HISTORIC DOORWAYS OF OLD SALEM
[Illustration: THE DODGE-SHREVE HOUSE]
HISTORIC DOORWAYS
OF OLD SALEM
BY
MARY HARROD NORTHEND
ILLUSTRATED FROM PHOTOGRAPHS
BY THE AUTHOR
[Illustration]
BOSTON AND NEW YORK
HOUGHTON MIFFLIN COMPANY
The Riverside Press Cambridge
1926
COPYRIGHT, 1926, BY MARY H. NORTHEND
ALL RIGHTS RESERVED
The Riverside Press
CAMBRIDGE, MASSACHUSETTS
PRINTED IN THE U.S.A.
THIS BOOK
IS DEDICATED TO MY NEPHEW
FRANCIS SEYMOUR BENJAMIN
FOREWORD
Salem Doorways! How they awaken romantic memories of a glorious
past, linked as they are with the days when merchantmen and clipper
ships slipped from the ways to trade in foreign lands. Days when
old-fashioned gardens, gay with hollyhock and fragrant with sweet
brier, were laid out at the rear of the great Colonial houses of the
ship-owners. Doorways that were first designed for the Derby Street
houses, later appearing on Chestnut Street, when ship-owners removed to
this part of the city.
These doorways were the work of ship carpenters or men who carved
figureheads, although the most beautiful of all were those designed
by Samuel McIntire, the wood-carver of Salem. Many of them display
a marked individuality, the result of McIntire’s skill in combining
various types of architecture, and adapting them to the Georgian style.
Some show pilasters with Doric or Corinthian feeling, supporting a
pediment often triangular in design, gaining in effect through the use
of hand-tooled ornamentation.
Nathaniel Hawthorne graphically describes a simple example on the
house on Charter Street, where he wooed Sophia Peabody, who later
became his bride.
Another notable one adorns the Pickering house, built by John Pickering
in 1650. This was the birthplace of Colonel Timothy Pickering, who
served in four Cabinet offices.
The Cook-Oliver house on Federal Street shows rare bits of
hand-tooling, in part taken from the Elias Hasket Derby mansion on
Market Square, considered the finest house of its day.
Salem has just reason to be proud of these doorways which have given
to her a distinctive name in the field of architecture. Little wonder
that architects from all over the country are copying these historic
doorways for reproduction in modern-day homes, with a realization that
they have never been excelled by modern-day work.
Acknowledgment should be rendered to Edward Colton Fellowes, of
Cambridge, Massachusetts, for assistance in arranging the material of
this book.
CONTENTS
I. CHARACTER IN DOORWAYS 1
II. OLD SALEM AS A CENTER OF COLONIAL DOORWAYS 3
III. THE EVOLUTION OF THE SALEM DOORWAY 5
IV. THE DOOR ITSELF 10
V. OLD SALEM HOUSES AND THEIR DOORWAYS 15
THE REBECCA NURSE HOUSE 15
THE JOHN WARD HOUSE 17
THE TUCKER-RICE HOUSE 19
THE ROPES MEMORIAL 20
THE LINDALL-BARNARD-ANDREWS HOUSE 22
THE CABOT-ENDICOTT-LOW HOUSE 24
THE PICKERING HOUSE 25
THE POYNTON HOUSE 26
THE EDEN-BROWN HOUSE 28
‘THE LINDENS’ 29
THE PIERCE-JOHONNOT-NICHOLS HOUSE 31
THE HOSMER-TOWNSEND-WATERS HOUSE 33
ASSEMBLY HALL 34
THE BOARDMAN HOUSE 36
‘OAK HILL’ 36
THE KIMBALL HOUSE 38
THE COOK-OLIVER HOUSE 38
THE GEORGE M. WHIPPLE HOUSE 40
THE NATHAN ROBINSON-LITTLE HOUSE 42
THE DODGE-SHREVE HOUSE 43
THE WHITE-LORD HOUSE 44
THE SALEM CLUB 45
THE BALDWIN-LYMAN HOUSE 47
THE ANDREW-SAFFORD HOUSE 48
THE GARDNER-WHITE-PINGREE HOUSE 50
THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES 51
THE J. FOSTER SMITH HOUSE 52
THE GRACE MACHADO HOUSE 53
THE STEARNS HOUSE 53
THE TIMOTHY ORNE HOUSE 55
THE CROWNINSHIELD-DEVEREUX-WATERS HOUSE 56
THE MANSFIELD-BOLLES HOUSE 58
THE RICHARD DERBY HOUSE 59
THE HODGES-PEELE-WEST HOUSE 60
THE SILSBEE-MOTT HOUSE 61
THE HODGES-WEBB-MEEK HOUSE 61
THE PICKMAN-SHREVE-LITTLE HOUSE 62
THE HOME FOR AGED WOMEN 64
THE HOME FOR AGED MEN 66
THE BENJAMIN PICKMAN HOUSE 67
THE ELIAS HASKET DERBY HOUSE 68
THE NEAL-KITTRIDGE-ROGERS HOUSE 70
THE ARTHUR WEST HOUSE 72
THE HOFFMAN-SIMPSON HOUSE 73
