Hersey-Whitten House
About This Tour
An Avery School artist painted decoration on every surface in the parlor and both floors of the stair hall but the ceiling.
A view of the Hersey-Whitten House from the street. Note the windows at the third floor.
The Hersey-Whitten House
The Hersey-Whitten House was built in the late eighteenth or early nineteenth century in Tuftonboro, New Hampshire. Originally built for the Copp family, it was once a dance hall and inn. The large, wood-framed, gable-front house is two-stories high, with a third level under the tall roof. The house has a large room on the second floor with wood panels that swing up to create a large, open space for a dance or other gathering, and then can be swung down to divide the space into sleeping chambers when needed. Around 1860, the property was sold to the Hersey family who used it as a working farm. Oral history suggests that during the Hersey era, the upper floors were used to house farmhands.
The Hersey-Whitten House entry doors lead to a brightly muraled hallway. Beyond the hall is a stunning parlor with more murals.
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A hand-painted, not stenciled, runner embellishes the stairway down to the first floor. No two motifs in the runner are exactly the same.
It was most likely the Copp family that commissioned the decorative paintwork found in the entry/stair hall and the front parlor sometime between 1826 and 1850. The two-story hall features scenes that follow the rise of the stair. At the lower landing, the artist placed a pair of men — one in red, one in blue — on horses in a prominent location. At the upper landing, a tree is placed on a corner, its branches spreading out across the adjacent walls. The most distinctive element in the stair hall is the hand-painted “carpet runner” that runs up the stairs. The runner is painted in vibrant shades, and has a hand-painted medallion at the center of each tread and riser.
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​In the parlor, decorative painting is found on nearly every surface. The floor is faux-finished to look like gray marble. While other muralists might have left the surface below the chair rail bare, in the Hersey-Whitten House boldly brushed cartouches frame a series of scenes painted in vibrant colors. The murals above the chair rail depict a series of village scenes. One shows a row of buildings on either side of a village green. A black iron fence serves as strong vanishing lines that pull the viewer’s eye into the scene. Another scene shows an allée of trees along a road populated with strolling figures.
About the Art
Below: All four walls of the parlor have colorful scenes on the upper walls and vibrantly painted, amusing vignettes below the chair rail.
About the Artist
The murals are not signed, but bear many of the motifs associated with the John Avery family. John Avery was born in Deerfield, New Hampshire in 1790. The 1850 federal census listed Avery as a cabinetmaker, while his three sons were listed as painters. As the Averys were true decorative painters, they were able to provide their clients with a range of painted finishes including graining and marbleizing on interior surfaces. In this example, the Hersey-Whitten House interiors have painted floors and stairs that complement the murals. The parlor floor is painted to look like marble, while a painted band up the center of the stair risers and treads imitates a carpet runner.
Motifs associated with the Avery School include fingerprint grapes, brushstroke birds, blackwork tendrils, and bands of shrubs. Backgrounds are often stylized mountainscapes in which the profiles of the hills resemble puzzle pieces. All of these elements appear in the Hersey-Whitten House murals. Whimsical animals, another favorite element for Avery, are also found here. Although the Hersey-Whitten walls bear many of the signature Avery elements, they also show village scenes, which are less frequently found in Avery paintings.