The White-Ellery House (1710)

CAM Green
13 Poplar Street
Gloucester, MA 01930

Hours
Open Sunday at 2:00 for guided docent tours

Overview

The White-Ellery House (1710) is located at 245 Washington Street in Gloucester at the CAM Green. The house has been owned by the Museum since 1947 and is one of just a handful of early eighteenth-century structures in the region exhibiting much of its original interior detailing. The White-Ellery House is commonly known as a “saltbox” and features an integral lean-to roof that spans the length of the structure. The massive central chimney that once serviced six fireplaces remains intact, as do several examples of early plasterwork, some of which exhibit decorative painting. Architectural historian Abbott Lowell Cummings cited the White-Ellery House numerous times in his book The Framed Houses of Massachusetts Bay, 1625–1725, calling out, among other features, the front staircase, which he noted as being perhaps the most highly developed of the period in Eastern Massachusetts.

The White-Ellery House was used first as a parsonage for the Reverend John White. Between 1740 and 1947, it was occupied by six generations of the Ellery family; early on the house was used as a tavern and sometimes as the meeting place for town officials. Prior to the American Revolution, the neighborhood surrounding the White-Ellery House was the Town Green, center of the community and home to the wealthiest families. History tells us that there were few families of wealth on Cape Ann during this early period who did not keep slaves or who did not profit as a result of slavery, and the early Ellery generation and their neighbors were no exception.

In 1947, the White-Ellery House was lifted off its original foundation and moved approximately 100 yards to make way for Route 128. The Cape Ann Museum maintains the structure as a study house and for educational and contemporary art programming.

The White-Ellery House is open seasonally with scheduled tours. If the house is closed during the CAM Green’s open hours, visitors are welcome to explore the grounds and take a virtual tour to see inside of the house.

If interested in a docent-led tour, we are open for tours at Sunday at 2:00 p.m. : White-Ellery House Tours.
Arranged group tours are also available. Please fill out our Group Tour Inquiry.

Image Credits:
The White-Ellery House, CAM staff photo.
Clark, Joseph H. 01015, May 05 1889, photograph by Clark, Joseph H. From the Joseph H. Clark Photograph Collection of the Cape Ann Museum Library & Archives, Gloucester, MA. 01015.
White-Ellery House, September 1947. From the Historic Photographs Collection of the Cape Ann Museum Library & Archives, Gloucester, MA., Gloucester, MA. 13913.
White-Ellery House, 1940 – 1947. From the Historic Photographs Collection of the Cape Ann Museum Library & Archives, Gloucester, MA. 13916.
White-Ellery House, 1886. From the Historic Photographs Collection of the Cape Ann Museum Library & Archives, Gloucester, MA. Gift of Warren M. Poland, M.D., May 21, 1947. 13882.

Accessibility

The White-Ellery House is situated on the CAM Green, near the Janet & William Ellery James Center. In addition to providing the Museum with space for future growth of the collection and space for expanded programming and exhibitions, the James Center provides essential support to all the historic structures at the Green in the form of fully accessible restrooms, vehicular parking, and a visitor orientation space which includes internet services and A/V capabilities. Though the James Center and the historic structures at the Green are linked by ADA approved gravel walkways, the historic buildings retain their original structures and are accessed via stepped entrances with narrow doorways, uneven floor surfaces and low light levels inside.