2023 Award Winner: Stephen Foster
For restoration and rehabilitation of the Tobias Lear House, Portsmouth
Partners: John Schnitzler | Karen Bouffard | Jo-Anwyl Keefe
The Tobias Lear house, built in the 1730s by Captain Tobias Lear III, was the birthplace of Tobias Lear V, who served as personal secretary to George Washington for over 14 years. Washington himself visited the house to have tea during his 1789 Northern Tour.
The house was sold out of the Lear family in 1861, and acquired in 1917 by antiquarian Wallace Nutting. It was later purchased by William Summer Appleton for the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (now Historic New England) which sold it in 1940 to the local heritage association.
The Lear House and the grander Wentworth Gardner House occupy adjacent lots facing the Piscataqua. After years of maintaining the historic integrity of the house but without sufficient resources to undertake a major rehabilitation, the Wentworth-Lear Historic Houses Association determined to sell the property, subject to strict historic preservation easements, to a private owner willing to bring the house to life.
The buyer was Stephen Foster of Washington, D.C., who acquired the house in August 2019 from the Wentworth-Lear Historic Houses Association and transformed it into a private inn.
“We were repeatedly and pleasantly surprised to find out just how historically intact was this 18th century house, famous for its connection to George Washington. It is gratifying that we can now share the Tobias Lear House, now a private inn, with preservation and history enthusiasts.”
This award recognizes the exceptional quality of work on both the exterior and interior, John Schnitzler’s work deciphering and distinguishing the house’s 1730s origins from its 1760s expansion and 1920s restoration, and the meticulous care taken in all structural work as well as finishes and systems.
Foster and his team generously provided educational outreach and communications with neighbors, the media and a series of videos of the project’s progress. He invited arts, heritage and other groups for tours both in-progress and after completion. Truly a win-win-win for the non-profit former owner, Stephen Foster, and the Lear House itself.