Nathan Appleton Residence
- Year
- 1821
- City
- Boston, MA
The Nathan Appleton Residence, also known as the Appleton-Parker House, is a pair of brick townhouses at 39-40 Beacon Street on Beacon Hill, built in 1821 to an early design by Alexander Parris. It's a National Historic Landmark for two reasons: its long ownership by textile manufacturer Nathan Appleton (1779-1861), and its role as the site of an 1843 wedding — that of Appleton's daughter Frances to the poet Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
the building
Twin townhouses. Numbers 39 and 40 were built as near-mirror images, three stories tall and three bays wide, joined by a shared firewall; each outer bay projects in a shallow curve holding two windows, and each center-bay entrance is framed by a wood surround, a fanlight, and a Doric portico.
Later alterations. A fourth floor was added to both houses in the 1870s, though their original rooftop balustrades were kept in place; in the 1880s, number 39's curved bay gained a third window, breaking the pair's original symmetry.
the architect
Alexander Parris is credited with the residence's design, cited as an excellent example of his early 19th-century domestic work.
significance
The house is a National Historic Landmark, recognized for Nathan Appleton's role as a textile manufacturer and for its connection to the 1843 wedding of his daughter Frances to Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.
nearby
- David Sears House
- William C. Nell House
- Headquarters House
- Second Harrison Gray Otis House
- Nichols House Museum
- Massachusetts State House