The Coggeshall House   -   circa  1710

      The Coggeshall House is a small, one-and-a-half story, gambrel-roofed house with a stone central chimney.  This building originally stood in Westport, Massachusetts.  It was purchased and disassembled by NRF in 1977 and reconstructed and restored in Newport in 1977-78.

      Two key elements indicate this little house was not built in the Newport design tradition.  The first is the shallower angle of the lower roofs.  On Newport gambrels of either one or two stories, the angle of the lower section is almost vertical. The second telling feature is the stone chimney; most Newport 18th century houses used brick for the chimney.

      While it is a bit incongruous to place a rural Massachusetts building in the urban setting of Newport, this was not so unusual to preservationists of the 1960s.  The important thing then was to save buildings of architectural importance and interest.  Clearly, it was best if these buildings could be saved on their original site (or in the vicinity of the original site), but if all that failed – “Move it anywhere to save it” was the motto of the times.  Many structures were transplanted to new sites all over New England during this period.

      The Coggeshall house came to NRF with a frame, chimney stone, and interior detail all in good condition. For a comparison of this Massachusetts gambrel-roofed cottage with those of Newport look at the following: Hill Map #18, & #24, also North Map #19.

     The Coggeshall House originally stood in Westport, Massachusetts.  The Newport Restoration Foundation purchased the house in 1977, disassembled it and relocated it to the William Street site.  The house was restored by NRF in 1977-78.