Architectural story:
This house is a good example of Newport vernacular architecture: it is small, two-room-plan cottage with one-and-a-half stories and a gambrel roof. To the rear of the house, there is a full-length, early lean-to. NRF has five similar houses in our collection, with dates ranging from 1730 to 1807, and there are many other extant examples in Newport.
Restoration story:
The house was built c.1777 and 1795 and originally stood at 28 Kingston Avenue. It was purchased by NRF in 1968, moved to its current site in 1974, and restored in 1974-75. NRF purchased the land on which the house sits as part of a transaction that included NR houses at 51 and 53 Bridge Street.
We have dated the house based on the mantels and trim in the house, although there is evidence that the building may be older than that period. The building appears on the 1777 Blascowitz Map on the Kingston Avenue site where the house at 11 Third Street originally stood.
People story:
The house is named for David Lyman, a possible early owner. Later, the residence became the home of many Newporters in the 19th and 20th centuries including a barber, carpenters, homemakers, a cooper, a coachman, a laundress, a cabinetmaker, and a grocer. We are looking forward to uncovering more about the people who lived and worked in this home.
