Governor Gore Mansion. Built 1806 by Governor and Mrs. Christopher Gore on site of older house.
Item Information
- Title:
- Governor Gore Mansion. Built 1806 by Governor and Mrs. Christopher Gore on site of older house.
- Description:
-
Built 1806 by Governor and Mrs. Christopher Gore on site of older house. In 1799, while in England, the Gores learned that their summer house in Waltham (built on land purchased with Rebecca's dowry) had burned down. Designed with the assistance of French architect Joseph-Guillaume Legrand and probably also influenced by English architect Sir John Soane, the house that was built upon their return to the United States in 1804 is one of the finest extant examples of Federalist architecture. The majority of the land to the east of the house is in Watertown. Gore started Harvard at the age of thirteen. He graduated in 1776 and promptly enlisted in the Continental artillery regiment of his brother-in-law Thomas Crafts, where he served until 1778. Son a of Loyalist, who left when the British left Boston, Gore's law practice flourished, in part because many Loyalist lawyers had fled Massachusetts. Gore multiplied his fortune by investing carefully in revolutionary currency and bonds, and in later years he also successfully invested in toll roads and canals. In 1785 married Rebecca Amory Payne, daughter of a wealthy merchant and maritime insurer as well as a director of the Bank of Massachusetts. In 1788, Gore was elected a delegate to the 1789 Massachusetts convention to ratify the Constitution. He was elected a member of the Massachusetts House of Representatives (in which he served 1788--1789, and again in 1808). In 1789 President George Washington appointed Gore the first United States Attorney for Massachusetts, in which post he served until 1796. That year, Washington appointed Gore as a commissioner representing the United States to handle maritime claims under the terms of the recently-ratified Jay Treaty. Gore was the eighth governor of Massachusetts, 1808-1810. In the spring of 1813, he was appointed by Governor Caleb Strong to fill the U.S. Senate seat vacated by the resignation of Senator James Lloyd, until 1816. He retired to his country home in Waltham in 1816, where he remained until 1822 when declining health forced him to return to Boston. He died in 1827 in Waltham and is buried in Boston's Granary Burying Ground. A large part of the estate is in Watertown.
- Format:
-
Photographs
- Location:
- Watertown Free Public Library
- Collection (local):
-
Watertown Houses
- Subjects:
-
Gore, Christopher--1758-1827
Payne, Rebecca Amory
Architecture, Domestic--Waltham (Mass)--History
Dwellings--Massachusetts--Waltham
Historic sites--Waltham (Mass)
Historic buildings--Waltham (Mass.)
Real property--Massachusetts--History
Waltham (Mass.)--Social life and customs
City and town life--Massachusetts--Waltham
- Places:
-
Massachusetts > Middlesex (county) > Waltham
- Permalink:
- https://ark.digitalcommonwealth.org/ark:/50959/zp38wc62h
- Terms of Use:
-
Management Restrictions apply. See application form at http://watertownlib.org/research/historic-watertown/photographs
Contact host institution for more information.
- Identifier:
-
figure 2364
