Spring House Hunt

Home of the Week: For $824,900, the antique home of a Marblehead mariner

The home has four bedrooms and three full baths. It sits in the center of Old Town. See this and more listings at realestate.boston.com.

By John Ellement

April 18, 2019

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4 State St., Marblehead

$824,900
Style: Colonial
Year built: 1795
Square feet: 2,254
Bedrooms: 4
Baths: 4 full
Sewer/water: Public
Taxes: $7,442 (2019)

George Washington was in his second term as president when Benoice Johnson took hammer, nails, and planks of wood and built a mariner this three-story house, apparently the only one ever built by the cabinetmaker originally from Roxbury.

It has been renovated, of course, but the planked pine floors that Johnson installed for John Adams — not the man who was Washington’s vice president and later would become president himself — 224 years ago remains in the living and dining rooms and the master suite, protected by a shiny 21st-century sealant.

The door on the left side of the house, next to the single-car driveway, opens into the kitchen, which illustrates how Johnson’s handiwork persists and can coexist. On one side of the space sits a stainless-steel gas range, and across the room, there is the original expansive brick fireplace. In between is an island with seating for four topped with granite. The solid-wood cabinets are painted an off-white, and the backsplash is gray and white glass tile. The flooring is a wide-planked pine. The kitchen also comes with recessed lighting and a butler’s pantry with a butcher-block top, a sink, and glass shelving.

Off the hallway that connects to the rest of the house are two doors: one to a shower-only bath with a ceramic tile floor, a wood vanity painted white, and a quartz sink; the second to a yard covered with pea stone.

The hallway ends in the dining room, where the flooring is original to the home and so is the red-brick fireplace and wood mantel. An updated but period-specific chandelier hangs in the center of the room. The space also features wainscot, thin crown molding, and wood shutters over six-over-six windows.

The living room is on the other side of the front entryway. It is focused on an inset fireplace, the primary source of heat in the house for decades. To the right of the fireplace sits a column of built-in shelves.

The main staircase in the front of the house is serpentine. There are two bedrooms with modern en-suite baths on the second floor.

The master suite comprises three rooms. The living room-sized sitting room has a fireplace and three windows. Two doors lead to the carpeted bedroom, which offers exposed beams and a vaulted ceiling. The bath has a shower, a wood floor, and a vanity with a granite counter and a wood cabinet in a natural stain.

The second suite comes with two closets, one of which is a walk-in with a window. The adjoining bath features a tub/shower combo with a subway tile and glass surround, as well as a porcelain tile floor and a single wood vanity.

A narrow set of carpeted stairs leads to the third floor, where there are two bedrooms, each with a skylight. They share a shower-only bath with a wood floor and a single wood vanity with a quartz counter.

The laundry setup is in the basement.

The home sits on 0.05 of an acre.

Dick McKinley and Matt Dolan of Sagan Harborside Sotheby’s International Realty are the listing agents. As of press time, an offer had been accepted on this property.

See more photos of the home below:

4 state street, marblehead

Follow John R. Ellement on Twitter @JREbosglobe. Send listings to [email protected]. Please note: We do not feature unfurnished homes and will not respond to submissions we won’t pursue. Subscribe to our newsletter at pages.email.bostonglobe.com/AddressSignUp.