The Capt. Richard Rogers House at 58 North Main Street in Ipswich is historically significant because of its fine Georgian style. Richard Rogers descended from Nathaniel Rogers who lived on the South Green. The house was built in 1728 about the time of the Rogers’ Manse across High Street. The central hallway with a closed string-course balustrade and the two chimneys suggest a high-style Georgian influence. The front room has exquisite Georgian paneling, while the rear fireplace wall has very fine shell cupboards in bolection molding with fluted pilasters. The home is one of the finest of its style and vintage in New England.
As described in Something to Preserve:
“The rear fireplace wall includes one of the finest shell cupboards in New England, enframed in bolection molding, with fluted pilasters on either side. The shelves are scrolled and molded and raised panels form the rear of the cupboard inside the shelves. In looking at the wall, the eye travels over a dazzling display of classic Georgian detail from the molded mop board to the stopped fluted pilasters on either side of the fireplace, to the double molded cornice work at ceiling level. In addition, the other walls have bold forty-inch wide raised field panels with cyma-curve step-down molding along the edge of the panels, all encompassed by bolection molded trim.”
Captain Richard Rogers House, 64 North Main St. Preservation Agreement
This house is protected by a ;preservation agreement. Protected elements include:
- The front and side facades facing N. Main and High Streets
- Central frame including primary and secondary members
- Wooden architectural elements including stairs, paneling, moldings, mantelpieces, doors, cupboard in the left front room facing N. Main St.
View MACRIS (note house has been renumbered to 58 N. Main, formerly #64.)
Covenanted woodwork in the Richard Rogers house
The present owners of the Richard Rogers house are Ingrid and Stephen Miles. Ingrid, a former member of the Select Board, was one of the four members of the Historic Preservation Subcommittee of the Master Plan along with Ruthanne Rogers, Sue Nelson, and Don Curiale who co-authored the Demolition Delay bylaw that is the foundation for today’s Demolition Review bylaw. Both Steve and Ingrid have been members of the Historical Society, Steve having been President and Ingrid having served as Membership Chair early in their move to Ipswich. Ingrid is a former member of the Ipswich Select Board, served as Chair of the Riverwalk project, and Stephen has served on the Open Space Subcommittee.
- 58 N. Main St. application for the 2020 Mary Conley Award
- 58 N. Main supporting documents for the 2020 Mary Conley Award application
- MACRIS listing
Early history of the lot (by Thomas Franklin Waters)
“The lot on the corner of North Main St. and High St. was originally owned by William White. The Town REcord, 1635, describes it as “a place to set a house,” bounded north by High St. and east by the “Street that goes to the Mill (N. Main)” It was bounded south by John Whityear’s house lot, to whom it was granted. Whityear sold his lot, a half acre with a house to Richard Haffield, who sold the same in 1639 to Thomas Firman, “The sayd lott being in the Cross Street neare the meeting house, bounded by the highway leading to the Mill on the South; on the South West, a house lott, formerly granted to Nathaniell Bishop and now in his possession.’ “
Robert Beacham succeeded Firman in the ownership of the second lot, and he also secured the corner lot, prior to 1654. In that year, (June 20th) Jeremy Belcher sold Thomas Lowell, currier, the house and land, one and a quarter acres, taken by execution from Robert Beacham bounded by highways on the southeast and northeast (Ips. Deeds 1: 152). Lovell divided the lot again. He sold Nathaniel Shannon, merchant for 20 pounds on condition of maintaining a fence 6 ft. high “so closely jointed as to keep out all creatures from doing any damage to the land of mine forever more, a square piece out of my homestead 4 1/2 rods each way bounded northeast by High St., southeast by Common St. leading Bostonwards.” April 2, 1715. (27: 141)
*Thomas Lovell Sr. had been dealt with in the courts in 1671, and again in 1674 for being Quakers, a rank offence, for which they paid a fine. He continued, apparently as a respected citizen and was in 1682 a Selectman. He was, however, removed from the office after being secretly in contact and agreeance with Captain John Mason regarding his ancient claim on New England. The Towne generally voted to “lay the sd. Thomas Lovell aside & exclude him for being a Selectman, and Capt. John Appleton was chosen to be a Selectman, for the rest of the year.”
Lovell sold the remaining acre and a half, with a dwelling house to Stephen Perkins, shopkeeper, yeoman, in 1721, Oct. 5 (39:61). The house lot abutted on High St. and on North Main St. as the Shannon lot included only the corner of the land.” “The corner lot, sold by Lovell to Shannon was sold by Shannon, then of Portsmouth, to Francis Clark of Salem, 74§ ft. on the highway, “leading from ye meeting-house up to ye dwelling house that was formerly Col. Francis Wainwright’s, deceased, and now in tenure and occupation of Samuel Staniford,” Sept. 27, 1716 (30: 178).
