Sea captain Zachariah Allen commissioned this elaborate if somewhat charmingly provincial house of his carpenter brother for a conspicuous site. The entry is especially ambitious, with its Ionic pilasters and pediment, set against a rusticated panel (its projection as a vestibule probably later). Somewhat crude lintel rustication and keystones over the groundfloor windows and quoining enlarge the display. The erratic placement of the central upstairs window may be a later alteration; but the off-center chimney and (most interesting) the belated “medievalism” of a rare projecting eave over a side elevation with more windows out of alignment also dilute the sophistication elsewhere. The famous early-nineteenth-century industrialist of the same name was raised in this house.