By Jack DeGange

The historic Hutchinson House at 13 Lyme Road in Hanover.

One house was built in 1802, the second in 1810. Both have notable links to the history of Dartmouth College. Both have survived changing times.

They’re known as the Lord House and the Hutchinson House and their ability to withstand the forces of change is measured by a fact common to both: During the past century, in the face of Dartmouth’s growth, they’ve been relocated three times from their original sites near the center of campus.

The latest Hanover addresses for these stately white clapboard post-and-beam structures are 33 Lyme Road (the Lord House) and 13 Lyme Road (the Hutchinson House). Trumbull-Nelson craftsmen have spent nearly a year carefully renovating them to their original purpose as single-family residences. For most of the past century they provided housing for Dartmouth faculty, graduate students and undergraduate student organizations.

Research by Frank J. (Jay) Barrett, Jr., a Hanover native, architect and local historian, reveals the place these two homes held in campus life at Dartmouth during the nineteenth century.

The Lord House was built in 1802 on Wentworth Street, facing the College Green on what is now the lawn of Baker Library. It was built for William Woodward, son of Bezaleel Woodward, a professor and Dartmouth’s first librarian. William Woodward, the grandson of Dartmouth’s founder, Eleazar Wheelock, was the first white male child born in Hanover.

Trumbull-Nelson craftsmen have spent nearly a year carefully renovating them to their original purpose as single-family residences.

He was secretary and treasurer of Dartmouth and a proponent of the attempt following the War of 1812 to create Dartmouth University and take control of the college from the trustees who held office under the charter granted originally by the English Crown. This struggle for control became the basis for the Dartmouth College Case, argued successfully by Daniel Webster before the U.S. Supreme Court, which preserved the original college.

In 1830 the house became the home of Rev. Nathan Lord, Dartmouth’s sixth president (1828-63), until his death in 1870. The Lord family sold the house to Dartmouth in 1894. From 1898-1911 the house served as home to Dartmouth’s administrative offices until Parkhurst Hall was completed. It was sold in 1927 to Professor Arthur Fairbanks whose wife was Rev. Lord’s granddaughter. In 1944, their daughter, Mary Lord Fairbanks, gifted the house to Dartmouth in memory of her great-grandfather.

The Hutchinson House, originally on North College Street at the northeast corner of the Green, was built in 1810 by Aaron Hutchinson as a gift to his son, Henry, and his new bride, Mary Woodward, William’s sister. For a number of years, Henry Hutchinson and William Woodward practiced law together in Hanover. When Henry Hutchinson moved to New York City in 1825, the house was owned by various faculty members for nearly a century.

It was acquired by the College in 1920 and relocated to 39 North College Street to create space for Steele Hall, a new chemistry building. At the same time, the Lord House was moved to 41 North College Street in anticipation of the construction of Baker Library.

The houses remained near Dartmouth Medical School for about 50 years, owned by either the College or Dartmouth faculty members. In 1972, to prepare for construction of the Sherman Fairchild Science Center, they were moved together to 16 and 18 North Park Street where they remained for another 30 years. The recent construction of a graduate student housing cluster along North Park Street prompted their latest quarter-mile relocation to Lyme Road where they were positioned on new poured concrete foundations.

Over the years both houses underwent assorted renovations, noted by Barrett’s research. Some disappeared long ago, others have been removed and replaced during the current rehabilitation process. Traces of change, like replacement of interior chimneys and fireplaces in the Lord House with fireplaces on exterior walls, were revealed to Trumbull-Nelson workers, led by Rob White and Al Walker (who came to T-N with background in house renovations). T-N’s crew has worked during the past year, first on the Hutchinson House and then on the Lord House, to completely renovation the properties for new occupants.

T-N’s crew has worked during the past year to completely renovation the properties for new occupants.

Exterior features, including the roof pediment over the front door and decorative frieze immediately below the roof cornice of the Lord House, have been carefully refurbished. Numerous structural supports have been added to remove sagging in the original under-flooring and refinished hardwood flooring. A distinctive, two-tone hardwood floor in an entry to the Hutchinson House has been refinished.

T-N fashioned new jigs to duplicate the distinctive original decorative molding found throughout both houses. Old windows (none with original glass) have been replaced with new, energy efficient units that match the original design.
To create an expanded kitchen in the Lord House, T-N removed the old kitchen area including a spiral staircase to the second floor that had a hinged “secret stair” that may have dated from the prohibition era.

Two hundred years and three relocations, aided by Trumbull-Nelson craftsmanship, have ensured that the Lord and Hutchinson houses will retain what architect Jay Barrett described as “overall pleasant, albeit typical, period charms” for many more years to come.