The Francis Hyde House represents a well-preserved house type commonly constructed in New England port towns in the early decades of the nineteenth century. The defining feature is a three-story, five-bay-wide, oneroom-deep main block sited with the gable end on the street. An attached service wing usually augments the main block. Typically the majority of exterior ornament is concentrated on the center entrance. As with this example, a town's more prosperous residents, including merchants, manufacturers, and professionals, occupied these houses. Francis Hyde, a tallow chandler, and his family were the first occupants of this house.