Jonathan Barnes House | |
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| Location | North Rd., Hillsborough Center, New Hampshire |
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| Coordinates | 43°8′51″N 71°56′2″W / 43.14750°N 71.93389°W / 43.14750; -71.93389 |
| Area | 2.5 acres (1.0 ha) |
| Built | 1773 (1773) |
| Built by | Baldwin, Capt. Isaac |
| Architectural style | Georgian |
| NRHP reference No. | 82001680[1] |
| Added to NRHP | March 1, 1982 |
The Jonathan Barnes House is a historic house on North Street in Hillsborough, New Hampshire. Built about 1775, it is locally distinctive as one of only a few colonial-era houses, and is a well-preserved example of Georgian styling. It has also seen a number of socially significant uses, serving at times as a tavern, library, music school, and fraternal lodge. Surviving interior architectural details provide a significant view into the history of tavern architecture.[2] The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.[1]
The Jonathan Barnes House stands in the rural village of Hillsborough Center, on the east side of the triangular junction of Center and North streets. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a gabled roof, two interior chimneys, and a clapboarded exterior, and is oriented facing south. The main facade is five bays wide, with a center entrance flanked by Tuscan pilasters and topped by a transom window and gabled pediment. Windows are rectangular sash with corniced caps; that above the entrance is smaller than the others. Two additions project from the east side of the main building, one of which is also of early construction. An 18th-century barn is located on the property to the north of the house.[2]
The interior of the house follows a typical center hall plan, with two rooms on either side of the main hall. The rooms on the west side of the hall have fixtures consistent with their use as a tavern, and the second-floor chambers above them have configurable partition walls, enabling the space to be turned into a single large ballroom.[2]
The house was built c. 1773-75 for the Rev. Jonathan Barnes, the first settled minister of the town. Local lore says that it was built by Isaac Baldwin, a local master carpenter who lost is life in the Battle of Bunker Hill, early in the American Revolutionary War. The house has seen a wide array of uses, including as a library (founded in 1797), music school, marching band facility (1825), and Masonic lodge. The tavern-related features of the interior are among the best-preserved of their type in the region.[2]
