$1,100,000
About this home
This gorgeous seven-bedroom Shaker house seeks a buyer in love with New England history and looking for extraordinary space—for living, working, making art, gathering, or pursuing projects. Spacious and bright, the house, built in 1840, is set on a large lot in a quiet neighborhood, with easily accessible hiking trails, in the highly sought-after school district of the Town of Harvard. Public transportation to Cambridge and Boston from nearby Ayer provides an easy commute into town. The building originally served as the “Office” for the communal religious group and was a multi-use building, as office, dormitory, guest quarters and a store where the Shakers sold their goods. The layout of the house still provides this kind of flexibility. There is also a gentle peacefulness to the house, a refuge from the world, a legacy of the Shakers’ devout simplicity.The house is large, but it never felt too large to those of us who grew up there, or to our mother, who lived there alone until she was 98. We mostly used the two central floors—the kitchen, living room, and other shared spaces on the first floor, and bedrooms on the second. On the floor above was our father’s study, where he worked undisturbed, while our mother had an art studio and ample storage space for her paintings. In our childhood, the basement became a theater and ping-pong room where neighborhood kids gathered. Outside, the house is surrounded by bountiful nature and a beautifully preserved Shaker Village. Do not be intimidated by its size. Focus on the simple beauty of the two central floors, with their impeccably preserved built-ins and pegboards from the height of Shaker design—and on the exciting possibilities of the additional spaces above and below.
Highlights
Property details
- MLS
- MLS Property Information Network
- MLS #
- 73453731
- Property type
- Single Family Residence
- Subdivision
- N/A
- Status
- Active
- Days on market
- 339
- On market date
- November 11, 2025
- Stories
- N/A
- Total bathrooms
- 3
- Garage spaces
- 3
- Parking spaces
- 5
- Lot size
- 2.3 acres
Location
Get directions →Nearby schools
Within 10 miles. School directory data from the National Center for Education Statistics (NCES), accessed via the Urban Institute Education Data API. Local Score is calculated by INNOVATE Real Estate; where a state rating is shown, it comes from that state's own official school report card.
- Enrollment
- 540
- Student:teacher ratio
- 12.9:1
- District
- Ayer Shirley School District
- Enrollment
- 398
- Student:teacher ratio
- 14.7:1
- District
- Littleton
- Enrollment
- 451
- Student:teacher ratio
- 13.3:1
- District
- Littleton
Walkability
Blended score for Harvard's center, calculated by INNOVATE Real Estate from two sources: the EPA's National Walkability Index (street network, transit, land-use mix) and Google Places amenity data (what's actually reachable on foot from this point). 60% EPA National Walkability Index + 40% nearby-amenity density (Google Places).
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Data source: Listing information provided by MLS Property Information Network via Trestle/CoreLogic. Last updated 3 days ago.
Information herein deemed reliable but not guaranteed; all measurements, school assignments, HOA fees, taxes, and feature lists are approximate and should be independently verified. Equal Housing Opportunity.