Gibbs House
Also known as: See Also:Beaufort Historic District
Why it's listed
Built about 1851 by Seth Gibbs, this frame house at 903 Front Street in Beaufort faces the Taylor's Creek waterfront. It is five bays wide and four deep, with a shallow hip roof, unusually wide eaves and a two-tier front porch with paneled posts and turned balusters. Inside, a center hall runs between rooms with nearly floor-length windows, and a cast-iron mantel marks the southeast parlor. Greek Revival proportions and detail set it apart from the plainer houses typical of isolated Beaufort. The house also has a place in science. From 1880 the Johns Hopkins Seaside Laboratory rented it for roughly ten years, and one small darkroom-laboratory room survives. That laboratory was probably the first marine biology school in the country, and its work helped lead to the federal fisheries laboratory established at Beaufort in 1899. The street in front was not built until the 1930s, and the old waterfront line remains visible in the yard.
Significance in brief: The house is a notable exception to Beaufort's usual building traditions because of its emphatic Greek Revival proportions and detail, its orientation to the water and its nearly unaltered condition. In the 1880s it housed the Johns Hopkins Seaside Laboratory, probably the first school of marine biology in the United States. That work helped lead to the federal Bureau of Fisheries laboratory at Beaufort.
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 73001302, listed March 14, 1973. Summary generated October 2026 (model claude-sonnet-5-5, prompt v1.0-2026-10-29, confidence high).
Key facts
| Address | 903 Front St., Beaufort |
|---|---|
| County | Carteret County |
| Listed | March 14, 1973 |
| Reference number | 73001302 |
| Resource type | Building |
| Period of significance | 19th Century |
| Architect / builder | Seth Gibbs (builder) |
| Architectural style | Greek Revival |
| Areas of significance | Science, Architecture |
| Level of significance | National |
| Status (as stated in the nomination) | Listed in good condition, altered, on its original site, and in use as a private residence at the time of nomination. |
| Acreage | 0.9 |
| Within district | Beaufort Historic District |
| Coordinates | 34.71932, -76.65491 (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 73001302.
- Nomination form (PDF, National Archives) — catalog entry
- Wikipedia article (used for cross-checking only; text not reproduced here)
- Wikidata Q18150724
- This listing as JSON
Last updated October 2026. Found an error? See the editorial policy for how to report it.