Built in 1768 for the merchant and politician Jeremiah Lee, this three-story Georgian mansion on Washington Street is considered one of the best examples of Colonial-era architecture in the United States. The exterior features a rusticated wood facade painted to look like stone — a common Georgian pretension — and a grand entrance hall with original hand-painted English wallpaper depicting ruins and landscapes.
The house is maintained by the Marblehead Museum and open for guided tours. The interiors retain original furnishings, woodwork, and some of the finest Georgian decorative art in New England. The guided tour is genuinely informative about both the house and the social history of pre-Revolutionary Marblehead.
161 Washington Street. Open seasonally; check with the Marblehead Museum for current hours.