Richard Jackson House

Richard Jackson House
U.S. National Register of Historic Places
U.S. National Historic Landmark
ca. 1909 postcard image
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Location	76 Northwest Street, Portsmouth, New Hampshire
Coordinates	43°4′51.28″N 70°45′59.35″W / 43.0809111°N 70.7664861°W / 43.0809111; -70.7664861
Area	approximately 1-acre (4,000 m2)
Built	1664
Architect	Richard Jackson
Architectural style	Colonial
NRHP reference No.	68000009
Significant dates
Added to NRHP	November 24, 1968[1]
Designated NHL	November 24, 1968[2]

The Richard Jackson House is a historic house in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Built in 1664 by Richard Jackson, it is the oldest wood-frame house in New Hampshire. It was designated a National Historic Landmark in 1968. It is now a historic house museum owned by Historic New England, and is open two Saturdays a month between June and October.

Richard Jackson was a woodworker, farmer, and mariner, and built the oldest portion of this house on his family's 25-acre (10 ha) plot, located on an inlet off the Piscataqua River, north of Portsmouth's central business district. Jackson's house resembles English post-medieval prototypes, but is notably American in its extravagant use of wood. The house as first built consisted of a two-story structure with two rooms on each floor, flanking a massive central chimney. Not long afterward, a lean-to section was added to the rear (north side) of the house, which slopes nearly to the ground. Further single-story additions were made to the gable ends of the house, probably c. 1764.^[3]

The founder of the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (SPNEA, now Historic New England), William Sumner Appleton, acquired the house for SPNEA in 1924 from a member of the seventh generation of Jacksons to live there. Appleton undertook a restoration of the property, removing 19th century modifications, and providing the building with leaded diamond-pane windows of a type that it would have had in the 17th century.^[3]

It was declared a National Historic Landmark in 1968.^[2][3]

The George Rogers House, located just east of the Jackson house, is also a Historic New England property,^[3] but is not open to the public.

• Oldest buildings in America
• List of the oldest buildings in New Hampshire
• List of National Historic Landmarks in New Hampshire
• National Register of Historic Places listings in Rockingham County, New Hampshire

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Richard Jackson House.

• Historic New England: Jackson House