The Hills House is a

historic house museum A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that has been transformed into a museum. Historic furnishings may be displayed in a way that reflects their original placement and usage in a home. Historic house museums are held to a ...

at 211 Derry Road (

New Hampshire Route 102 New Hampshire Route 102 (abbreviated NH 102) is a state highway in Rockingham County, New Hampshire, Rockingham and Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Hillsborough counties in the southern part of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. NH 102 runs sout ...

) in

Hudson, New Hampshire Hudson is a New England town, town in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, Hillsborough County, New Hampshire, United States. It is located along the Massachusetts state line. The population was 25,394 at the 2020 census. It is the tenth-largest mu ...

. Built in 1890 as a summer country house by a local philanthropist, it is an excellent local example of Shingle style architecture. The house is now used by the local historical society as a museum and meeting space. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1983.

Description and history

The Hills House is located in northern Hudson, on the east side of Derry Road opposite

Alvirne High School Alvirne High School is located in the town of Hudson, New Hampshire, United States, with an enrollment of approximately 1,300 students from grades 9–12. Alvirne gets its name from a prominent Hudson family, the Alfred and Virginia Hills family, ...

. It is a 2½-story wood-frame structure, with a variety of roof lines, projections, porches, and a turret with conical roof. The main roof section is a steeply pitched hip roof, and the building exterior is finished in wooden shingles, with most windows set in rectangular openings. A front-facing gable is enlivened by a small narrow window, and there is an oval window on another front-facing wall. An eyebrow dormer adorns one of the front-facing roof faces. The house was probably designed by Boston architect Hubert G. Ripley early in his career, and was built in 1890 as the summer home of Albert and Ida Verginia Hills. Albert Hills was a native of Hudson who practiced as a physician in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

. The Hills named the property "Alvirne", after a combination of their first names. Hills bequeathed his property to the town for the construction of a high school; Alvirne High School stands on land that is part of this bequest. The Hillses also gave funds for the construction of

Hills Memorial Library Hills Memorial Library is the former public library of Hudson, New Hampshire, in the United States. It was erected in memory of Ida Virginia Hills by her husband, Dr. Alfred Hills, and her mother, Mary Field Creutzborg. The land had been previousl ...

(also designed by Ripley), and the nearby Hills Memorial Chapel.

References

External links

Hudson NH Historical Society
{{NRHP in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire Shingle Style architecture in New Hampshire Houses completed in 1890 Houses in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire Hudson, New Hampshire Museums in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire National Register of Historic Places in Hillsborough County, New Hampshire

Description and history

See also

References

External links