11:00 a.m. to 2:00 p.m. Like most historic house tours, Browne House is not accessible to those who use a wheelchair or have limited mobility. The property does have a short virtual tour with much better lighting than the day I visited, so it is worth checking out even for those who visit the house in person. Also note that between the difficulty navigating the space and the lack of furniture, this tour is not a great choice for children under twelve years old. The toddler on my tour did not seem to be having much fun. Overall, this is a great experience for adults and older children enthusiastic about architecture and colonial history, especially those who have already visited many restored houses.
Abby Epplett’s Rating System
Experience: 8/10
Accessibility: 7/10