Bringing Dorchester's "Lost" 17th- century Capen House Back to Boston

The Capen House was built in Dorchester on Washington Street, where it was home to eight generations of the Capen family. When multi-family housing was proposed for the home's large lot in the first decade of the 1900s, the Capen House was under threat of demolition. At the time, it was believed to have been built around 1636, which would have made it the oldest timber-frame house in North America.

In 1909, a Harvard professor purchased the house, had it dismantled, and rebuilt in Milton. It stood there until it was again threatened with redevelopment. In 2006, the house was dismantled for a second time and placed into storage.

Dendrochronology conducted around this time confirmed its construction in the winter of 1674-75, making it the second oldest Boston house (behind the 1661 Landmark-designated Blake House) and the eighth oldest house in the state. It has not been seen publicly since 2006, and few were aware of its survival or location until now.

City Archaeologist Joe Bagley first became aware of the missing house while serving as a caretaker for the Dorchester Historical Society's (DHS) 1806 William Clapp House from 2012 to2015. In April 2025, Bagley started looking for the house in earnest. The timing seemed perfect to bring the Capen House back home with the approach of the 400th anniversary of Boston's founding in 2030.

Leads were few at first, and many sources, including the Massachusetts Historical Commission, relayed that the house had been moved out of state. DHS President Earl Taylor pointed to Mark Landry, founder of Landmark Services, a Wellesley-based historic restoration business. Mark had purchased and dismantled the house in 2006 and offered it for sale to anyone willing to rebuild it.

Landry sold it soon after, but did not have information on the buyer except that they lived on the North Shore. The last he'd heard, it was stored in a barn.

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Next, Bagley posted on the Massachusetts Historic Preservation listserv, an email-based communication group of preservationists across the state. The post garnered several leads. Fellow Office of Historic Preservation staff member, Joe Cornish, had the key piece of information. He had remembered a plan to move the house to Newbury, where it was to be attached to an existing building. That building was part of Historic New England's preservation easement program.

Cambridge Historical Commission Preservation Planner Sarah Burks pointed to the 2010 nomination of Newbury Lower Green as one of the "Most Endangered Resources," which listed the Capen House as a pending addition to an existing historic house on the green. A quick internet search revealed a heart-sinking image: the restored historic house with a one-story additionappearing to be built from elements of the Capen House. Originally a two-story home, it seemed the Capen House had been deconstructed for parts!

Dejected but not deterred, Bagley  continued working to confirm the adaptive reuse. Fortunately, a longtime volunteer of the City Archaeology Program, Jennifer Reed, had recently relocated to Newbury and was familiar with the buildings on the Lower Green near her own First Period home. She immediately set out to meet the owner of the historic house seen in the photographs and find out what happened to the Capen Hhouse.

Meanwhile, Senior Preservation Services Manager for Historic New England, Elizabeth Paliga, searched their records. She found that parts of the house may have been used for an addition to a historic home in Newbury, but plans to rebuild the entire house had fallen through. There was still hope!

While excavating on Monument Street in Charlestown for the Archaeology Program's Charlestown 250 Archaeology project, Bagley received an exciting call from Jennifer. She had found the former owner of the Capen House in Newbury and knew where it was! It turned out that Mark Landry had sold the house to a preservationist with homes in Vermont and Massachusetts.

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In the 18th century, additions to the house nearly doubled it in size. The new buyer had chosen to reuse the frame of the 18th-century addition to the Capen House for repairs on another home, but had preserved the 17th-century frame and all surviving interior components dating to the 17th and 18th centuries. The dismantled Capen House was stored in a barn while he worked on plans to add it to his Newbury property. When those fell through, he sold the remaining house frame and components.

The most recent buyer, also a preservationist, had purchased the Capen House with plans to move it to his property in Wisconsin to be completely restored to its original 17th century form. After a screening call with the Newbury owner, Bagley was put in touch with the most recent owner.

After months of discussion and sharing ideas for the future of the house, the latest owner offered to sell the house to the Archaeology Program as an object, provided they could raise the funds for the purchase. Fortunately, the timing coincided with the latest CPA grant round, and Bagley successfully submitted the project for a historic preservation acquisition grant.

The final purchase of the structural elements of the house is in progress, after which further project details will be forthcoming. The Program is actively developing a team of experts who will spend the next 3 years studying the building, making plans for its reconstruction in Boston, and raising the funds necessary to complete the project ahead of the 400th anniversary of Boston  in 2030.

This article was prepared by Joseph Bagley, Director of Archaeology.

All Photographs:

Photo 1: Photograph of the 1675 Capen House in its original location in Dorchester ca. 1900. The original part of the house includes the portion of the house from the front door to the left of this image, excluding the rear lean-to. The later 18th century addition is the portion to the right of the front door. Image courtesy of Historic New England.

Photo 2: View of the Capen House ca. 2006, as it stood in Milton prior to dismantling. Source: Landmark Services.

Photo 3: Capen House around 2006 in Milton after partial dismantling. The frame seen here is the original 1675 portion of the house. The 18th century addition to the right of the chimney had already been removed. These are the frame elements of the house purchased with CPA funds. Source: Landmark Services.

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