7 County Street, the Thomas Dennis House (1663)

The house at 7 County Street dates to two periods. Shoreborne Wilson, a cooper, built a house and a cooper’s shop on this site about 1660 (3:133). Thomas Dennis bought the property in 1663 (8:69) and added an adjoining parcel in 1671 (3:201). The rear ell of the present house dates from that period, with wide chamfers on the summer beam and unusual unpainted horizontal feather-edged sheathing. The early house appears to have been a typical one-over-one room floor plan 17th century half-house, facing due south with an end chimney

The 5-bay front section of the house dates to the 1750s. and has a more balanced Georgian floor plan typical of the mid 1700’s.

Thomas and Grace Dennis House Preservation Agreement

• County-7-preservation-agreement

This House is protected by a Preservation Agreement between the owners, the town of Ipswich and the Historical Commission. Protected elements include:

• Front and side facades of the four room building facing County St.
• Central Frame including primary and secondary members
• Feather-edged paneling in the rear first-floor room

Fireplace in the Thomas Dennis house

Thomas Dennis (1638–1706), came from Devonshire, England, where he learned from a tradition of flourished carving.  Dennis himself was a master carver, and his work is shown in the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York City, the Boston Museum of Fine Arts, the Concord Antiquarian Society and the Robert Hull Fleming Museum at the University of Vermont.

Massive summer beams carry the floor joists in the Thomas Dennis house

Thomas Dennis’ gravestone at the Old North Burying Ground in Ipswich

This chest is said to have been created by Thomas Dennis

Grace Dennis Gravestone

The Artisan of Ipswich: Craftsmanship and Community in Colonial New England

Read:

• Thomas Dennis, Master Jointer by John Fiske
• Descendants of Thomas Dennis, by Frank G. Dennis Jr.
• MACRIS