June, 1909 
AMERICAN HOMES AND GARDENS 
235 
A Colonial House at Portsmouth, New Hampshire 
By Mary H. Northend 
Photographs by the Author 
LMOST two centuries ago there was built 
in Portsmouth, N. H., at what is now the 
corner of Daniel and Chapel Streets, a 
stately Colonial mansion, the first brick 
building to appear in that old seaport town. 
This house, completed about 1718, was the 
residence of Capt. Archibald Macpheadris, 
a wealthy merchant who had come to this country from 
Scotland. He was at that time the chief promoter of the 
Dover Iron Works, 
which were the first 
to be established in 
America, and chose 
Portsmouth, some 
twelve miles distant, 
as his home. Here 
he married Sarah 
Wentworth, and set- 
tled down in his 
newly built house. 
At his death the 
estate fell to his 
daughter, Mary, 
who had married 
Hon. Jonathan 
Warner, a member 
of the King’s Coun- 
cil until the outbreak 
of the Revolution. 
For some unknown 
reason the name of 
Macpheadris’ s on - 
in-law, rather than 
that of the original 
owner, became asso- 
ciated with the man- 
sion, and to-day the 
well-preserved old 
structure is pointed 
out to interested 
visitors as the War- 
ner House. 
The fact that this 
home of the old 
Scotch trader has 
withstood the rav- 
ages of New Eng- 
land weather for 
nearly two hundred years, and that it is still in good condi- 
tion, certainly speaks well for the workmanship and original 
material put into it. Eighteen-inch walls, built of honest 
Dutch bricks imported from Holland, together with many 
other things used in the construction of the house, rise from 
a firm foundation, also of brick. Gambrel roof, luthern 
windows and a quaint little cupola mark this three-storied 
house as a genuine old-timer, and the broad, simply orna- 
mented doorways are suggestive of good old Colonial 
hospitality. 
The main entrance leads directly into a spacious hall ex- 
tending the entire depth of the house. Here a few beautiful 
pieces of old mahogany furniture show up to the best advan- 
tage against the white paneling of the walls. The flight of 
broad, low stairs brings to one’s mind a vision of the fair, 
The simply ornamented doorways are suggestive of good old Colonial hospitality 
stately dames and dignified gentlemen who trod them in early 
days, and the heavy iron bar which is still fastened securely 
to the stout door bespeaks a time when such protection was 
necessary. [he red men, however, were apparently not the 
dreaded foes, for the enormous antlers which decorate the 
wall are evidence of their friendliness toward Captain Mac- 
pheadris, if an old tradition is to be believed. “Iwo por- 
traits of Indian chiefs hanging at the head of the stairs also 
seem rather to corroborate this story than otherwise. 
But the  distinc- 
tive and really re- 
markable feature of 
this hall is the wall 
fresco reaching 
from the foot of the 
stairs to the second- 
story landing. On 
the rough plaster 
are depicted various 
scenes, all evidently 
the work of a mas- 
ter hand. At the 
head of the stairs is 
Governor Phipps 
Sieclaitied “on ehiis 
charger; lower 
down, Abraham is 
pictured just as he 
was about to sacri- 
fice his son, Isaac; 
still another subject 
is a lady at a spin- 
ning-wheel, while 
landscapes in rich 
coloring occupy bits 
of the wall here and 
there. These won- 
derful frescoes were 
hidden for many 
years under wall- 
paper, and it was 
not until fifty or 
sixty years ago that 
they were discov- 
Cher eaaqhunii tem by; 
chance, when a 
fresh covering was 
to be put on the 
walls. In one place, where the four or five layers of paper 
which had accumulated was peeled entirely off, a little girl 
of the family saw a horse’s hoof. A careful removal of the 
paper revealed the remarkable pictures, covering an area 
of from four to five hundred square feet. As a proof of 
the fact that the frescoes must have been covered up for 
many years, the story is told of an old lady, eighty years old, 
who had been a constant visitor at the Warner House in her 
youth. She could scarcely believe her eyes when she saw the 
paintings, and declared that their existence was unknown 
when she was intimate with the family. 
At the farther end of the broad hall is a door opening, 
not upon an old-fashioned flower-garden or orchard, as 
might be expected, but on to a small, grassy yard shaded by 
tall trees. This may possibly have been the original location 
