Master mariner's home renewed

By KATHY SHARP FRISBEE
Dennisport house includes barn used as rental

Six generations of one family have cherished this Gothic Revival home in Dennisport, built in 1880 by master mariner Martin E. Thompson.

Five years ago, the home was passed on to Matthew Weekes White, Thompson's great-great-grandson. An architect, designer and landscape architect, White has freshened, updated and preserved the home and site's old glory and timeless charm.

There are bay windows with paneled wainscoting, paneled corner posts, a fretwork-trimmed front porch and an Ambrose front gable. Double front doors open to a center hall and a staircase with the original turned mahogany newel post.

Cream-painted pine floors and walls of tan, green, yellow and blue give period rooms a modern look. French doors open from the bay-windowed living room to a first-floor bedroom.

The bay-windowed dining room has a hand-painted Victorian chandelier. Canvas white colors the kitchen's appliances, new paneled cabinets with crown moldings, a bay-windowed breakfast area and an atrium door to two back porches.

Below the walk-in pantry is a circular brick basement. New insulated period windows brighten main rooms, bedrooms, the new second floor bathroom, and even the original two-holer outhouse that is now a garden shed.

The flex-design vintage barn has been used as a one-bedroom, one bathroom summer rental with open rafter walls and wood floors for $2,200 a week. The largest and last of great elms in Dennis shades the front lawn near ancestral gardens, the old horse hitching post and acorn-post fencing.

The selection for Cape House Hunt is made by Kathy Sharp Frisbee and does not imply any endorsement or warranty on the part of the Cape Cod Times. Suggestions and photos must be sent to Cape House Hunt, c/o Business Editor, Cape Cod Times, 319 Main St., Hyannis, MA 02601. If you have questions, e-mail kshrpfrs@gis.net.

(Copyright © Cape Cod Times. All rights reserved.)

Published February 7, 2010