Constant Tabor House   -   circa 1750 – 1803

     The Constant Tabor House is a four-bay, two story, gambrel-roofed building with a large interior chimney and a well-proportioned pediment doorway in the Georgian style.

     The building reflects a construction date of 1740 to 1750, yet the first records for this land occurs when Richard Hazard sold the lot (without a building) to Constant Tabor in 1803.  One theory put forth is that the house was moved to the sight by Tabor after he purchased the land.  Further speculation places the house originally in the area of Thames Street and suggests that it was moved owing to commercial expansions in that area. The 1803 “move theory” is further advanced by the foundation being more appropriate to 1803 than 1750.  The house itself, however, is definitely 1750 in construction and design.

      There are a couple of odd parts to the house, particularly since it looks so straightforwardly Georgian from the exterior.  The framing has some quirky placements of posts relative to the standard  houses of this period.  Also, the stairway takes up the northeast corner on the first, second, and even the third floor.  On the exterior there is a window to the left of the door on the first floor and one above it on the second floor, keeping the facade properly balanced. However, the second floor window is a false element which appears as a window on the exterior and yet is, in reality, a blank wall on the interior where the stairway cuts diagonally across the window’s position.

      In the 19th century, the house became the property of Mahlon van Horn, a Baptist preacher and well-respected member of the African-American community in Newport; through him, the house served many functions in support of that community through much of the 19th and into the 20th centuries.

     The original site of the Constant Tabor House remains speculative until more conclusive evidence is found.  The Newport Restoration Foundation purchased the house in 1969 and restored it in 1970-71.