20 Harnden StreetThe Elms — the Henry Harnden House
A Colonial of 1795 on eight-tenths of an acre beside Silver Lake in Wilmington, Massachusetts, brought back over a multi-year rehabilitation. Seven bedrooms, six full baths, eight fireplaces.
Figures as reported on the MLS listing. Square footage is above-grade living area and excludes the unfinished basement. Buyers should verify all measurements, systems and permit history independently.
A large early Colonial, comprehensively rebuilt
Twenty Harnden Street is one of the larger early houses still standing in Wilmington, and for most of the last century it has been known locally as The Elms. It sits on roughly eight-tenths of an acre a short walk from Silver Lake, with eight parking spaces, public water and public sewer.
The house has come through a full rehabilitation: electrical, plumbing, heating and hot water renewed, Carrier equipment installed across multiple heating and cooling zones, chimneys rebuilt, roughly fifty-eight windows replaced, the exterior stripped and refinished, and the interior taken back to finished condition throughout.
Inside there are hardwood floors, eight fireplaces, and a covered porch off the main rooms. The kitchen is new, built around Bertazzoni appliances with a six-burner double-oven range, dual sinks and extensive cabinetry. A rear patio and mature landscaping complete the site. A walk-up attic offers further space; the basement is unfinished and excluded from the stated living area.
The result is a house that reads as its age from the street and as a current house once you are inside it — which is the trade that makes a building of this size liveable rather than a project.
The house today
Finished photography of the exterior, the principal rooms and the architectural detail. Captions and credits are added with the images.
Property tour
Jeffrey walks the house and grounds. A longer historical film is planned separately.
The transformation
Four moments in the life of the house, in sequence. Historic images are reproduced as found; the originals are archived unaltered.
The Elms
One of five surviving photographs, showing the house when the elms it was named for still stood.
A house in decline
Condition at acquisition, photographed before any work began.
Rehabilitation
Stripping the exterior back to bare clapboard.
The Elms today
The finished house, in red clapboard with black trim.
Two centuries on Harnden Street
The house carries the name of the Harnden family and, for a long stretch of the twentieth century, the name The Elms. A fuller account is being researched and will be published here.
The MLS records a construction date of 1795. The best-known published account of the house — a 2011 local-history piece in the Wilmington Patch — instead puts it in the early 1800s, possibly around 1827, and says plainly that the exact date is unknown. Both cannot be right, and the gap is wide enough to matter. We are publishing the conflict rather than picking the flattering number, and the reconciliation against deeds, town records and the Massachusetts Historical Commission file is part of the work.
The Harnden name is old in this town. Henry Harnden farmed here and ran the mill on the property before the Civil War. He went on to serve as a lieutenant colonel of cavalry, and the pursuit he led is the one that ended with the capture of Jefferson Davis in May 1865. The Harnden name sits elsewhere in Wilmington too: the 1770 Harnden Tavern on Salem Street, listed on the National Register of Historic Places, is today the Wilmington Town Museum.
The mill land passed to the Union Ice Company of Boston around 1880. In 1904 Christian and Kristine Neilson bought the property — then some twenty-seven acres, running as far as what is now the Town Hall — and brought with them a business they had already been running on Chestnut Street: taking in summer boarders. The Elms is the name that business gave the house. At its height it ran as a sixteen-room house with eight fireplaces, with an eight-room overflow house alongside it. Their daughter, Mrs. Robert Carter, took the business over around 1921. Among the guests over the years was Thomas P. “Tip” O’Neill, later Speaker of the United States House of Representatives.
What followed was a long decline, and then a rehabilitation extensive enough to touch nearly every system in the building. That work involved real choices — a modern window package rather than custom historic reproductions, and a red exterior with black trim — which are set out plainly in the scope of work below rather than smoothed over. This is a rehabilitation, not a museum restoration, and the difference is worth stating.
A longer feature, Saving The Elms, is in preparation. It will carry the full ownership chronology, the Harnden and Neilson records, and a sourced account of what was saved and what was changed.
The five surviving photographs
Reproduced as found. Provenance and dating are being established; the originals are archived unaltered.
What was done to the house
The rehabilitation covered structure, systems, envelope and finishes. The list below is as reported by the owner; a documented ledger with permits, dates and contractors is being assembled and will replace it.
