Stephen Rowe Bradley House

The Stephen Rowe Bradley House is located on the south side of Westminster Street on the west side of Walpole's village center; the road was one that historically led to the nearby bridge over the Connecticut River, but is now dead ended before reaching New Hampshire Route 12.

The house is a large 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a hip roof, two interior brick chimneys, and a clapboarded exterior. The main block is extended to the rear by a single-story kitchen ell and a two-story servants' wing. An early 19th-century barn stands behind the house. The house has fine Federal period styling, including pilasters on the main facade at the corners and flanking the central bay. The main entrance is flanked by engaged columns and is sheltered by a portico supported by slender round columns. A Palladian window is set above the entrance.^[2]

The house was built about 1808 for Francis Gardner, a local lawyer and politician. It was purchased in 1817 by Stephen Rowe Bradley, and remained his home in the later years of his life. Bradley was a three-time United States Senator from Vermont, and played a critical role in Vermont's entry to the United States, serving as the attorney general for the Vermont Republic during negotiations in the 1780s. The house is the only surviving building left with significant personal association to him, and was (as of its listing on the National Register in 2005) still in the hands of his descendants.^[2]

From 1901 to 1913, the house was owned by Fanny Peabody Mason.^[3]

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