THE HODGES-WEBB-MEEK HOUSE
The Hodges-Webb-Meek house stands in the heart of the business district at 81 Essex Street, built in the latter part of the eighteenth century. Located just back from the street, it has been for many years the only one left of the row of houses where the exclusive set of Old Salem formerly lived. It is a gambrel-roofed building of architectural importance and is closely connected with the early history of the city. Would that these old porches could relate the many romances and tragedies they have witnessed since coming into being—to tell us of the days when Salem was a social center, composed of the ship-owners and their families, of which there were a sufficient number to make a story which links itself with her wealth and ventures. It is interesting to trace as far as possible the incentive which they had in designing their homes, with their wide hallways and large, square, white paneled rooms opening on either side, often ending with the old-fashioned garden, laid out at the rear of the houses.
Along tree-shaded Chestnut Street stand houses that were built just after the decline of commerce, and it is to these that we turn for the study of the different periods. Notable among them is the Pickman-Shreve-Little house at 27 Chestnut Street, a large three-story brick mansion with both front and side porches; but it is that which faces the residential street of Old Salem of which we wish to speak.
The house was built in 1816, and, while similar in style to the Dodge-Shreve house, has the distinction of having the very best Corinthian porch on Chestnut Street, impressive with its hand-tooled lintels, displaying central vertical bead-moulding.
Originally it was built for one of the most daring of the intrepid ship-owners who had amassed a fortune in the days when the East Indies opened up trade which brought glory to the old seaport town—days when level-headed merchants vied with each other in competing in foreign lands. It has been said of young Pickman, the first owner of this house, that he was a man with a mind as keen as a Damascus blade, faithful in friendship and an absolute genius in financial affairs, especially during the days when forests of masts rose at the wharves, when men worked with a will, aided by their wives and daughters, who were willing to assist them with wise economies.
In the years to come the history of Salem and her commerce will have faded from the minds of the younger generation. This makes it imperative that accurate facts be culled from the oldest inhabitants, through which we may learn narratives never told concerning the days and ways when ships were linked with her business life.
Salem architecture will never fade—it will grow more valuable as time passes on; therefore, it behooves us to cherish not only her porches and her houses, but her wall-papers, her hand-tooling, and the treasures brought over by merchantmen and clipper ships just after the Revolutionary War.
THE HOME FOR AGED WOMEN
Many buildings in Salem which now house various charities and organizations were originally private houses, with which is associated much interesting history.
One such instance is found in the Home for Aged Women at 180 Derby Street.
Erected in 1810 from designs by McIntire, this was the home of the Honorable Benjamin W. Crowninshield, Secretary of the Navy under Madison and Monroe, to whom reference has already been made. William C. Endicott, Secretary of War during Cleveland’s administration, was born here in 1826.
When the property passed into the hands of the Association for the Relief of Aged and Destitute Women, alterations and improvements were made, but the main portion of the house remains as originally built.
Notable among all McIntire’s entrances and porches is that which adorns and dignifies this fine old house. Standing at the head of a flight of six granite steps, fluted Doric columns support the porch roof, the architrave and cornice being severely chaste, in the absence of any carving or ornament whatsoever. Plain pilasters flank the charming doorway, which is wide and hospitable, with a generous and beautiful fanlight, and leaded side-lights of graceful design.
The door itself is of unusual size, but bears the characteristic Colonial panels, six in number, and is painted white. The total effect is one of purity and taste, with a certain note of nobility which inevitably impresses the beholder.
This house, then owned by Secretary Crowninshield, was occupied by President Monroe when he visited Salem in 1817.
Guests at the time included a number of notable men from every department of public service—Judge Joseph Story, General Dearborn, Commodores Bainbridge and Perry, Senator Silsbee, Lieutenant-Governor Gray, and General James Miller among them. General Miller became Collector of the Port in 1835, and continued in this office until 1849. Nathaniel Hawthorne held the position of Surveyor of Customs for the last three years of General Miller’s administration, when a political overturn ousted both Surveyor and Collector. Spare time with Hawthorne was partly spent in preparing the manuscript of ‘The Scarlet Letter,’ in the introduction to which he describes the old Custom-House.
General Miller fought at Lundy’s Lane—his historic reply on that occasion, ‘I’ll try, sir,’ being afterward by governmental order engraved upon the buttons of his famous regiment.
