Heritage House Program
The Heritage House Program (HHP) is a cultural, community, and economic initiative to restore and lease underutilized properties at Strawbery Banke Museum in the historic center of downtown Portsmouth, New Hampshire.
The Heritage House Program combines two of Strawbery Banke’s unique assets:
- Historic houses in poor condition at an exceptional location.
- The extraordinary level of goodwill that exists towards the museum.
The program creates a virtual endowment fund to support the long-term cultural and community programs that this iconic institution provides to the New England region.
Artifacts from Walsh House. Heirloom seeds from the site.
For a brief video on the Heritage House Program as one of several Portsmouth initiatives funded by the NH Land and Community Heritage Investment Program, click here.
For the NPR "All Things Considered" story, click here.
The program has three inter-related objectives:
- To restore the exteriors of these historic houses to their original period condition so that they can assume their rightful position as an integral part of the museum.
- To provide attractive office and residential space for rent at this unique location in downtown Portsmouth. The program will add approximately twenty-five new tenants, bringing back the bustle of a village that has existed on this site since earliest times.
- To generate ongoing market rental income that will be available to maintain the houses in good condition and generate a revenue surplus to support educational and other programs and initiatives at the Museum.
The Program covers 15 buildings on the Strawbery Banke campus. Phase 3 is now underway. For "before" and "after" images and descriptions of HHP project houses, click here.
This project is supported by donations and in-kind contributions, including the NH Land and Community Heritage Investment Program (LCHIP) and received the 2016 Elizabeth Durfee Hengen Award from the NH Preservation Alliance.
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