Built 1660–4 Opened 1664 Phone +1 860-739-6070 Added to NRHP 6 October 1970 | NRHP Reference # 70000693 Area 8,094 m² Architectural style American Colonial | |
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Similar Smith‑Harris House, Samuel Smith House, Joshua Hempsted House, Jabez Smith House, Stanton‑Davis Homestead Museum | ||
The Thomas Lee House is a historic house at the junction of Giant's Neck Road and Connecticut Route 156 in the Niantic section of East Lyme, Connecticut. It was constructed between 1660 and 1664. It is one of the oldest wood frame houses in Connecticut and still in its primitive state. The original dwelling consisted of a post-and-beam timber frame erected on six 2-story wall posts, with the Judgment Hall below and the Chamber above. A steeply pitched roof covered a spacious attic over the chamber. A small, stone-walled partial cellar pit under part of the hall was reached through a trap door. A massive fireplace with timber lintel spanned most of the west wall. Around 1700, the West Parlor and West Chamber were added as a free standing structure framed on its own four corner posts. About 1765, the lean-to with the Kitchen and its adjoining rooms were added. The West Parlor was plastered, the summer beam and chimney girt were sheathed, and the paneling formerly on the plastered walls was reused in the lean-to. New paneling, with four flute pilasters was added on the fireplace wall.
Today the house is a historic house museum operated by the East Lyme Historical Society, and furnished as it would have been in the 18th century.