Lane, Fitz Henry (formerly known as Fitz Hugh), House
Listed on the National Register of Historic Places in
1970. A historic map-sheet match is not published yet. The record needs a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
From the record
“The Fitz Henry Lane House is a historic house at 8 Harbor Loop Road, on the harbor side of Rogers Street in Gloucester, Massachusetts. The three-story stone Gothic Revival building was designed and built in 1849 by the artist Fitz Henry Lane, and was his home until his death in 1865.”
Wikipedia article Fitz Henry Lane House, CC BY-SA 4.0.
one of 350 National Register listings in Essex County · listed in 1970 · category: Building · one of 2 National Historic Landmarks in Essex County.
National Register reference number.70000837- the number the National Park Service assigned this property when it was listed, and the key its nomination file is catalogued under at the National Archives.
Fires near this property
24 since 2015
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The
federal wildfire occurrence database
lists 24 fires within 5 miles of Lane, Fitz Henry (formerly known as Fitz Hugh), House between
2015 and 2020, burning about 19 acres in total. None started naturally. 5 were recorded as arson.
Distance is straight-line from the map coordinates, so a fire counted
here may appear on a neighbouring settlement's page as well.
Reported cause
Fires
Recreation and ceremony
10
Arson/incendiarism
5
Smoking
4
Debris and open burning
3
Misuse of fire by a minor
1
Equipment and vehicle use
1
The most recent of
them, most recent first, with the day each was reported and the service
that recorded it.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. Museums hold 5,064 specimens
collected within 10 miles of Lane, Fitz Henry (formerly known as Fitz Hugh), House between 1817 and
1975: 2,086 Animalia, 1,324 Plantae, 1,035 Fungi, 326 Chromista, 182 Unrecorded, 91 Protozoa, 20 Bacteria. 12 distinct Species records are shown.
Collected by A H HIGGINSON, A Perlmutter, A. A. Eaton and others. Each is a
physical object with a catalogue
number, and each entry opens the museum's record. This is what was
collected and kept, not a survey of what lives here - nothing can be
concluded from a species being absent.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The federal mineral resources record lists
6 workings within 5 miles of Lane, Fitz Henry (formerly known as Fitz Hugh), House: 6 past producers.
None of them still produces. What was taken out: Sand and Gravel, Construction, Granite. Distance is straight-line from the
map coordinates, so a quarry counted here may appear on a neighbouring
settlement's page as well.
Regional context, not property-specific
evidence. The National Weather Service names
Gloucester, the town this property stands in, in 10 storm reports between 1997 and 2020: 6 thunderstorm wind, 2 lightning, 1 heavy rain, 1 flood.
No death or injury is recorded in these reports. Each account below is quoted exactly as the forecast office
filed it, from the NOAA Storm Events Database, and each date
opens the federal record of that event.
No historic map-sheet match is published
for this property yet. That does not mean no map exists. This record needs
a coordinate-quality review before it can be joined to a sheet boundary.
Browse the county's mapped places while that work is
pending.
From the nomination file
2,565 words on record
When this property was proposed for the
National Register, someone wrote the case for it: what the building is,
and why it matters. That document is a federal record in the public domain.
It is quoted below word for word, never summarised. The text was read off the scanned case file by machine, so the
occasional stray character is the recogniser's and the 1970s
typewriter's.
Description of the property
Situated in a park on a rise which commands one of the finest views of the harbor, the three story Fitz Hugh Lane House, built 1849-50, is both forbidding and romantic in appearance. The various sized handcut stone blocks, massive granite jambs and lintels of the numerous windows create a horizontal effect subordinate to the strong vertical emphasis produced by the situation of the house, its height and the seven steeply pitched, irregularly placed gables. The gable timbers rest solidly on simple and massive brackets. Externally the Gothic Revival elements of the house are revealed by the gables and vertical emphasis, while internally four celled Gothic vaults cover the chambers and stairwell of the upper floor.
The setting of the house is now starkly dramatic and suitable to the rocks of Cape Ann, although according to one 'source, during Lane's lite gardens, noted for the beauty of the flowers and quality of the fruits, terraced down to the water. Repairs are needed to t he foundation to make the building structurally sound. Restoration of the exterior, and to the interior including balustrades, mouldings and fireplace mantels are necessary. Site improvements necessary to restore the historic character and usefulness of the property are considered. pic lu e E =1/ -s Hrg OII NE INHC .2301 INSTRUCTIONS SNOILONY NI 8.
Statement of significance
(Include Personages, Dates, Events, Etc.) Fitz Hugh Lane is considered today the first native marine painter of real stature. He was born in Gloucester in 1804, and although he lived in Boston for a period, he returned to Gloucester permanently in 1848. He and his brother-in-law, Ignatius Winters built this house, in which Lane lived until his death in 1865. His artistic training began in the early 1830's when he moved from Gloucester to Boston to become an apprentice to William Pendleton. By 1845, Lane and the marine painter, J.S.A. Scot had formed a lithographic business which was active until after 1847. Lane made a significant contribution not only to American painting, but to history.
His best marine paintings are among the most valued works of the period, and his accurate and detailed portrayals of vessels and landscapes are significant records of this important era, as are his historical accounts of naval engagements. Although he is known for his oils of marine scenes, ship portraits and shoreline views, Lane also produced a few portraits, and landscapes. The subject matter of his lithographs range from commercial material to book illustrations and topo- graphical depictions, particularly of the New England coast. His paintings can be found in the Karolik Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston; the Shelburne Museum, Shelburne, Vermont; and the Cape Ann Scientific, Literary and Historical Association, Gloucester, Mass.
The Fitz Hugh Lane House was certified a Massachusetts Historic Landmark on April 24, 1969.
Quoted from the National Register nomination
for reference 70000837, 15 pages, held by the National Archives in Record
Group 79. See the
catalogue record.
Listed places nearby
6 within 8 miles
Other National Register properties close
enough to walk or drive between, ordered by distance from this one. Both
positions come from the same geocoding pass that matched these properties
to their map sheets.
Listing record. National Park Service National Register of Historic Places, listed-properties dataset, current to 2026-05-22.
Map join. Address geocoded through the United States Census geocoder, then tested against the published boundary of every sheet in the USGS Historical Topographic Map Collection.
How this page is made. Listing fields come from federal records; map-sheet coverage is a labelled coordinate-to-boundary calculation, not a source-field claim.
Wildfire. Short, Karen C. 2022. Spatial wildfire occurrence data for the United States, 1992-2020 [FPA_FOD_20221014]. 6th Edition. Fort Collins, CO: Forest Service Research Data Archive. https://doi.org/10.2737/RDS-2013-0009.6 Collected with United States Government funding and usable without additional permissions or fees.
Specimens. Global Biodiversity Information Facility (GBIF), https://www.gbif.org/. Only records licensed CC0 or CC BY are used. Records licensed CC BY-NC are excluded because this site carries advertising. Images are checked individually and any whose licence is non-commercial, no-derivatives or unreadable is refused.
Mines and quarries. USGS Mineral Resources Data System (MRDS) https://mrdata.usgs.gov/mrds/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105.
Storms. NOAA National Centers for Environmental Information, Storm Events Database https://www.ncei.noaa.gov/stormevents/ A work of the United States government, no copyright under 17 U.S.C. 105. Narratives are quoted verbatim from the National Weather Service report and are not edited or summarised.
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