THE HOME FOR AGED MEN
Turner Street Doorway
As late as 1806, in spite of the general exodus from Derby Street to Chestnut, a few new houses were being built in the old territory. One of these was put up by Captain Joseph Waters, on the corner of Derby and Turner Streets, and possesses some unusual and attractive architectural features. The window lintels are of white marble with keystones, and this produces a striking effect. The main entrance is on the side, and the portico is two stories in height, supported by huge Corinthian columns. Both the main entrance and the smaller one on Turner Street have a note of something a trifle different from the prevailing Salem idea.
Through the generosity of Captain John Bertram, this commodious house was in 1877 donated as a Home for Aged Men.
Somewhat resembling that famous mansion ‘The Lindens,’ at Danvers, described elsewhere, is the Benjamin Pickman house at 165 Essex Street, built in 1743. It has the same two-story pilasters supporting a gable in the gambrel roof, the same rusticated boarding and groined corners. The dormer windows have alternately arched and pointed gables.
The doorway is unusually ornate, with rusticated jambs, and a broken arch pediment in which stands a sculptural bust. This doorway is of the enclosed variety and was added by McIntire in 1800.
The Pickman house was formerly adorned with much beautiful interior carved woodwork, little of which remains. The owner, out of compliment to the industry by which he prospered, caused a carved and gilded codfish to be mounted on each of the stairways, but these, too, are missing. The erection of other buildings in front of the Pickman house hides its real character. Still it repays careful study.
Among all the residences of Old Salem, that which was most ambitious and pretentious no longer exists, save in picture and memory. This was the famous mansion built by McIntire in 1798 for Elias Hasket Derby, Salem’s greatest merchant, at a cost of $80,000. Derby lived only a few months after taking possession, and the upkeep of so expensive an establishment deterring prospective purchasers, this splendid house was dismantled and finally razed in 1815—the land being donated to the town for a public market. Derby Square, where the present Market House now stands, was the location of the famous house.
McIntire was in 1804 erecting a house at 142 Federal Street for Captain Cook. Business reverses greatly delayed its completion, and McIntire continued it at his leisure, taking advantage of the dismantling of the Derby mansion to utilize much of its beautifully carved woodwork in the interior. The result was the Cook-Oliver house, as it is now known—one of the most satisfying to the artistic sense of any in all Salem.
Existing plans and sketches of the Derby mansion show us a huge rectangular building, suggesting a court-house, or some such public structure, standing well back from the street, its great doorway flanked by double columns supporting a balustraded balcony. Above this is a splendid Palladian window, and above this again hand-tooled festoons of drapery. The door itself has ornate fanlight with side-lights to correspond, and stands at the head of a flight of massive steps.
The flat roof with its elaborate cornice and heavy balustrade is supported by pilasters, six in number, having carved capitals; and these in turn at the second floor level rest upon plain pilasters. A huge cupola surmounts the roof, with bell-shaped top, carved garlands, and arched windows. The lintels of the first two tiers of the house windows are heavy with ornament, while the third tier illustrates the familiar plan of foreshortening. A great deal of iron fencing with ornamental posts surrounds the spacious yard.
With all the prodigality of architectural detail embodied in this great mansion, it must still be admitted that it was not overdone, as the large proportions and wide spaces pleasantly distributed the ornamentation over a broad field.
The Derby mansion doubtless represented the climax of effort in the line of house-building in Salem—the sudden death of its owner, followed by its own demolition, being a melancholy comment upon the uncertainty of human plans.
THE NEAL-KITTRIDGE-ROGERS HOUSE
This fine residence, at 13 Chestnut Street, is closely associated with the subject of Salem’s unprecedented commercial activity and success from the earliest date, to which some reference has already been made.
The adjacent waters swarmed with fish, cod, sturgeon, and salmon; and for a hundred years this was the chief article of export. So plentiful was North River salmon that the articles of indentured apprentices contained a proviso that they should not be obliged to partake of it more than three times a week.
Other items of export were ‘lumber, horses, whale- and fish-oil, whalebone, furs, elk- and bear-skins.’
The Revolution halted Salem’s commerce, and with patriotic devotion and Yankee ingenuity, the ketches and ships of trade were quickly converted into privateers. All told, these numbered upwards of 158; and during the war they took 445 prizes—an average of three apiece.
At the close of the war, Salem found her fleet upon her hands; and her merchants began to look farther from home for the trade to which their newer and larger vessels were better fitted than for their previous short voyages to the mother country or to near-by European ports.
The daring spirit of American sailors turned toward Oriental countries, with their glamour of romance and danger and their lure of wealth; and soon the ports of all the East became familiar with Salem vessels, and Salem warehouses were filled with the products of foreign lands. India, Sumatra, China, Zanzibar, Batavia, and Africa all made their contribution to Salem’s increasing wealth; and her name became the synonym for commercial enterprise the world over.
