Judge David Sewall built York's historic Coventry Hall in the 1790s. The home's current owner, Melissa Murphy, recently welcomed members of the public into this private residence for a special program with Old York and the York Historic District Commission.
All photos by Tori Rasche
And, for the entirety of its existence, this residence has been in private ownership - a manor house often viewed with admiration by passersby, but with inner realms rarely glimpsed by the public.
That is, until earlier this year, when the home's newest owner, Melissa Murphy, worked with the Museums of Old York and the town's Historic District Commission to open the doors of Coventry Hall in an event to raise awareness of preservation and share a bit of the history of this unique property.
"Historic Coventry Hall" was held during the final weekend of August, providing a behind-the-scenes glimpse into the history, architecture and craftsmanship of this 18th-century federal mansion, which Murphy and her family are working to restore.
"I think this house bought me," Murphy said, smiling as a crowd of visitors filled her home at the start of the two-day event, which included a special tour of the house led by Old York Curator Tom Johnson.
The house was originally built by Judge David Sewall and circumstantial evidence abounds, Johnson said, that it was designed by renowned architect Charles Bulfinch.
"Judge Sewall was a luminary in the state of Maine," Johnson said, adding that Coventry Hall is "clearly out of the vernacular for this region. It's clearly a Boston house."
The event also included opportunities to meet preservation experts and learn about the difference between restoring historic properties and remodeling them.
Coventry Hall has seen its share of both.
In this century, for example, prior owners added a "great room" and a bedroom and removed a significant portion of the carriage barn to create a new entryway and kitchen space, Johnson explained.
Other renovations included a complete overhaul of the original kitchen when a prior owner decided she wanted a "Tavern Room" similar in style to Jefferds' Tavern in York Village. That renovation includes salvaged timbers and reproduced elements to remodel the room to resemble an earlier period - the Colonial era - sacrificing a space that had remained almost exactly as it was since the time of Sewall's ownership, Johnson explained.
His tour included each space in the house - from the grand front hall to the "Assembly Room," which was the largest meeting space in York when the house was built, and also boasts a mantel and cornices decorated with composition material made in Philadelphia.
Johnson pointed out that the dining room across the hall, meanwhile, is very different in its interior style. Research has indicated prior owners sold off the decorative elements of that room around 1930 to fund repairs to the house at a time when, Johnson said, there was a trend in the country of "harvesting rooms from historic homes."
On the second floor, In addition to the grand front bedrooms that would likely have belonged to the master and mistress of the house in its early years, there is a rear room above the original kitchen with elements that predate the 1793 construction of Coventry Hall. Johnson noted the house was built on the site of an earlier dwelling that was badly damaged in 1755, suggesting some of the older elements in the rear bedroom might have been salvaged from that house.
It was in that room that a mural dating from the first half of the 1900s was painted, only to be covered over by a previous owner to mimic the panels that cover room's other walls. As part of "Historic Coventry Hall," Johnson removed the painted particle board covering the mural to reveal a scene of York Village that has been hidden for several years.
The room is adjacent to a small cupboard in the hallway, where the family's meats were hung to smoke. The hooks remain, with the bricks behind them blackened by use and time - an element Murphy pointed out to those touring the house.
Downstairs, in the room that was once the office of Judge David Sewall, a reproduction portrait now hangs over the mantel, showing Sewall as he looked at the time when he resided in Coventry Hall. Murphy purchased the portrait, which had been sold by a prior owner to a local antique dealer, to return it to its place within the home.
In the passageway between his office and the dining room, Murphy pointed out one of her favorite spaces in the house: the miniature library where Sewall kept his books and papers, complete with a sliding panel that served as a desk if he needed to look up an item in one of his books.
Sewall's adjacent office also now boasts the Sewall Coat of Arms, honoring the man whose illustrious career included appointment to the electoral college that chose George Washington as the first president of the United States and service as the first judge of the Maine District Court.
Among those visiting Coventry Hall for the first time during the event was one of his descendants, Barbara Sewall, who now resides in Newmarket, N.H.
"I've never even seen a picture of him," she said, looking up at his portrait.
Barbara Sewall described the feeling of standing inside her ancestral home as awe-inspiring.
"It's just magnificent," she said, adding, with a smile, "My sister and I used to drive up the driveway and dare each other to knock on the door."
However, she said, neither of them took the dare.
History shows that patriots from the nation's infancy were familiar visitors within the chambers of Coventry Hall, and Murphy said that when she stands in Sewall's office she cannot help but imagine him having conversations with them in that very room.
"I'm sure Judge Sewall and John Quincy Adams must have stood where we are and had discussions about the new American government," Murphy said, resting her hand upon the mantle in Sewall's office.
Johnson said there is no question in his mind that Coventry Hall is in the right hands.
"The house is extremely lucky to have its new owners," he said.
For more about Old York, visit http://www.oldyork.org/.
