The Third Blog Post - The Ryves Holt House

Symmetry is overrated.

I first saw the Ryves Holt House in the summer of 2019. I was visiting friends who have a summer house in the town of Lewes, DE. The red is immediately eye-catching, you see it from the edge of the tiny early 20th century downtown of Lewes, just past the church cemetary. As you can see in the photo, it’s a little cock-eyed, the constant guardian between downtown and neighborhood.The houses around the RHH are mostly mid to late 19th century and decidedly more traditionally beautiful. You have Carpenter Gothic, Second Empire, and a few Georgians (which could very well be 18th century). The nextdoor church is Episcopal from the mid 1850s and Gothic Revival. So, the RHH is quite obviously unique on its street. I was immediately enamoured with the building. 

As I wandered around the building (thankfully my friend kept a firm grip on my collar lest I step out into traffic or crash into a fence), I noticed an obvious series of additions to the rear. I’ll post more pictures of the RHH on its own page, but it became clear quickly that this building had a long, intricate, and interesting story. The next step, of course, was to go inside. The Lewes Historical Society and the NPS work together to open the RHH’s three main rooms for tours and nerds like me. The lovely docent informed me that the house dated from 1665, making it the oldest house in the oldest town in the oldest state. ….Ambitious statement, but sure, that could be true. She also showed me the first floor, the obvious left portion constructed in the early 19th century with a later 20th century kitchen on the back. The oldest portion of the building (the right side) is currently a room with a fireplace, a separate stair hall, a small entry foyer, and a back room. The latter would have been added in the early/mid 18th century. Interestingly, the original front door was not in the center. It was on the street corner (extreme right), while the fireplace would have been where the front door currently is; it was probably moved when the 19th century left section was added to make the fireplace centered on the common wall. This broke with what I thought to be common for very early colonial buildings. 

I knew right then and there I wanted to research the house and figure out its story.

*photo from the NPS website for the Ryves Holt House