The architectural framework in this gallery has been assembled from the second-floor framing of a house built in Ipswich about 1692. According to land deeds, the first house on the property stood as early as 1672. William Stewart, a merchant, bought the house and converted it into a two-story, central-chimney structure. In later generations, the building was used as an almshouse and a shoe factory.

When the house was razed, in 1925, the timber frame was removed and installed at the Museum. Here, the frame has been reinstalled as a freestanding, joined frame without the plaster walls and reproduction windows added to the 1928 installation. In the original house, this space was divided into at least two rooms separated by a stairhall, with interior walls located between the third and fourth bays.

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