National Register of Historic Places

Bray House

Kittery Point, York County, Maine
Listed
October 8, 1979
Type
Building
Period
Industrial
Ref No.
79000271

About this property

The Bray House is a historic house at 100 Pepperell Road in Kittery Point, Maine, United States. It is one of the oldest surviving buildings in the state. Long thought to be a 17th-century structure, the architectural evidence indicates the home was probably not built before 1720. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1979. The Bray House is set on the south side of Pepperell Road (Maine State Route 103), on a site overlooking the mouth of the Piscataqua River. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame residential structure, whose main block is five bays wide, with a side-gable roof, large central chimney, clapboard siding, and granite foundation. The entrance, centered on the river-facing south facade, is flanked by sidelight windows and pilasters and topped by an entablature. A former two-story extension to the east added two bays, and a narrow connecting segment joined the main house to a second 2+1⁄2-story house, oriented perpendicular to the main block, that was moved to this property in the early 20th century. All but the original central structure was demolished in 2017. While this location is known to be the place where John Bray built a house in about 1662, it was impossible at the time of the National Registry of Historic Properties nomination to determine whether parts of Bray's original house survive in the present structure; the construction methods and styling of the house are consistent with a construction date of about 1720. This is still adequate to make the house one of Maine's oldest surviving structures. Extensive formal Georgian interior detailing was added in the mid-18th century. Daryl Hall of Hall & Oates fame purchased the house at auction in 2008 and undertook a partial restoration. He sold the restored property for $2.0 million; the new owners have demolished all but the original structure, which is now flanked by modernist angular new construction. National Register of Historic Places listings in York County, Maine

Location

Kittery Point, York County, Maine
43.08297, -70.70216

Categories

EXPLORATION/SETTLEMENTARCHITECTURE
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

Pepperrell, William, House
Industrial
0 mi
Fort McClary
Early Republic
0.4 mi
Howels, William Dean, House
Industrial
0.5 mi
First Congregational Church and Parsonage (Boundary Increase)
Listed
0.7 mi
First Congregational Church and Parsonage
Industrial
0.7 mi

Questions about this property

When was Bray House listed on the National Register?

Bray House was listed on the National Register of Historic Places on October 8, 1979.

What type of historic resource is Bray House?

Bray House is classified as a building in the National Register of Historic Places.

What is the period of significance for Bray House?

The period of significance for Bray House is recorded as the industrial era.

Can I research the history near Bray House?

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