Georgian house built between 1787 and 1798 on land purchased by Thomas Lyman when he settled in Durham in 1710. Features a double-hipped roof, classically proportioned entry porch and one-story ell.

A member of a leading Durham family, Thomas Lyman (1746-1832) was a farmer, merchant, and town selectman. His surviving Day Book documents extensive business interests as well as educational and legal services. The house remained in the Lyman family for nearly 200 years—until the 1950s, when it was bought and restored by two sisters, Lillian Hardy and Mary Winder, for use as a family retreat. Mary Winder’s husband, Frank Winder, was an architect and oversaw the restoration.

Architecturally, the Lyman house is a distinguished Georgian center-hall structure. Its double-hipped roof, classical entry porch, and dormer windows provide a contrast with the more functionally-planned ell. The house sits on a stone-walled platform overlooking a former entry drive, with a small stream and fields beyond. The roof form is rare and imposing, adding to the house’s visual bulk and giving it an appearance of power. Inside, the spacious through-hall plan, comfortably sized rooms, and high ceilings are enhanced by a gracious stair plus elegant paneling, wainscoting, and chair rails in the principal rooms. These have survived almost entirely unchanged, a remarkable legacy.