Clark sold to Thomas Calton or Carleton Jr., of Salem, Oct. 8, 1726 (48: 155), who sold in turn to Richard Rogers, still 4 rods on each street, Feb. 4, 1728 (51: 245). Capt. Rogers built a house, and made his home here imtil his death. The house still occupies the corner, but it stood originally on the line of the sidewalk, and nearly on the same level. An old time buffet or “bow fat,” of very beautiful design, remains in the west front room. An execution for debt was made against the widow Rogers by Joseph Green and Isaac Walker of Boston, merchants, July 28, 1747 (91: 24). The lot is described as being northwest by Lovell’s Close, and it is mentioned that Rogers occupied the house at the time of his death. Rev. Nathaniel Rogers, who owned and occupied the old Manse, now the property of Mr. John B. Brown, became the purchaser, Aug. 10, 1747 (97: 45). Mr. Rogers sold to Joseph How, April 16, 1759 (109: 2.50); How to Sarah Jewett, Jan. 5, 1762 (111: 6.5). Nathaniel Smith succeeded to the ownership, and his heirs. This property was conveyed by Sarah Jane and Nancy M. Kent to Joseph Wait, and by him to Richard Dodge, Oct. 6, 1852. On Dec. 14, 1854, Manning Dodge sold Richard T. Dodge the smaller house on the same lot on High St.”
Source: Ipswich in the Massachusetts Bay Colony by Thomas Franklin Waters
2020 Mary Conley Award for Historic Preservation
Since 1991, the Ipswich Historical Commission has presented the annual Mary P. Conley Preservation Award, named in honor of Mary for her endless dedication to preserving historical sites.
The Award is given each year to an individual or organization which has been outstanding in a voluntary work of historic preservation. Properties which have been recently restored or maintained over long periods of time to a high level of historical architectural integrity may be nominated.
The Mary Conley Award for 2020 is awarded to Ingrid and Stephen Miles, owners of the historic Captain Richard Rogers house at 58 N. Main St.
The Captain Richard Rogers house was built in 1728 and is considered to be one of the finest early Georgian houses in New England. Exquisite Georgian paneling in the front room exhibits an early high-style influence. The basement level of the house has an intact second period beehive oven and fireplace in the summer kitchen that was created when the rear ell was filled in.
The Captain Richard Rogers house is protected by a preservation agreement which includes the front and side facades facing N. Main and High Streets, the central frame including primary and secondary members , wooden architectural elements including stairs, paneling, moldings, mantelpieces, doors, and the shell cupboard.
Abraham Knowlton, “Workman of rare skill”
In the nave of the First Church, a short distance from the Captain Richard Rogers house is a pulpit and sounding board created by Abraham Knowlton that many believe to be the most innovative masterpiece of its time.
John Fiske of the Ipswich Historical Commission wrote, “In 1727-8, Abraham Knowlton created the elaborate balusters in the staircase of the Reverend Nathaniel Rogers house at 1 High St., with the most rococo newel post that he had yet produced. A year later, in 1728, he produced the baluster turnings across the street at the home of Nathaniel’s brother, Captain Richard Rogers.
“It was in the Captain Richard Rogers house that Abraham Knowlton produced the masterwork of his early period. A shell cupboard set at one end of a Georgian paneled wall whose opposite end contained a fine doorway that balanced the cupboard with perfect symmetry. The raised panels throughout the wall and doors were set in molded frames that were, in turn, set into a mortise-and-tenoned framework.
Flanking the fireplace were the newest things to come out of classical times, wooden copies of marble, stop-fluted pilasters. The tops of the door and the cupboard were arched with central keystones, in wood, of course, not marble. Nobody in Ipswich had ever seen a wall paneled like that.
Steve and Ingrid Miles purchased the Captain Richard Rogers house in 1983 and have worked tirelessly to preserve and restore the house with integrity. Over 37 years, interior doors, stair treads and other woodwork were stripped of multiple layers of paint; the sealed fireplace and hearth in the living room were restored. In 2009, after educating themselves about historic preservation, Steve and Ingrid restored the front room including the elaborate clamshell cupboards. Much of the electrical wiring and plumbing in the house have been replaced and updated.
On the exterior, the granite foundation was repaired was reset using wooden levers; inappropriate windows and doors, the front steps and balustrade were all replaced with architecturally appropriate elements. The roofing and some siding have been replaced, windows were re-glazed and the house was recently repainted.
Ingrid Miles states, “Of maximum importance regarding the preservation/restoration/renovation of this early Georgian Colonial is that no alteration has been made to the integrity of the room spaces throughout the residents occupancy since 1983. In other words, all rooms are intact as chamber rooms for the ell (original house). This is important because most antique homes have moved or removed walls to accommodate modern conveniences. From the beginning our intention was to preserve the integrity of the Georgian symmetry of interior spaces as well as the exterior front façade.”
“How did inhabiting such an antique affect our lives? We joined the Ipswich Historical society, for one thing, thing, where Steve followed Paul McGinley and George Mathey as President. As John Updike described in his experience of moving to town, “First-period houses, mixed in with creditable specimens of the Georgian and Federal styles, were strung up and down our street, called High at one end and East at the other. Architectural conservation was freshly in the air; Ipswich’s old houses, left for centuries to fend for themselves, were no longer being torn down and, rather, were being fixed up by newcomers—commuters and artisans with beards, pigtails and a regard for history. We ourselves felt part, deeply and effortlessly, of the community because we owned a piece of its past, sleeping and eating in rooms where fourteen or so generations had left their scuff marks. We are fortunate to live in a heritage property.”
The Ipswich Historical Commission is proud to present the 2020 Mary Conley Award to Ingrid and Stephen Miles for their many years of service and contributions to the historic preservation of our community. Official presentation of the Award will be at a Select Board meeting later in 2021. View a list of past recipients of the Mary Conley Award.
This house is currently on the market
Historic Ipswich 