- Electrical service and distribution
- Plumbing
- Heating and hot water
- Carrier HVAC equipment
- Multiple heating and cooling zones
- Basement mechanical systems
- Attic mechanical systems
- Insulation
- Chimney rebuilding and repair
- Fireplace work
- Approximately 58 replacement windows
- Exterior paint stripping
- Clapboard and siding
- Trim and exterior carpentry
- Exterior refinishing
- Porches
- Roofing
- Interior painting throughout
- Refinished wood floors
- Custom kitchen
- Professional-grade appliances
- Six full bathrooms
- Driveway
- Walkways
- Landscaping
- Structural and building work as documented
This work is described as a rehabilitation rather than a historic restoration. The window package is modern rather than custom historic reproduction, and the exterior colour is a present-day choice. Both are noted here deliberately. Permit records, invoices and dates are being compiled and will be made available to serious buyers on request.
Silver Lake and the town around it
Wilmington sits roughly twenty miles north of Boston, where two commuter rail lines and two interstates meet. The Silver Lake neighbourhood is its oldest residential pocket, and 20 Harnden Street is a short walk from the water.
Silver Lake
A spring-fed pond with a town beach, and the reason this corner of Wilmington developed when it did. The streets around it were laid out for summer people before they were year-round homes — which is how a boarding house as large as The Elms came to be here at all.
Getting to Boston
Wilmington is served by the MBTA Lowell line, with North Station reachable by train, and sits close to Interstates 93 and 95.
The town
About twenty-three thousand people, with its own schools, the Wilmington Memorial Library, and a town museum in the 1770 Harnden Tavern on Salem Street — one of several National Register properties in a town that takes its history seriously.
Commute times, school assignment and district information change and are not warranted here. Buyers should confirm current schedules with the MBTA and current assignment with Wilmington Public Schools.
About the house
The questions buyers and local historians ask most often, answered as precisely as the record currently allows.
When was 20 Harnden Street in Wilmington built?
The MLS lists 1795. A 2011 local-history account puts it in the early 1800s, possibly around 1827, and states that the exact date is unknown. We publish both rather than choosing one; the construction date is still being reconciled against deeds, town records and the Massachusetts Historical Commission file.
Why is the house called The Elms?
The name comes from its years as a summer boarding house. Christian and Kristine Neilson bought the property in 1904 and ran it as The Elms — a sixteen-room house with eight fireplaces, plus an eight-room overflow house alongside. Their daughter took the business on around 1921.
Who was Henry Harnden?
Henry Harnden farmed the land and ran the mill on this property before the Civil War. He served as a lieutenant colonel of cavalry, and the pursuit he led is the one that ended with the capture of Jefferson Davis in May 1865. The house is still known locally as the Henry Harnden House.
Is The Elms a protected or designated historic property?
That is still being verified. The house is historically documented and locally well known, but what formal designation or restriction applies — if any — is part of the research in progress, and buyers should confirm it independently with the Wilmington Historical Commission and the Massachusetts Historical Commission.
How large is the house and the lot?
The MLS reports 4,220 square feet of above-grade living area — seven bedrooms, six full bathrooms and eight fireplaces — on approximately eight-tenths of an acre, with eight parking spaces, public water and public sewer. The unfinished basement is excluded from the stated living area, and there is a walk-up attic.
Was the house restored or rehabilitated?
Rehabilitated. The work covered electrical, plumbing, heating and hot water, HVAC across multiple zones, chimneys, roughly fifty-eight replacement windows, exterior stripping and refinishing, roofing, floors, a new kitchen and six bathrooms. The windows are modern units rather than custom historic reproductions, and the red exterior is a present-day choice. Calling it a museum restoration would overstate it.
Where is the house in relation to Silver Lake and Boston?
It is a short walk from Silver Lake, in the oldest residential part of Wilmington, Massachusetts. Wilmington is roughly twenty miles north of Boston and is served by the MBTA Lowell commuter rail line, close to Interstates 93 and 95.
Floor plans
Every level as measured. Tap any sheet to enlarge it. A combined PDF and the improvements ledger follow.
Arrange a private viewing
The house is on the market. Private showings are by appointment — call or text Jeffrey, or send the form and he will come back to you with times.
- Status
- For sale
- Listed
- September 28, 2026
- Private showings
- By appointment
- Open houses held
- October 3 & 4, 2026
- MLS
- #73579413
Or reach Jeffrey directly — call 781-201-9488, send a text, or email jeff@jeffreybowen.com.
Jeffrey Bowen
Jeffrey Bowen is a broker associate with ERealty Advisors and leads The Bowen Realty Group out of 90 Canal St. 4th floor in Boston. He has been licensed in Massachusetts since 2001 and has sold more than 750 properties across Greater Boston in that time.
Distinctive and historic properties ask for more than a listing sheet: documentation, photography, film, and a story told accurately enough that it holds up to scrutiny. That is the standard being applied to The Elms, and it is available to any owner of a property that warrants it.