warner house

A visit to this house is a step back in time! The Warner House offers walk-in, guided tours exploring different periods of family occupancy room by room. Jeff our guide was well informed about the families who lived there over the years. Rooms had been decorated and furnished with some items returned from descendants of the original families who lived there. The murals have been maintained well considering their age. They tell stories as you climb the stairs they line.

Felt unwelcome from the moment we walked in. The tour guide obviously wasn't very happy about giving a tour for just two people, but we paid the same amount as anyone. The tour was pretty lame, unfortunately. Some antique furniture, but only a very few original to the house. Hardly any information about the sparsely furnished rooms. The only thing said about one room that contained an armoire was something to the effect of, "That piece was made in Maine." Then silence. We tried to squeeze info out of our guide by prompting with a lot of questions, but it got tiresome. We've been on some really cool and informative house tours around the country. Truly, the outside of this house is way more interesting than the tour. Oh well.

The building is great but the interior is pretty drab and could be enlivened relatively easily. There are only a few rooms and the items on display seemed less numerous than at my last visit. The murals are a bit of a letdown.

Our guide was Jeff and he was very accommodating and knowledgable. He gave us a colorful history of the original owners and was able to explain why various rooms, items, colors, etc...were as they were. He showed us several behind-scenes spaces which are not generally on public view. This made it much more interesting for my teenaged kids. We got a very good feeling for what life was like in the early 18th century in Portsmouth. This house is well worth a visit, especially in combination with Strawberry Banke. (See separate review). Most of the furnishings are original to Warren House, which is very unusual. At Strawberry Banke, which is also very good in a different way, most furnishings are not original to the homes. Both sites complement each other well. The admission price is very modest and we felt it was good value. Worth a detour for the crushed cobalt walls and the wonderful mural covering the staircase walls. Great place.

The tours are guided and the guides give a good presentation of the history of the place. Photos are allowed. The history covers the story of a family who occupied the home for almost 300 years and six generations. There are wall murals, family portraits, and furnishings which date back centuries. We found the tour very interesting.

My tour was really interesting. The antique furniture and paintings in this house are very well maintained. There are also fantastic wall murals showing the chiefs who went to London. Many of the houses in Portsmouth were impressive but this was my favourite.

Many historic houses are furnished with similar pieces to the ones the original inhabitants owned or with modern facsimiles. This house had the genuine articles passed down by the family over generations. Most interesting to me were the 200+ year old wall murals, the original floors, the paint with ground glass (to reflect light), the tiles around the fireplaces and a few really exceptional pieces of furniture.

This is one of the architectural gems of Portsmouth. The interior is beautifully furnished and the docents do a good job with the tours.

This is one of a number of colonial mansions in Portsmouth that is open for tours. When you are in it you feel like you are back in history 300 years ago. Many of the original furniture and artifacts have been returned to the home including a number of interesting desks. There are rooms where the original planks in the floor are a foot and a half wide. Also of interest is a lightning rod that Benjamin Franklin installed on the house in the 1760s. An interesting historic tour.

I was nicely greated when I arrived but it's the end of the season but I enjoyed seeing the rooms and reading about John Paul Jones and also to see the samplers stitched by young girls 7 to 20.