Dudley House (Exeter, New Hampshire)

The Dudley House occupies a prominent position on the east side of Front Street in downtown Exeter, nearly across the street from both the Congregational Church and Exeter Town Hall. It is a three-story wood-frame structure, with a hip roof and two interior brick chimneys. The main facade is five bays wide, with a center entrance sheltered by a gabled portico supported by two columns. The entrance is flanked by sidelight windows and fluted pilasters, and is topped by a transom window. The interior follows a center hall plan, although the main stair ascends from the back rather than the front. Later 19th-century additions include an ell and an attached carriage barn.^[2]

The house was built sometime between about 1805 and 1813, and is one of Exeter's finest examples of Federal architecture. It was built for Dr. William Perry, who was for many years a leading physician of the town. He was succeeded in this role by his son, William Gilman Perry. During the latter's ownership, they probably hosted writer Sarah Orne Jewett, a family friend. Perry's daughter married Albertus Dudley, descendant of Rev. Samuel Dudley, one of the town's 17th-century ministers. The house remained in the hands of Dudley descendants until 1935.^[2]

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Rockingham County, New Hampshire