When one recalls the fact that early vessels were usually not over sixty tons burthen, while their skippers were commonly no more than boys—the captain and mates of the first Salem India-man being still in their teens—the wonder grows. Interesting touches are found here and there; as, for example, that the first elephant ever seen in the United States came over from Bengal in 1796, in the ship America, of which Captain Jacob Crowninshield, of Salem, was owner and master.
One of these old-time merchant adventurers was Captain William H. Neal, for whom was built the house at 13 Chestnut Street. Directly across from Hamilton Hall, one might catch glimpses from the upper windows of the festivities in that famous social center. Later, the property was bought by Dr. Thomas Kittridge, and is now the residence of his daughter, Mrs. Foster Rogers.
The doorway and porch are of severe and simple beauty, the fluted pilasters, plain architrave, and rectangular-paned top- and side-lights, together with the six-paneled green door, ornamented with old-time brass knocker and latch, presenting a most harmonious and pleasing effect.
THE ARTHUR WEST HOUSE
The name of West in Salem is closely associated with her commercial enterprise. Nathaniel West was part owner of the Minerva, the first vessel from this port to circumnavigate the globe. The family was connected by marriage with the Peabodys, Crowninshields, and Derbys, Nathaniel West marrying Elizabeth, a daughter of Elias Hasket Derby, and building the handsome residence at Peabody now known as ‘Oak Hill.’ Lieutenant Benjamin West was the only man from Salem to lose his life at the battle of Bunker Hill.
The doorway of the West house at 12 Chestnut Street maintains the best traditions of Colonial architecture. The fluted columns, dentiled architrave, plain top- and side-lights, and fine old six-paneled door, present a pleasing ensemble. The capitals contain a hint of the Egyptian in the use of the lotus-leaf.
THE HOFFMANN-SIMPSON HOUSE
Captain Charles Hoffman, original owner of the handsome brick mansion at 26 Chestnut Street, was a prosperous merchant, whose hobby when ashore was the care of his famous garden. He was the importer of the first azaleas known in America, the old conservatories which he used being still in existence.
The present occupant of the house, Dr. James Simpson, has kept the beautiful old-fashioned garden intact, with the same varieties of flowers which Captain Hoffman originally planted. The central feature of the garden is an ancient summer-house, covered with a thick growth of ‘Dutchman’s Pipe,’ the vine being over eighty years old.
For sheer beauty and taste, the porch and doorway of this old mansion are scarcely surpassed by any in Salem. The fluted columns are Ionic, the architrave directly above ornamented with guttæ, while beneath the cornice is a line of ball moulding. The fine old door bears a brass knocker; the leaded glass of top- and side-lights is of exceptional charm. The casing of the doorway is finely moulded; and the designer has added a unique completing touch by painting the adjacent brickwork white.
THE DOYLE MANSION
The ‘Doyle Mansion,’ always so-called, stands at 33 Summer Street, and possesses a most interesting history.
Its original owner was a Captain Doyle. Incurring serious losses through unfortunate ventures in trade, the family took in two or three ‘paying guests.’ This plan proving successful, it was enlarged by gradual additions until a second, and soon a third, house was needed to care for the growing business. Recently a fourth house—that standing next door, once the residence of Samuel McIntire, the famous craftsman and architect—has been included in the establishment, which has carried on its business continuously for ninety-seven years.
It is gratifying to be able to record the fact that all the old furnishings of the house have been kept intact. In the hallway, as fresh as when originally hung, is a beautiful wall-paper of the familiar ‘castellated’ pattern.
The doorway is severely plain, the sole ornamentation being in the brackets which support the porch roof, and the dentils and modillions beneath the cornice.
Visitors to Old Salem who try to identify the scenes of the little town’s ancient glory will find small comfort on Derby Street.
Stretching for the distance of half a mile along the water-front, this was once the center of the thriving commerce of the place. Along one side of the street were the counting-houses of the merchant princes, around which hung the atmosphere and flavor of thrilling maritime romance. Practically the entire male population, young and old, was engaged directly or indirectly in the business of such as go down to the sea in ships. Ship-builders and sailors, craftsmen and navigators—Derby Street hummed with their activities. Before the ports of New York and Boston had acquired touch with Oriental trade, Salem had already dipped deep into the coffers of the East; and the ambition of her bold adventurers was well expressed in the motto upon the seal of the town—‘Divitis Indiæ usque ad ultimum sinum’—‘Unto the farthest bay of wealthy Ind.’
