When you get to the corner of Green and Harris Streets, look at the first house on the left side of Harris Street - No. 16 Harris Street - a yellow house. It is an attractive example of the many simple Greek Revival houses built in Newburyport from 1830 to 1850. After the war of 1812, money was harder to come by, and many people abandoned the more pretentious Federal style mansions, which were expensive to heat and maintain, for the somewhat smaller Greek Revival style. These houses were modeled on the Greek temple, with the pediment (gable end) facing the street. The pilasters on the corners imitate columns, and the flat-matched boards on the face of the building are intended to resemble stone. Note the classically-framed doorway with five wreaths in the frieze (ornamental band).

The first house in the next block of Green Street, no. 39 Green Street, is a good example of a brick federal house built in the early 1880s. It has very little ornamentation, other than the attractive fan and side lights on the doorway. This is a Federal innovation, which lets more light into the center hall. A common feature in Newburyport brick houses, sandstone lintels, appears above the windows, emphasizing the use of natural materials.

Compare this house with No. 32 Green Street across the way. The latter, built in 1782, is more elaborate, carrying on the late Georgian tradition, which is transitional to federal architecture. The horizontal molding between the first and second floors and the second and third floors are called string courses, and indicate the position of floor joists. Look also just above the foundation at the molded brick water table, designed to throw off rainwater.

The tour continues at the head of Green Street, which is almost directly across from the Superior Courthouse. Green Street was laid out in 1781 roughly along the dividing line between the original land grants, with each landholder conveying enough land to create a way four rods wide. The first house on your right was built by James Potter, a cabinetmaker, in 1806. The James Potter House is a typical Newburyport Federal period house. The Federal period extends from a late 18th century, when the Federal Constitution was ratified and George Washington was inaugurated, to the early part of the 19th century. Shipping and its related industries flourished during that time providing the investment capital with which to build great "square houses". The finest in materials and craftsmanship were employed in these houses. Note, for example, the unusual beehive moldings over the windows, so called because the small cone-shaped indentations under the cornice look a little like beehives.