Haskell, William, House
Why it's listed
Standing at 11 Lincoln Street in Gloucester, this early 18th-century house is a two-and-a-half-story, four-bay clapboarded dwelling set on 8.5 acres of open fields and wooded lots. It has an intact First Period frame and chimney, along with modest but well-executed original finishes and a good deal of early hardware. Its right-hand rooms are framed with an unusual cyma molding in place of the usual chamfer, a feature known in only one or two other examples. The frame may be of plank construction, a method found in only about two dozen North Shore houses. In 1927 Boston sculptor A.H. Atkins bought the house and restored it, and in about 1930 a shed was converted to a living room and a new wing was added, designed by Thomas Williams of Rockport. Articles and measured drawings in the 1920s and 1930s made it a well-known example of colonial revival interest. The house was briefly a museum, and it is eligible for its architecture and its potential to yield information about early construction.
Significance in brief: The house is argued to be one of the best preserved First Period buildings surveyed, with an intact frame, chimney and largely original finishes. Its cyma-molded frame in the right-hand side is very unusual, and it may be a plank-frame structure, a rare type on the North Shore. It is also tied to the early 20th-century colonial restoration movement through sculptor A.H. Atkins, who bought it in 1927.
Machine-generated summary. This summary was generated by a language model from the official nomination document and has not been reviewed line by line by an editor. It may contain errors. Check the source document before relying on any detail. Source: nomination document (PDF) · National Archives catalog entry. NRHP reference 90000217, listed March 9, 1990. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 11 Lincoln St., Gloucester |
|---|---|
| County | Essex County |
| Listed | March 9, 1990 |
| Reference number | 90000217 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Architectural style | First Period/Colonial Revival |
| Criteria |
|
| Areas of significance | Historic - Non-Aboriginal, Architecture |
| Level of significance | State |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Condition is listed as good; the house is in present residential use. It was briefly owned by the Cape Ann Historical Society and operated as a house museum. |
| Acreage | 8.5 |
| Coordinates | 42.62732, -70.73785 (NPS GIS) |
What listing means for this property
National Register listing is honorary for a privately owned home: it does not by itself restrict what an owner may do with their own money, and it does not require public access. Restrictions come from local landmark or historic-district ordinances, which are separate (how they differ).
Owner-occupied houses are not eligible for the 20% federal rehabilitation tax credit, which applies to income-producing buildings, but many states offer credits for homeowners. Listing also opens the door to preservation easements and to buying a plaque. Start with what listing means for homeowners, renovating a listed house and selling one.
General information, not legal or tax advice. Rules change; confirm with your State Historic Preservation Office or a qualified adviser.
Sources and further reading
- National Park Service, National Register of Historic Places database (snapshot May 2026), reference 90000217.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q8011000
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.