Gore Place is a historic country house located at 52 Gore Street, Waltham, Massachusetts

Waltham, Massachusetts

Waltham is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States, was an early center for the labor movement, and major contributor to the American Industrial Revolution. The original home of the Boston Manufacturing Company, the city was a prototype for 19th century industrial city planning,...

. It is owned and operated by the nonprofit Gore Place Society. The 45 acres (182,108.7 m²) estate is open to the public daily without charge; an admission fee is charged for house tours. A number of special events are held throughout the year including an annual sheepshearing festival and a summer concert series.

The mansion was built in 1806 as a summer home for Massachusetts

Massachusetts

The Commonwealth of Massachusetts is a state in the New England region of the northeastern United States of America. It is bordered by Rhode Island and Connecticut to the south, New York to the west, and Vermont and New Hampshire to the north; at its east lies the Atlantic Ocean. As of the 2010...

 lawyer and politician Christopher Gore

Christopher Gore

Christopher Gore was a prominent Massachusetts lawyer, Federalist politician, and diplomat.-Biography:Gore was born in Boston in 1758, the tenth of thirteen children of Frances and John Gore, a successful merchant and artisan...

. In this house the Gores entertained various notables including the Marquis de Lafayette, Daniel Webster

Daniel Webster

Daniel Webster was a leading American statesman and senator from Massachusetts during the period leading up to the Civil War. He first rose to regional prominence through his defense of New England shipping interests...

, and James Monroe

James Monroe

James Monroe was the fifth President of the United States . Monroe was the last president who was a Founding Father of the United States, and the last president from the Virginia dynasty and the Republican Generation...

.

The dowry from Gore's 1785 wedding to Rebecca Amory Payne helped pay for their first purchase of Waltham land. They gradually enlarged their holdings to 400 acres (1.6 km²). In 1793 the Gores built a wooden mansion to replace an earlier farmhouse on the site. A large carriage house built at the same time remains to this day.

In 1796 President George Washington

George Washington

George Washington was the dominant military and political leader of the new United States of America from 1775 to 1799. He led the American victory over Great Britain in the American Revolutionary War as commander-in-chief of the Continental Army from 1775 to 1783, and presided over the writing of...

 appointed Gore to a diplomatic position in England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, where the Gores lived for eight years. In 1799, their wooden mansion burned down, and they began to plan a new mansion for the site. The Gores had visited many country homes in England and traveled through France

France

The French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...

, Belgium

Belgium

Belgium , officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a federal state in Western Europe. It is a founding member of the European Union and hosts the EU's headquarters, and those of several other major international organisations such as NATO.Belgium is also a member of, or affiliated to, many...

, and the Netherlands

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

. The work of Sir John Soane

John Soane

Sir John Soane, RA was an English architect who specialised in the Neo-Classical style. His architectural works are distinguished by their clean lines, massing of simple form, decisive detailing, careful proportions and skilful use of light sources...

 probably influenced the new mansion's design, although a Parisian architect, Jacques-Guillaume Legrand, is said to have assisted Mrs. Gore in drawing up the final plans. The Gores returned to Massachusetts in 1804 and work on the new brick mansion commenced in 1805. Construction costs totaled just under $24,000.

The house design consists of a large, central block with two long and low symmetrical wings. A bowed facade faces south onto the house's lawn, with entryway at the north face. The bowed front may have been inspired by a visit by the Gores to the White House

White House

The White House is the official residence and principal workplace of the president of the United States. Located at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue NW in Washington, D.C., the house was designed by Irish-born James Hoban, and built between 1792 and 1800 of white-painted Aquia sandstone in the Neoclassical...

 during the administration of John Adams

John Adams

John Adams was an American lawyer, statesman, diplomat and political theorist. A leading champion of independence in 1776, he was the second President of the United States...

. Inside the house features an interplay of geometrical shapes, including oval parlors with restrained neoclassical ornamentation. At the center are its principal rooms, including the Great Hall, oval drawing room, and parlor, all built with high ceilings (15 feet 2 inches) and tall windows. The bed chambers and a family sitting room, on the floor above, have much lower ceilings but offer excellent views of the grounds.

The gardens and grounds appear influenced by the work of Sir Humphry Repton

Humphry Repton

Humphry Repton was the last great English landscape designer of the eighteenth century, often regarded as the successor to Capability Brown; he also sowed the seeds of the more intricate and eclectic styles of the 19th century...

, an English landscape architect

Landscape architect

A landscape architect is a person involved in the planning, design and sometimes direction of a landscape, garden, or distinct space. The professional practice is known as landscape architecture....

then at the height of his popularity. Repton advocated broad lawns, open fields, ponds, clumps of trees, and inconspicuous gardens. Gore was keenly interested in agriculture, and cultivated various fruits, vegetables, and grain on the estate.