View source for Headquarters House (Boston)

{{short description|Historic house in Massachusetts, United States}}
{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2023}}

{{Infobox NRHP
| name                  = William H. Prescott House
| nrhp_type             = nhl
| image                 = Headquarters House 55 Beacon Street Boston.jpg
| caption               = Of the two units depicted here, the Prescott House is the one on the left.
| location              = 55 Beacon Street,<br>[[Boston, Massachusetts]]
| coordinates           = {{coord|42|21|23.6|N|71|4|5.7|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin              = Boston#Massachusetts#USA
| area                  = less than one acre
| built                 = 1808
| architect             = Benjamin, Asher
| architecture          = Federal
| added                 = October 15, 1966<ref name=nris />
| refnum                = 66000765<ref name="nris">{{NRISref|version=2010a}}</ref>
| designated_nrhp_type  = December 29, 1964<ref name="nhlsum">{{cite web|url=http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=574&ResourceType=Building|title=William H. Prescott House|accessdate=2009-01-04|work=National Historic Landmark summary listing|publisher=National Park Service|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110606175045/http://tps.cr.nps.gov/nhl/detail.cfm?ResourceId=574&ResourceType=Building|archive-date=2011-06-06|url-status=dead}}</ref>
| nrhp_type2            = nhldcp
| nocat                 = yes
| designated_nrhp_type2 = October 15, 1966
| partof                = [[Beacon Hill Historic District]]
| partof_refnum         = 66000130
| website               = [http://nscda.org/?page_id=150&state=MA&prop=405 William Hickling Prescott House]
}}

'''William Hickling Prescott House''', also known as the '''Headquarters House''', is an historic house museum located at 55 [[Beacon Street]] on [[Beacon Hill, Boston|Beacon Hill]] in [[Boston, Massachusetts]]. It is the left-hand portion of a double townhouse at 54–55 Beacon Street, seen in the photograph. The townhouse, built in 1808 to a design by [[Asher Benjamin]], was designated a [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1964 for its association with [[William Hickling Prescott]] (1796–1859), one of the nation's first historians. The house is now a museum operated by the Massachusetts chapter of the [[National Society of the Colonial Dames of America]], which purchased it for its headquarters in 1944.

==Description and history==
Built in 1808, the twin houses were designed by architect [[Asher Benjamin]].<ref name=dames>{{cite web|url=http://nscda.org/?page_id=150&state=MA&prop=405|title=William Hickling Prescott House|publisher=The National Society of The Colonial Dames of America|accessdate=2015-02-17}}</ref> Still nearly mirror images of one another, they are four stories in height and three bays wide. The outer two bays of each unit are part of a rounded bay front, delineated by pilasters rising from the top of the first story porch to the roof. The porch is supported by a Doric colonnade, and follows the line of the rounded bays. The doorways are in the innermost bays, flanked by sidelight windows and topped by a fanlight.<ref name=nhl>{{cite web|url={{NHLS url|id=66000765}}|title=NHL nomination for Headquarters House|publisher=National Park Service|accessdate=2015-02-17}}</ref>

The left side, 55 Beacon Street is named for [[William Hickling Prescott]], a nearly blind historian from a prominent Boston family,<ref name="nhlsum" /> who lived there from 1845 to 1859.<ref name=dames /> Prescott had celebrated novelist [[William Makepeace Thackeray]] as a houseguest.<ref>{{cite web |url=http://www.kellscraft.com/BookofBoston/BookofBoston04.html|title=Chapter IV: On the Prim, Decorous Hill|last=Shackleton|first=Robert|year=1916|work=The Book of Boston|publisher=Penn Publishing Company |accessdate=2009-01-04}}</ref> That unit was acquired in 1944 by the Massachusetts chapter of the [[National Society of the Colonial Dames of America]] for use as its headquarters, a role it still serves.<ref name=dames /><ref name=madames>{{cite web|url=http://nscdama.org/william-hickling-prescott-house/|title=William Hickling Prescott House|publisher=NSCDA-MA|accessdate=2015-02-17}}</ref> The Dames restored Prescott's study to its original state in 1968, based on historical documents.<ref name=nhl />

The houses' original owner was James Smith Colburn, a successful Boston merchant. He commissioned Asher Benjamin to build the double town houses on land he purchased from the [[Mount Vernon Proprietors]]. Originally, the structures were free-standing and would have had a water view (before the filling of the area that is now the Boston Public Garden). They were the height of fashion in the Early Republic. Prescott purchased his house in 1845 and after his death, his wife sold it to cousins, the Dexters. They made significant changes to the house: updating the stairwell, adding an elevator and reconfiguring Prescott's library into a dining room.

The house was designated a U.S. [[National Historic Landmark]] in 1964,<ref name="nhlsum" /> and was listed on [[National Register of Historic Places]] in 1966,<ref name=nris /> for its association with Prescott, who gained a reputation for his books on Spanish (and Spanish colonial) history. His 1837 ''History of the Conquest of Mexico'' received great acclaim both in the United States and in Europe. Due to his blindness (caused by an incident during a bar brawl), he employed researchers and secretaries to acquire documents and prepare his manuscripts.<ref name=nhl />

One of the two units (possibly both) is memorialized as a Victorian dollhouse at the Cayuga Art Museum in [[Auburn, New York]].

[[File:55 BeaconSt Boston.png|thumb|left|320px|The house in a photo published in 1912]]
{{clear}}

==See also==
* [[List of National Historic Landmarks in Massachusetts]]
* [[National Register of Historic Places listings in northern Boston, Massachusetts]]

==References==
{{reflist}}

==External links==
{{commons category|Headquarters House}}
* [http://nscda.org/?page_id=150&state=MA&prop=405 William Hickling Prescott House] – National Society of the Colonial Dames of America

{{National Register of Historic Places in Massachusetts}}

{{authority control}}

[[Category:Houses completed in 1808]]
[[Category:Asher Benjamin buildings]]
[[Category:Houses in Boston]]
[[Category:National Historic Landmarks in Boston]]
[[Category:Beacon Hill, Boston]]
[[Category:Museums in Boston]]
[[Category:Historic house museums in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:Literary museums in the United States]]
[[Category:Historic district contributing properties in Massachusetts]]
[[Category:National Society of the Colonial Dames of America]]
[[Category:Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Suffolk County, Massachusetts]]
[[Category:National Register of Historic Places in Boston]]
[[Category:Homes of American writers]]