A well-to-do merchant built this house in 1680; Paul Revere (1734-1818) purchased the house for his family in 1770. It was from this house on April 18, 1775, that Revere began his famous midnight ride to warn American patriots that British troops were coming to confiscate their weapons and supplies. Today the house displays furnishings that belonged to the Revere family.
The oldest surviving house on Beacon Hill, this clapboard home was built on Pinckney Street by George Middleton (1735-1815) in 1786. By then Middleton was a prominent member of Boston's African-American community who had risen to the rank of colonel in the Revolutionary War. He became a Mason and joined the African Lodge, was one of the founders of the Boston African Benevolent Society and defended the right of black children to have equal access to public schools. Today the George Middleton House is a private residence and is not open to the public.
Charles Bulfinch, the leading architect in late 18th-century America, built this elegant mansion for his friends Harrison Gray Otis (1765-1848) and Sally Foster Otis (1770-1838). After years of meticulous research, the house's interior has been decorated and furnished as it would have appeared when the Otises lived here, giving visitors a glimpse into the elegant world of Boston's wealthy and politically influential upper class.
Set at the corner of Mount Vernon and Walnut streets on historic Beacon Hill is the home of Rose Standish Nichols (1872-1960), a pacifist, advocate for women's right to vote and professional landscape architect. The four-story red brick Greek Revival townhouse was built in 1804 and is furnished with antiques as well as many of Miss Nichols' personal possessions, including examples of her exquisite needlework.
On New Year's Day 1903 socialite and art collector Isabella Stewart Gardner (1840-1924) held open house at her newly constructed mansion in Boston's Back Bay neighborhood. Mrs. Gardner's guests were dazzled by her collection, which included masterpieces by Titian, Vermeer and Botticelli, and they were enchanted by the central garden courtyard built in the style of a Venetian palazzo. Today, the house appears exactly as Mrs. Gardner arranged it more than a century ago.
