Percy Browne House Updates

November 2025 Update:

Marion’s Percy Browne House named to 2025 MA Most Endangered Properties List

Preservation Massachusetts has named 10 historic properties, including the Percy Browne House in Marion, to the 2025 Most Endangered Historic Resources List. Selections from across the Commonwealth were announced in October, 2025 at the Lyman Estate in Waltham.

Since 1993, the Massachusetts’ Most Endangered Historic Resources Program has been key in identifying endangered historic resources from across the Commonwealth and discovering ways in which to work collaboratively with partners toward positive preservation outcomes.

This year’s list was chosen by a committee from nominations submitted by groups and individuals concerned with local preservation issues. Submissions are researched and judged by several criteria, including their historic significance, the extent of the threat, and the community’s commitment to preserving the resource.

The Percy Browne House at 192 Front Street sits on a hilly ridge overlooking Sippican Harbor. Designed by architect Henry Hobson Richardson, with 1903 additions possibly by Charles Allerton Coolidge, the house was built for Richarson’s friend, the Rev. Percy Browne.

As described in the Awards Announcement, “The Percy Browne House is regarded by many architectural historians as the prototype of the Shingle Style in America, influencing countless later examples throughout New England and beyond. Its design anticipated ideas later refined by Richardson’s associate Stanford White… The house also reflects Marion’s late 19th century associations with national intellectual life—President Grover Cleveland, a friend of Percy Browne, summered here, as did Trinity Church Rector Phillip Brooks.”

Positioned on the campus of Tabor Academy, the house was last used for faculty housing until 2010. Since then, it has been vacant. Demolition was briefly considered in 2019, causing a national outcry among preservationists and much local objection as well, led by the Marion Historical Commission. The Commission has been working with Tabor to find solutions that both protect this unique innovative example of the Shingle Style and also serve Tabor’s needs for current and future programming and growth.

Tabor Academy acknowledges the significance of the property. Earlier this year they commissioned a campus masterplan by Sasaki of Boston. They have also just recently retained Saltonstall Architects to conduct a feasibility study to explore best future uses of the property, per Sasaki’s recommendation.

“We are hopeful that this designation will send a note of urgency to the community. We all have a responsibility to save this little gem and insure it survives as the hidden treasure that it is,” noted Meg Steinberg, chair of the Marion Historical Commission. “The Historical Commission looks forward to collaborating with Tabor to find a dynamic new use for this unique property.”


March 2025 Update on Status

A conversation in July, 2024 indicated that Tabor Academy was considering sale of the historic H. H. Richardson-designed property to an outside party for renovation and/or resale. The Historical Commission indicated its support of the concept, with the condition that a preservation restriction be a part of the sale as a means to insure the building’s long-term survival.

The Historical Commission offered to assist Tabor in advertising to appropriate preservation-related audiences, and also provided information on funding sources for conducting a reuse feasibility study.

We identified several local parties potentially interested in taking on the project. In February of 2025, one of these developers provided a detailed preservation/development proposal to the Tabor Board of Trustees.

Much to the Commission’s dismay, the proposal was turned down. A subsequent meeting with Head of School Tony Jaccaci and CFO James Bonsey was requested. We were told that the Board had shifted gears and would now be considering reuse of the historic Percy Browne House. Sasaki Architects of Boston is preparing a masterplan for the campus and will make its recommendations as to the best reuse option for the property.

Meanwhile the building continues to sit vacant and neglected and we fear that its condition worsens with every passing day.

black & white image of large house on a hill on the left and on the right the same house view from r


February 2024 Update

Members of the Historical Commission met in January, 2024 with Head of School Tony Jaccaci and CFO James Bonsey for a productive conversation. We were assured by Mr. Jaccaci that the Tabor community wants to see the building preserved and rehabilitated just as much as the Historical Commission does.

Plans are still uncertain as to what new uses the building might have. A Master Plan for the school will be developed in the next year. This will determine how best to make use of the Percy Browne House.

Hence, the building continues to sit vacant and forlorn. We were informed that Tabor’s Buildings Department continues to check on its weather-tightness to prevent further deterioration of both the exterior and interior fabric until such time as an adaptive use plan can be defined.

May, 2022

The Historical Commission was advised during the fall of 2021 that Tabor Academy would be working with a local architect to evaluate design and programmatic options for adaptive reuse of the Percy Browne House. This was indeed good news.

In May 2022, the Historical Commission was provided an opportunity to meet with the architect and Tabor representatives to tour the building and continue the discussion on possible reuse options. The meeting was productive and all agreed we will continue to work together to explore programmatic options and development opportunities for accomplishing our mutual preservation objectives.

The Percy Browne House was featured in a recent talk by Meg Steinberg for the Marion Arts Center and Sippican Historical Society. The presentation explored the role of Henry Hobson Richardson in Marion's Gilded Age, including how the Percy Browne House influenced many of Marion's later shingle-style summer homes. It also highlighted the influence of the innovative Percy Browne House design on the design development of later Richardson Shingle Style houses of the 1880s.

September, 2021

The Historical Commission reached out to Tabor's new Head of School, Tony Jaccaci, upon his arrival in July. Soon thereafter, we met with him and had a very productive discussion about the building's history and significance in the context of Marion's Resort Era growth.

We are hopeful that our offer to collaborate with Tabor will produce a renovation plan that is both economically feasible and functionally integrated with Tabor's long-range plans. We discussed the opportunity to co-host a public lecture about the property to generate local interest and awareness. We encouraged Tabor to proceed with a reuse feasibility study. We will await further action until Mr. Jaccaci and the Board of Trustees have determined how they wish to proceed.

December 2020

The Historical Commission reached out to Tabor Academy recently and we were provided with the following response:

Tabor has postponed the Percy Brown House project due to COVID-19.

The Historical Commission will plan to offer a public lecture on the building's architectural significance and importance within the catalog of Henry Hobson Richardson's work, at such time as public meetings are again allowed.

March 2020

It is our understanding that Tabor Academy is revising its earlier plan to demolish the Percy Browne House at 192 Front Street and considering multiple options for renovation and repurposing.

The building was built in 1881-1882 and was designed by noted architect Henry Hobson Richardson. It is considered an exceptional example of an early Shingle-style home and a critical element in the canon of Richardson's designs. It has been studied extensively by a number of renowned architectural historians and is consistently praised for its distinctive vocabulary of innovative design elements and use of broad expanses of shingles, from which the style soon earned its name.

Preservation Massachusetts (PM), the state-wide non-profit historic preservation organization dedicated to preserving the Commonwealth's historic and cultural heritage, was invited by Tabor Academy to collaborate and advise on the project. PM has taken on the role of collaborative point person - hearing from and working with a variety of interested parties - and implementing a strategy to connect and engage with the property owner about the potential and future of Richardson's smallest commission. Demolition is off the table for the time being and ongoing work continues in an effort to present realistic options and resources for the property. This collaboration with both the owner and interested/concerned parties has laid the foundation for reaching a positive preservation outcome for this truly historic and hidden gem.