A 228-year-old mansion on one of Newburyport's most storied streets has sold for $5.2 million, setting a new record for the city. The Philip Coombs House at 51 High St., built in 1798 for a merchant and shipbuilder, more than doubled the price it fetched just a decade ago after undergoing a sweeping restoration.
The sale marks the highest price ever paid for a home in Newburyport, according to Boston Business Journal, which reported the deal this week. The outlet notes the Philip Coombs House spans more than 7,000 square feet, a dramatic footprint for a property built at the close of the 18th century. The home previously changed hands for $2.16 million in 2016, the publication reports, before the extensive restoration that transformed it into its current form.
A Federal Estate on The Ridge
According to the property's listing on Newburyport.homes, 51 High St. sits on more than 2.5 acres along a stretch known as The Ridge, described as the city's most prestigious and historic neighborhood. The listing calls the home a masterfully restored and expanded Federal estate, offering seven bedrooms and 10 bathrooms. The primary suite alone spans more than 800 square feet, per the same listing.
Outdoor amenities include a heated saltwater pool and a pool house equipped with both indoor and outdoor kitchens, the listing notes. The listing is handled by the Homes & Lifestyles Team with Gibson Sotheby's International Realty. Listing data tied to the property was last updated at 4:38 a.m. UTC on October 16, 2026.
Roots as a Shipbuilder's Home
The house's origins trace back to the merchant and shipbuilding trade that once defined Newburyport's waterfront economy. It was built in 1798 for the merchant and shipbuilder, according to a historical account from Walkies Through History. That lineage ties the Philip Coombs House to the city's history, long before its recent transformation into a modern luxury estate.
Part of a Broader Seacoast Trend
The record-setting sale lands amid a broader run of high-dollar deals across the Seacoast region. Twenty-three single-family homes in the Seacoast sold for at least $1 million in a single November, a record for the region, according to Seacoastonline. That same month, the median price for all single-family homes sold in the region was $762,500, a 7% drop from the prior year, even as overall sales volume climbed.
Through that November, 671 single-family homes had sold across the Seacoast with a median price of $802,000, reflecting a 9.5% year-over-year increase in sales, the outlet reported. One of that month's standout deals was an 18th-century Portsmouth home that sold for $4.2 million, making it the region's highest-priced sale at the time. That colonial, built in 1770 with four bedrooms and four bathrooms, has its own unusual backstory: it was moved by barge down the Piscataqua River to its current location in 1973.
Newburyport's $5.2 million sale now stands apart from those regional benchmarks, underscoring how a historic pedigree paired with a modern restoration can reset expectations for what a centuries-old home can command.
