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Survey of
Historic Sites and Buildings

	BASSETT (Richard) HOUSE Delaware
Location: Kent County, 438 State Street, Dover.

In 1804, while retired, Richard Bassett acquired this house at a foreclosure sale, and 5 years later purchased an adjoining lot. He owned both until a few months before his death in 1815. There is no conclusive evidence, however, that he ever lived in the residence and he may have rented it out. The wing, however, which an earlier owner had used as a shop, possibly served as his law office. The structure is the only extant one closely associated with Bassett.

The gable-roofed, brick house, which probably dates from the early 18th century, is in good condition. It consists of a two-story, four-bay main section and a step-down, 1-1/2-story, three-bay wing on the north along the same axis. The one-bay, wooden front porch, which is supported by four Doric columns, has a flat roof and dentiled cornice. Vergeboards, along the ends of both roofs, probably date from the Gothic Revival. Shutters are paneled on the first floor and louvered on the second. A rectangular transom tops the paneled front door of the wing. A one-story, screened porch, covered with a shed-type roof, projects from the rear of the wing.

Bassett House. (National Park Service (Robert C. Post, 1973).)

The first floor of the main section contains a parlor to the south of a central staircase and two smaller rooms to the north. Two additional rooms are in the wing. A private residence, the house is open to the public only during the annual observance of "Dover Days."