Detail of stair in paneled hall, Gardner House, Portsmouth

Description

This interior view shows the upper hall from the landing of the main staircase between the first and second floors of the Georgian-style Wentworth-Gardner House on Mechanic Street in Portsmouth, New Hampshire. Wainscoting and wallpaper with scenes of a forest, river, and waterfall adorn the wall. There appears to be a piano in the hall at the head of the stairs. Mrs. Elizabeth Rindge Wentworth built the house in 1760 as a wedding gift for her son Thomas, who died in 1768. In 1793, Major William Gardner bought the house and lived there until he died in 1833. In 1915, Wallace Nutting purchased the house, restored the building, and added it as one of the five sites in his for-profit enterprise, the Wallace Nutting Chain of Colonial Pictorial Houses.