Ross Tavern Ipswich, Massachusetts
National Register of Historic Places Data
Ross Tavern has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places with the following information, which has been imported from the National Register database and/or the Nomination Form . Please note that not all available data may be shown here, minor errors and/or formatting may have occurred during transcription, and some information may have become outdated since listing.
- National Register ID
- 90000235
- Date Listed
- March 9, 1990
- Name
- Ross Tavern
- Part of
- First Period Buildings of Eastern Massachusetts TR (Multiple Property Submission)
- Address
- 52 Jeffrey's Neck Rd.
- City/Town
- Ipswich
- County
- Essex
- State
- Massachusetts
- Category
- building
- Level of Sig.
- state
- Years of Sig.
- 1940
- Areas of Sig.
- ARCHITECTURE
Statement of Significance
Text courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Parks Service. Minor transcription errors or changes in formatting may have occurred; please see the Nomination Form PDF for official text. Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.
The Ross Tavern retains integrity of materials, design and workmanship in the First Period features of the two 17th century buildings it incorporates. These embody distinctive characteristics of form and construction under Criterion C. The evidence for exterior embellishment of the Ross Tavern is among the most significant surviving expressions of First Period architecture in New England. The cyma molded overhanging girt, the crease molded coverboard, the crease molded dentils and the red point are prime expressions of what Cummings identified as the "distinctly elegant regional school" of architecture which developed in Ipswich at the end of the 17th century.
History
Text courtesy of the National Register of Historic Places, a program of the National Parks Service. Minor transcription errors or changes in formatting may have occurred; please see the Nomination Form PDF for official text. Some information may have become outdated since the property was nominated for the Register.
The house is associated with the early 20th century restoration movement, as the subject of a very careful restoration by a highly competent amateur architectural historian. The restoration brought to light many distinctive features of the houses, several of which are unique extant examples of their form in New England. The crossed joist and the girts rabbetted for floor boards fall within that category. Rabbetted girts were known in English buildings of the period, however. The evidence for transoms found by Wendell in the Collins-Lord house provided one of two known examples of First Period transom window evidence for ALC.
Unfortunately, we do not know the identity of the wealthy client who commissioned the elaborately decorated Ross Tavern. The house is first mentioned in a deed of 1736 on a site near the Choate Bridge, but must have been constructed elsewhere by an unknown party and moved to the second site.
The Collins-Lord house was built c. 1675-1700 by Robert Collins or Robert Lord, Sr.