THE DOYLE MANSION 74
DERBY STREET AND CHESTNUT STREET 75
FAMOUS NAMES IN SALEM 81
PALLADIAN WINDOWS 83
VI. OLD SALEM KNOCKERS 88
ILLUSTRATIONS
THE DODGE-SHREVE HOUSE _Frontispiece_
THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES: BATTEN DOOR 10
THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES: ANOTHER DOORWAY 11
THE REBECCA NURSE HOUSE 16
THE JOHN WARD HOUSE 17
THE TUCKER-RICE HOUSE 20
THE ROPES MEMORIAL 21
CLOSER VIEW OF THE ROPES DOORWAY 22
THE LINDALL-BARNARD-ANDREWS HOUSE 23
THE CABOT-ENDICOTT-LOW HOUSE 24
PORCH OPENING ON OLD-FASHIONED GARDENS ON THE
PICKERING ESTATE 25
THE POYNTON HOUSE, KNOWN AS THE ‘PINEAPPLE
HOUSE’ 26
THE EDEN-BROWN HOUSE 27
‘THE LINDENS’ 30
THE PIERCE-JOHONNOT-NICHOLS HOUSE 31
THE FRONT DOOR OF THE PIERCE-JOHONNOT-NICHOLS
HOUSE FROM THE INSIDE 32
ASSEMBLY HALL 33
THE BOARDMAN HOUSE 36
‘OAK HILL’ 37
THE KIMBALL HOUSE 38
THE COOK-OLIVER HOUSE 39
THE GEORGE M. WHIPPLE HOUSE 40
THE NATHAN ROBINSON-LITTLE HOUSE 41
THE WHITE-LORD HOUSE 44
THE SALEM CLUB 45
THE BALDWIN-LYMAN HOUSE 48
THE ANDREW-SAFFORD HOUSE 49
THE GARDNER-WHITE-PINGREE HOUSE 50
THE J. FOSTER SMITH HOUSE 51
THE GRACE MACHADO HOUSE 54
THE STEARNS HOUSE 55
THE MANSFIELD-BOLLES HOUSE 58
THE RICHARD DERBY HOUSE 59
THE SILSBEE-MOTT HOUSE 60
THE HODGES-WEBB-MEEK HOUSE 61
THE HOME FOR AGED WOMEN 66
THE HOME FOR AGED MEN 67
THE NEAL-KITTRIDGE-ROGERS HOUSE 72
THE ARTHUR WEST HOUSE 73
THE HOFFMANN-SIMPSON HOUSE 74
THE DOYLE MANSION 75
HOUSE OF MRS. EMERY JOHNSON 78
HOUSE OF MRS. GEORGE WHEATLAND 79
THE CUSTOM-HOUSE 82
OLD SALEM KNOCKERS 92
OLD SALEM KNOCKERS 93
HISTORIC DOORWAYS OF OLD SALEM
CHAPTER I
CHARACTER IN DOORWAYS
Of all the external features of a dwelling, the doorway, with or
without its porch, possesses most interest and character.
Architecturally speaking, it is usually the feature upon which the
chief emphasis is placed; and thus it expresses not only the taste and
personality of the architect, but to a certain extent also those of the
occupant of the home to which it belongs.
For the doorway is more than a mere entrance and exit to a dwelling. It
assumes a human aspect, as standing for personal and social elements,
and as revealing something of personal and social ambitions and ideals.
It ceases to be merely utilitarian, and becomes suggestive, with an
atmosphere of romance and poetry, as being intimately connected with
basic human experiences both of joy and sorrow; and associates with
itself memories of historic personages who have passed through it, and
of historic events which have taken place within the house itself.
If every man could choose his own doorway, what revelations there would
be, not only of artistic taste or the lack of it, but of personal
character, disposition, and temperament as well. Thus, one doorway
would express caution, reserve, a nature prone to watchfulness and
suspicion. It might bespeak a certain narrowness and penuriousness in
its owner, a lack of sympathy with breadth and joyousness, a desire
to remain as much as possible aloof from the great currents of human
life. Another doorway, on the contrary, would inevitably reveal warmth
of human feeling, a willingness to mingle with people, an eagerness
for human companionship, a welcoming spirit which included not only
the familiar guest, but the casual stranger who might seek admittance
through its hospitable portal.
Still another doorway might betray, through its design and proportions,
and the nature of its accessories and embellishments, the elements of
vanity, pomposity, and self-conceit; another would show extravagance;
another mere fussiness without due regard for system and order; while
still another would impress the beholder with a sense of the dignity of
mind, the seriousness of purpose, and the integrity of heart of the man
who selected it as the architectural keynote of his home.