The Province House weather vane was reproduced on the seal of Historic Boston Incorporated by the noted 20th century engraver, Rudolph Ruzicka. The original weather vane is now in the collection of the Massachusetts Historical Society. It was made by Shem Drowne, who also produced the Faneuil Hall Grasshopper.
Constructed in 1679 for Peter Sargeant, a Boston merchant, this mansion was sold to the Province of Massachusetts in 1716 to accommodate the Royal Governors. It was presumed destroyed by fire in 1872, but the 1922 demolition of a theater on the site revealed a late 17th century chimney wall. From that remnant, architectural historians have theorized that Sargeant built the most high style example of English Renaissance domestic architecture that existed in Boston in 1679.