Windermere was a historic summer estate at the southern tip of Long Island, the largest island in
New Hampshire
New Hampshire ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Massachusetts to the south, Vermont to the west, Maine and the Gulf of Maine to the east, and the Canadian province of Quebec t ...
's
Lake Winnipesaukee
Lake Winnipesaukee () is the largest lake in the U.S. state of New Hampshire, located in the Lakes Region at the foothills of the White Mountains. It is approximately long (northwest-southeast) and from wide (northeast-southwest), covering & ...
. Developed in the early 1890s, it was one of the largest country estates on the lake's shores. The main house, a three-story mansion built in 1891–92 by Frank Eugene Greene, is the most elaborate such house built in
Moultonborough
Moultonborough is a New England town, town in Carroll County, New Hampshire, Carroll County, New Hampshire, United States. The population was 4,918 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, up from 4,044 at the 2010 census. Moultonborough is ...
. A remnant of the estate, encompassing the former main house and some outbuildings, 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 1979.
The property is now a residential condominium.
Description and history
Lake Winnipesaukee, New Hampshire's largest lake, is roughly shaped like a three-fingered hand, the fingers pointing approximately north. The right two fingers are separated by the Moultonborough Neck, from which a narrow channel separates it from Long Island, the lake's largest island. Long Island juts more directly south, and it is roughly the southern third of the island that was the Windermere estate.
The island was farmed for much of the 19th century by a few families, the southernmost by Robert Lamprey until 1891, when he sold his holding to Frank Eugene Greene, a doctor who made and marketed
patent medicine
A patent medicine (sometimes called a proprietary medicine) is a non-prescription medicine or medicinal preparation that is typically protected and advertised by a trademark and trade name, and claimed to be effective against minor disorders a ...
s. He retained J.H. Besarick, an architect from
Boston
Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...
, to design his estate, which was built over a reported two-year period between 1891 and 1893. Materials for the buildings were brought to the site by boat, and the workmen doing the construction, said to number about 200, camped in tents.
The principal surviving elements of the estate complex are its main house, gatehouse/caretaker's cottage, two barns, an ice house, and a hen house. The main house is a large three-story wood-frame building, with a hip roof and clapboarded exterior. The building has massing that is Colonial Revival, and includes decorative features from Queen Anne and Shingle styles. When built, the house had all of the modern amenities of the time, include gas lighting. Fresh water was supplied from a water tank in the attic of the cow barn, which was supplied from the lake by a steam-powered pump.
[
The buildings of the complex today have been converted to residential use; the house has been subdivided into multiple residences.
]
See also
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References
{{NRHP in Carroll County, New Hampshire
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in New Hampshire
Queen Anne architecture in New Hampshire
Colonial Revival architecture in New Hampshire
Houses completed in 1893
Houses in Carroll County, New Hampshire
National Register of Historic Places in Carroll County, New Hampshire
Moultonborough, New Hampshire