Home of the Week: A Kingston antique built by a patriot who armed privateers
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places, the home offers four bedrooms, a carriage house, and a barn in a tranquil setting.
2 Linden St., Kingston
$925,000
Style: Antique
Year built: 1760
Square feet: 3,792
Bedrooms: 4
Baths: 2 full, 1 half
Sewer/water: Public
Taxes: $10,067 (2019)
Squire William Sever served as president of the Massachusetts Provincial Congress and armed and supplied privateers during the Revolutionary War, but he made his fortune in shipping and shipbuilding, money he used to construct what architectural historian Neil Larson has described as a “significant example of elite domestic architecture.’’
In March, the 259-year-old structure was added to the National Register of Historic Places, thanks in part to Sever’s war efforts and to the astonishingly small number of major changes that have been made to the interior. The home has indoor plumbing, electricity, and central air, and a window pane here and there has been replaced, but most of the 12-over-12 true-divided glass windows are original.
The main house sits behind a cast-iron fence and a gate suspended between two blocks of granite. A brick walkway leads to a front door with two bulls-eye glass windows original to the home. According to the detailed descriptions Larson filed with the National Register, the door itself is framed by “fluted pilasters surmounted by an entablature and pediment decorated with modillions and dentils.’’
The front door opens to a hallway with an eye-catching broad stairwell that has balusters of three designs.
To the right is the parlor, which Larson writes was “meant to be an imposing space.’’ There are window seats, interior shutters, and multiple windows. The visual focus is a fireplace with a Federal period wooden mantel and a firebox framed by the original blue and white Delft tiles, which feature images of nature. All of the fireplaces work.
To the left is a room that feels like a study with its natural wood crown molding and window trim. This space, too, has a fireplace with a wooden mantel and a blue and white Delft tile surround. Closets flank the fireplace.
From here, a door leads to a dining room with a chandelier, chair rails, white crown molding and trim. and a fireplace. The dining room has four doorways: the first to the study, the second to the three-season porch, the third to the kitchen, and the fourth to a sunny family room/library, where the fireplace is framed with slate and a closet was turned into a modern half bath with a soapstone counter, a wood cabinet, and a glass vessel sink.
The kitchen is a mix of past and present. The long red-brick hearth of the fireplace exemplifies the past with its period-accurate cast-iron grating. The long island — with its soapstone counter, seating, cooktop, sink, convection oven, and refrigerator — is a nod to today. The appliances are stainless.
On one side is a pantry that has white cabinetry with glass doors, a wine fridge, washer, and dryer. On the other side, in an 1880s addition, is a butler’s pantry with long soapstone counters, white cabinets with glass fronts above, gray cabinets with drawers below, and a dishwasher. The flooring in the two pantries is soapstone. In much of the house, however, one finds refinished original wide-plank pine.
The home’s four bedrooms are on the second floor. Two that are roughly equal in size share a Jack-and-Jill bath with a shower, a porcelain sink atop a solid wood vanity, and white ceramic tile flooring. All of the bedrooms have large closets for the era and fireplaces.
The final bath offers a claw-foot tub, bead-board wainscot, ceramic tile flooring, and a wall-mount sink.
The ceilings in the home are about 9 feet. The basement is unfinished.
The 1.43-acre property also has a barn and a carriage house.
The listing agents are Marcy and Ian Richardson of William Raveis Real Estate in Duxbury.
See more photos of the home below:
Follow John R. Ellement on Twitter @JREbosglobe. Send listings to [email protected]. Please note: We do not feature unfurnished homes and will not respond to submissions we won’t pursue. Subscribe to our newsletter at pages.email.bostonglobe.com/AddressSignUp.
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