Anyone ever visited this place.
http://www.fairbankshouse.org/index.html (http://www.fairbankshouse.org/index.html)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairbanks_House_(Dedham,_Massachusetts) (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fairbanks_House_(Dedham,_Massachusetts))
Built in stages over the years.
(http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/8/82/Fairbanks_house_dedham.jpg/800px-Fairbanks_house_dedham.jpg)
I never went there but when I visited relatives in New England in '89 a cousin pointed out some nice 1700's houses.
I know it is mentioned in Stewart Brands "How Buildings Learn" book, with some interesting pictures of how it developed over time.
I have not seem this house. But I would like to.
I go to Cape Cod every summer and the are lots of houses from that time period. It's amazing how well preserved and well made they are. People really built things to last back then. It's also interesting to see how many of the houses look just like John's plans, balloon framed 1.5 story houses. They've held up for centuries, and not a Simpson's connector anywhere.
Next time I'm there I'll take some pics and post them.
I love this home. Great example of why post-and-beam is such a fine way of building a wood-framed structure. Back in the early 80's sometime an authentic, full-scale replica of the house frame was built and assembled on Boston Common. I'm not sure what ever happened to it.
The Historic American Building Survey (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/habs_haer/ (http://memory.loc.gov/ammem/collections/habs_haer/)) has complete architectural drawings for this home:
http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?hh:1:./temp/~ammem_iVnL:: (http://memory.loc.gov/cgi-bin/query/D?hh:1:./temp/~ammem_iVnL::)
If you spend some time poking around the entire HABS collection, you can find some wonderful stuff, including highly detailed (and free, and printable) drawings of some of the best examples of American architecture. I've spent many hours poring over their collections and printing out plans to get inspiration for the home I someday hope to build. This is definitely an example of the government doing something right!
Has anyone visited St Augustine, Florida? It's the oldest city (not counting the ancient pueblos and other native sites) in North America----continuously occupied since 1565. Their oldest wooden house still standing and in use is from 1723----wooden structures have a hard time surviving the termites, etc in a sub-tropical climate. A lot of other old(er) ones built of "cochina" which is a sedimentary rock similar to coral rock but a little softer and easier to work. A very interesting city about 40 miles south of Jacksonville, full of historic buildings and events. Downtown is full of unique architecture and very narrow streets----looks and feels "old world".