Marion’s Percy Browne House named to 2025 Massachusetts Most Endangered Properties List
Original 1881 design of the house. Source: Sippican Historical Society
Current condition of the house. Source: Sippican Historical Society
Original 1881 design of the house. Source: Sippican Historical Society
Current condition of the house. Source: Sippican Historical Society
MARION — Preservation Massachusetts has named ten historic properties, including the Percy Browne House in Marion, to the 2025 Most Endangered Historic Resources List on Oct. 30.
Since 1993, the Massachusetts’ Most Endangered Historic Resources Program has been key in identifying endangered historic resources from across the Commonwealth and preserving them.
The Percy Browne House located at 192 Front Street sits on a hilly ridge overlooking Sippican Harbor.
Designed by architect Henry Hobson Richardson, with 1903 additions possibly by Charles Allerton Coolidge, the house was built for Richarson’s friend, the Rev. Percy Browne.
The Percy Browne House is regarded by many architectural historians as the prototype of the Shingle Style in America. The house also reflects Marion’s late 19th century associations with national intellectual life.
Positioned on the campus of Tabor Academy, the house was last used for faculty housing until 2010.
The Commission has been working with Tabor to find solutions that both protect this unique innovative example of the Shingle Style and also serve Tabor’s needs for current and future programming and growth.
