Alexander Jack, Jr. House   -   circa 1811

     The  Alexander Jack, Jr. House is a two-and-a-half story, gable-roofed house with a central interior chimney.  The house is built on the four bay plan that was so popular from 1750 to 1820.

     The main exterior feature that indicates the build date (1811) is the very detailed Federal style doorway that is original to the house.  Houses of this plan were built over a couple of style periods and the doorways give the most obvious date indicator.

      On the interior, the four-bay plan shifts the chimney off-center allowing for two large rooms in opposite corners - front and rear - with small rooms in the remaining corners.  A fireplace, angled into a corner of the room, heated one of the small rooms.  The other small room was unheated owing to its placement removed from the chimney.  The large front room was generally the parlor while the large room in the rear was the kitchen with a large cooking fireplace.  This type of arrangement was particularly typical of earlier houses.  In later houses, such as the Alexander Jack Jr. house, the fireplace is smaller and without an oven indicating a kitchen may have been elsewhere – perhaps in an ell or in the cellar.

     The interior detailing in the Alexander Jack Jr. House is simple as befits a small house yet those details are clearly in the elegant Federal style and offer good evidence of the 1811 date.  Mantles, both simple and fancy, are used in the house whereas, in the 18th century, raised panel chimneybreasts are commonly found.  Also - the cornice moldings, chair rails, and door and window moldings are lighter and more detailed here than one would find in 18th century examples.

     The Newport Restoration Foundation purchased this house in 1969 and moved it that same year away from its original location on Levin Street – a street soon to be eliminated to make way for what is now Memorial Boulevard-West.  Alexander Jack Jr. was a free African whose trade was a “cordwainer” or shoemaker.  The area of Levin, Thomas, William, and Golden Hill Streets attracted free blacks in the 18th century and became, in the early 19th century, the preferred neighborhood for free blacks to build and live.

      Alexander Jack Jr. bought his land in 1811 and is thought to have begun construction almost immediately.  Jack heirs remained on this property until 1881.  It is interesting to note that Jack Jr.'s father had bought land at Thomas and Golden Hill Streets in 1810 and had constructed a house just a few lots from where his son was to build the following year. Unfortunately, at this time, little is known about either father or son - where they were from, how they came to Newport, nor any other aspects of their family’s history.

     The Alexander Jack, Jr. House was originally located on Levin Street (now Memorial Boulevard-West).  The Newport Restoration Foundation purchased the house in 1969, moved it that same year to Mill Street, and then restored the house in 1970.