Hadwen House
Located
at 96 Main Street, The Hadwen House is a Greek Revival mansion built in 1845 by
whaling merchant and silver retailer William
Hadwen.
Hadwen purchased the property on the corner of Pleasant and Main in 1844, and commissioned local builder Frederick Brown Coleman, "an artisan who specialized in intricate carvings and designs for pillars," to construct the two-and-a-half storied clapboard house with a five-bayed façade, colossal pilasters, and a pedimented ionic portico.
The building and its twin Greek Revival mansion at 94 Main Street were the most
ostentatious private dwellings the island had ever seen, and a symbol of the wealth
and prosperity of the island's leading citizens.
The first floor parlors display the opulent furnishings and grand lifestyle that
had come to replace the island's once dominant sober Quaker aesthetic. The imposing
structure was donated to the Nantucket Historical Association in 1965 by Jean
Satler Williams.
Visitors are also invited to enjoy the ground's Victorian gardens, which are carefully maintained by the Nantucket Garden Club.
