The Capt. Nathaniel Parker Red House is a historic house at 77–83 Ash Street in

Reading, Massachusetts Reading ( ) is a town in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, north of central Boston. The population was 25,518 at the 2020 census. History Settlement and American independence Many of the Massachusetts Bay Colony's original settle ...

. It is a -story vernacular Georgian house, five bays wide, with entrances on its north and south facades. The southern entry is slightly more elegant, with flanking

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

s and a

transom window In architecture, a transom is a transverse horizontal structural beam or bar, or a crosspiece separating a door from a window above it. This contrasts with a mullion, a vertical structural member. Transom or transom window is also the customary U ...

. The house was built sometime before 1755, and was already a well-known landmark because it was (unusually for the time) painted, and served as a tavern on the coach road. The Tavern served as a meeting place for many revolutionaries and minute men, notably

Marquis de Lafayette Marie-Joseph Paul Yves Roch Gilbert du Motier, Marquis de La Fayette (6 September 1757 – 20 May 1834), known in the United States as Lafayette (, ), was a French aristocrat, freemason and military officer who fought in the American Revolutio ...

, and Alexander Hamilton. The house remained in the hands of militia captain Nathaniel Parker and his descendants into the late 19th century. The construction of the Andover Turnpike (now Main Street) in 1806–07, bypassing its location, prompted a decline in the tavern's business.Howard, Loea Parker. ''Parker Tavern: Being an Account of a Most Interesting House Built by Abraham Bryant in 1694, Together with Some Facts About Early Owners,'' Reading Antiquarian Society, Reading, MA, 1930. The house was added to 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 ...

in 1984.

References

Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Reading, Massachusetts Houses completed in 1765 {{ReadingMA-NRHP-stub

See also

References