Fairbanks House

Fairbanks House 4/26/2002

The Fairbanks House is the oldest surviving timber frame house in North America. After being built in 1636 the house was occupied by the Fairbanks family until the early twentieth century. In all, eight generations of the Fairbanks Family lived in the house.
Over the years, the original house was extended with additions as the family's needs and the fashions of the times dictated including the east and west wings added in the early nineteenth century.
Abbott Lowell Cummings, former Charles F. Montgomery Professor of American Decorative Arts at Yale University says the following about the Fairbanks House:
The Jonathan Fairbanks' House in Dedham, Massachusetts, is one of the most important historic houses now standing in the northeastern part of the United States. Its value to the area and to the nation as a whole lies not so much in its claim to being the oldest house in New England but in its architectural significance... It may be said quite simply that no other house of the mid-17th century in New England has survived in such unbelievable unspoiled condition. It is extraordinary that so early a structure should preserve such a high percentage of original features. It is a veritable storehouse of information concerning
the small handful of houses which survive from this early period.

Fairbanks House is open to the public for tours from May-October.
Tours are available Tuesday - Saturday 10:00am to 4:00pm and Sunday 1:00pm to 5:00pm.
The last tour of the day begins at 4:00pm.
Please call or write to the office at the number and address below for more
information.