Browne House

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name = Abraham Browne House
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caption = The Abraham Browne House, Watertown, Massachusetts
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location = 562 Main St.
Watertown, Massachusetts
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added = March 9, 1990
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refnum = 90000186
mpsub = First Period Buildings of Eastern Massachusetts TR
governing_body = The Abraham Browne House (built circa 1694-1701) is a colonial house located at 562 Main Street, Watertown, Massachusetts, USA. It is now a nonprofit museum operated by Historic New England and open to the public two afternoons per year.

The house was originally a modest one-over-one dwelling, probably with a minor dependency to one side. It has grown by a series of enlargements but they occurred behind the original block, thus preserving the profile of the one-over-one elevation. (The exception, a 19th century addition, was removed before 1919). The Browne House is one of fewer than a half-dozen houses in New England to retain this profile.

By 1919 the house was nearly ruined when it was acquired by William Sumner Appleton, who in 1923 donated it to the nonprofit organization now known as Historic New England. It was then painstakingly restored in the first fully documented restoration in America.

See also

* Historic New England
* List of historic houses in Massachusetts