Come tour this unique, antique, Queen Anne Style Home, built in 1891 by Joseph K. Nye, son of William F. Nye, the founder of Nye Lubricants, Inc. the last surviving American whale oil company - still in existence today! The senior Nye's home, a large, yellow, transitional Federal/ Greek Revival home, originally built by Captain Hawes, sits next door. Joseph K. Nye was head of the Fairhaven Water Company.

This attractive, Queen Anne Style residence, complete with a 23' tall, cylindrical tower with a conical roof that overhangs the vestibule, is unusual in that it combines clapboard, shingle, and fieldstone siding to dramatic effect. The main gambrel roof allows for large 2nd-floor rooms. The stairs are built in the towers outside the lines of the main walls of the building, economizing space and adding to the visual appeal. Dormer-windows relieve the slope of the roof and give light to the upper chambers. The home has 5 bedrooms, one and one-half baths, hardwood floors throughout, a full basement, attic, detached two-car garage, and is situated on a double-sized (26,000 square foot) lot. It is heated by natural gas - forced hot water by baseboard, and almost all windows have been replaced. The thick stonewalls, hardwood construction, and new thermal windows make the house affordable to heat. All electrical services (200 amp with circuit breakers) and wiring in the house have been updated.

The home contains twelve rooms, including the huge front foyer with cherry hardwood floors, impressive built-ins, and a double fireplace. There is a corner fireplace in the library off the north side of the front foyer and, off the west side, French doors lead to the living room, which also has a fireplace. The living room is open to the formal dining room on one side, and a step-down sunroom on the other side where plants thrive as it faces southwest. A private office, that was once a covered porch is flanked by five windows and overlooks the driveway and portico.

The kitchen has a black and white floor and a breakfast area. There is excellent storage in the butler's pantry with new cabinets, a bar sink, and a built-in wine rack. The kitchen opens out to a private yard with flower/ herb gardens, and a well maintained, 15' x 30' in-ground Gunite pool.

The front foyer has a grand staircase with a landing and an open foyer above. There are five bedrooms, two are master size, and three are average size. The cylindrical tower houses a very spacious, round bedroom overlooking the Fairhaven harbor. The second master size bedroom has a triple window dormer that also overlooks the harbor. These two bedrooms and two more sleeping rooms open out to the second story foyer. A Hall leads to the fifth bedroom, probably used as a maid's quarters at the turn of the 19th century. A rear staircase that leads back down to the kitchen completes the second level.

The home is within a short walk of four different marinas. To the west, it overlooks the Fairhaven harbor, a well-protected, deep-water harbor inside the hurricane dike, which provides easy access to Cape Cod, the islands, and the wide-open Atlantic Ocean. To the east, the house has great views of Fairhaven High School, a tremendous Romanesque-style structure built by Henry Huttleston Rogers, one of Fairhaven's great benefactors and a founder of Standard-Oil.