Dyer’s Beach House Motel by the Sea | Dyer’s Waterfront Apartment.
Anyone who’s walked down the narrow path just to the right of the old B. H. Dyer & Company hardware and paint store knows what a surprise is in store: a freestanding waterfront guest house, run to this day by descendants of Benjamin Huldah Dyer (1833-1907), who moved his paint business to this site from Truro in 1866. Yes, Dyer and his successors — Millers, Henriques, Andersons, and Barilaros — have been here since a year after the Civil War. Dyer’s Beach House was established in 1976 in what had once been a storehouse at the stub end of the old B. H. Dyer’s Wharf. It is run by Anderson Barilaro Property Management Inc., formed in 2012 by two of the founder’s great-granddaughters, Elizabeth Matheson Barilaro and her sister Janette Holt (Henrique) Anderson (1957-2019).
Dyer’s Beach House in 2019. Photo by David W. Dunlap.
Dyer’s Beach House has five guest rooms, all with private decks. Room rates at this writing ranged from $190 to $400 a night. It carried an “excellent” rating of 5.0 on Tripadvisor in late 2020, based on 82 reviews. The Waterfront Apartment is above the store and hard to see from shore. It isn’t until you get out on the water that it comes into clearer view. There are three bedrooms, two bathrooms, and a full kitchen; the dining table seats eight. This was formerly the home of Mary (Miller) Henrique (1932-2011) and her husband, Philip J. Henrique (1932-1997), the fourth and final generation of Dyers in the hardware business.
In 2012, Dyer’s Beach House began making space available each winter to allow a Provincetown artist — like Peg Reynolds — to paint. That painter’s work is then hung in the guest rooms the following season.
The approach to the guest house from Commercial Street was a little fancier in 2019 (right) than in 2008 (left). Both photos by Dunlap.
A guest room, as pictured on the Dyer’s Beach House website.
A guest room, as pictured on the Dyer’s Beach House website.
The dining room, kitchen, and living room of the apartment, as pictured on the Dyer’s Beach Properties website.
The apartment balcony, as pictured on the Dyer’s Beach Properties website.
Beachfront view of Dyer’s, in 2019. Dunlap.
Out in the harbor, the apartment becomes visible. Dunlap, 2010.
¶ Last updated on 27 October 2020.
171-173 Commercial Street on the Town Map.
Also at 171-173 Commercial Street:
• Coffey Men | Yates & Kennedy | Former B. H. Dyer & Company.
Thumbnail image: Photo, 2010, by David W. Dunlap.
In memoriam:
• Janette Holt (Henrique) Anderson (1957-1962)
Find a Grave Memorial No. 202691824.
• Mary (Miller) Henrique (1932-2011)
Find a Grave Memorial No. 74650557.
• Philip J. Henrique (1932-1997)
Find a Grave Memorial No. 52875687.