National Register of Historic Places

Cooper-Frost-Austin House

Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
Listed
September 21, 1972
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
72000124

About this property

The Cooper–Frost–Austin House is a historic Colonial American house, built in 1681. It is located at 21 Linnaean Street, Cambridge, Massachusetts. It is the oldest extant home in Cambridge and is owned and operated as a non-profit museum by Historic New England. The house is rarely open for public tours, but private tours can be arranged during the summer months. The house was built by Samuel Cooper on land that his father, Deacon John Cooper, had owned since 1657, and was first documented in 1689 in The Register Book of the Lands and Houses in the "New Towne" (as Cambridge was then named). Its original structure was a single room and chimney bay in width, two and one half stories in height with an integral lean-to, containing a "low room," "little room," "kitchin," "Chamber," "kitchin Chamber," "Garret," and "Cellar," all of which still exist, as do the original chimney and a facade gable. The house was extended ca. 1720 by Cooper's son, and then again between 1807 and 1816 by Martha Frost Austin and Thomas Austin who added an enclosed porch and Federal style stairway and trim. The house was acquired by Historic New England in 1912. In 2002 the Oxford Dendrochronology Laboratory analyzed wooden beams from the original structure and ascertained that donor trees were felled at the following times: winter 1675–1676, winter 1680–1681, and spring 1681. The oldest timber may have been stockpiled before construction.

Location

21 Linnaean St.
Cambridge, Middlesex County, Massachusetts
42.38445, -71.12179

Categories

ARCHITECTURE
National Register nomination ›
Sources

Property data from the National Register of Historic Places, National Park Service (public domain).

Description adapted from Wikipedia under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International License.

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Nearby Historic Sites

Frost, Elizabeth, Tenanthouse
Industrial
0.1 mi
Willis, Stillman, House
Industrial
0.1 mi
Frost, David, House
Industrial
0.1 mi
Avon Hill Historic District
Listed
0.1 mi
Saunders, William, House
Industrial
0.1 mi

Nearby Battles

Siege of Boston – Cambridge Lines
1775Revolutionary War
1 mi

Questions about this property

When was Cooper-Frost-Austin House listed on the National Register?

Cooper-Frost-Austin House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on September 21, 1972.

What type of historic resource is Cooper-Frost-Austin House?

Cooper-Frost-Austin House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Cooper-Frost-Austin House?

The period of significance for Cooper-Frost-Austin House is recorded as the industrial era.

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