The Hills House is a
historic house museum
A historic house museum is a house of historic significance that is preserved as 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 variety of ...
at 211 Derry Road (
New Hampshire Route 102
New Hampshire Route 102 (abbreviated NH 102) is a state highway in Rockingham and Hillsborough counties in the southern part of the U.S. state of New Hampshire. NH 102 runs southwest to northeast between Hudson and Raymond, but is signed as ...
) in
Hudson, New Hampshire
Hudson is a town in 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 municipality (town or city) in the state, by populatio ...
. Built in 1890 as a summer country house by a local philanthropist, it is an excellent local example of
Shingle style architecture
The shingle style is an American architectural style made popular by the rise of the New England school of architecture, which eschewed the highly ornamented patterns of the Eastlake style in Queen Anne style architecture in the United States, Que ...
. 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 Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...
in 1983.
Description and history
The Hills House is located in northern Hudson, on the east side of Derry Road opposite
Alvirne High School. 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 (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...
. 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 (also designed by Ripley), and the nearby Hills Memorial Chapel.[
]
See also
* Hills Memorial Library, also designed by Ripley on commission from Hills
*
References
External links
*
{{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