Some idea of the volume of the trade whose center was in Derby Street may be gained from the fact that in thirty years customs duties totaled more than eleven million dollars, while over two hundred and fifty vessels flew the flag in every corner of the seven seas.
All this brought into Salem an element not only of wealth and comfort, but of culture and refinement as well; and so on Derby Street, across from the counting-houses where the money was made, arose the handsome homes of those who had made it, and to whom it brought the means of maintaining a high standard of living. Here were to be found all the finest residences of Salem; it was in truth the ‘Court end’ of the town.
But to-day all is changed. With but a single exception here and there, Derby Street presents a squalid and forlorn succession of shabby frame houses, occupied mostly by foreigners. Commerce consists in such humble trade as goes on in Greek restaurants and Polish markets. The splendid homes of merchants and ship-owners no longer gratify the eye; and what is of note to-day in architectural beauty and taste in Salem must be sought elsewhere than in its original location.
With the advent of the railroad, the maritime commerce of the town began to decline. The counting-houses gradually closed. No longer did the boys of the town, on the lookout for returning ships, descrying a familiar rig or figurehead at the harbor’s mouth, race for Derby Street to bring the earliest news and claim the customary reward. No longer did the ship-owner pace the ‘Captain’s Walk,’ glass in hand, to raise on the distant horizon the topsails of some overdue vessel. The ancient glory was departed; and unwilling to linger where reminders of past grandeur continually met the eye, the men of wealth and standing with one accord took thought for a spot where they might rebuild, and form a sort of neighborhood community where the traditions of maritime greatness should be maintained in an atmosphere all their own. A move was first made in the direction of Beverly, but meeting some obstacles connected with land titles, another selection was made, and Chestnut Street, with its double row of beautiful and artistic Colonial mansions, stretches its half-mile under the arching trees.
Some account such as the foregoing is necessary for the understanding of the grouping of so large a number of splendid residences in one quarter of the town. Washington Square, to be sure, presents a somewhat similar case; but it was Chestnut Street which was considered the most choice and exclusive section. It ‘kept itself to itself,’ as the saying was: and woe to the social climber who might unsponsored seek to make his way into the royal group.
As at first laid out, the land upon which each house on Chestnut Street was located extended through to Essex Street on the one side and to Broad Street on the other. The regret often finds expression that these fine homes are built so close to the sidewalk as to lose the setting of lawn and shrubbery at the front. The chief reason for this probably lies in the fact that the garden was very dear to Salem hearts, and all the space possible was desired for its development. In the rear of many an old mansion may still be found, somewhat shrunken in size, an old garden which is a veritable spot of beauty. Some of these were laid out in the formal Italian manner, like that of the Ropes Memorial on Essex Street; of the old-fashioned sort are those of the Cabot-Low, the Pierce-Johonnot and the Cook-Oliver houses. The Cabot garden used to boast of over six hundred varieties of tulips, imported by its owner from Holland. On the street itself, the handsome shade-trees were all set out by the owners of the houses on either side.
HOUSE OF MRS. EMERY JOHNSON
362 Essex Street
Walking down Chestnut Street to-day, one is impressed by the beautiful porches and doorways which face one another across the broad avenue between. They seem to speak of cordial hospitality and to extend a welcome to expected guests.
Such hospitality was a well-known characteristic in fact of Salem homes; and on Chestnut Street it was notably exemplified, though in its own exclusive way.
Socially Chestnut Street was exceedingly gay. Many were the ‘parties’ which took place within those beautiful homes, and many the distinguished guests entertained there. Invitations were always delivered by the children, who went from door to door with note or message telling of the place and time. Often the party was an all-day affair, to which the ladies went each with her beaded bag containing her work. Tea was served at four o’clock, out-of-doors if the weather permitted, indoors if necessary. ‘Nimble-cake’ was a favorite adjunct of the cup of tea. In the evening the gentlemen appeared; and one may imagine the effect of small-clothes and ruffles, silken gowns and India shawls, amid the handsome furnishings and lavish architectural beauty of the spacious Colonial rooms and hallways.
Public balls and receptions were equally gay and equally exclusive. Usually held in Hamilton Hall, on the corner of Chestnut and Cambridge Streets, they included only such persons as were socially vouched for by the proper authorities.
On these occasions the finest silver and linen were sent over for the table, as were rugs for the floor, by the housewives. Refreshments were available all the evening, and later on dinner was served, featuring the favorite dainties of the time—not forgetting ‘sangaree,’ for the mixing of which there was always abundance of imported stock.
THE HOUSE OF MRS. GEORGE WHEATLAND
374 Essex Street
At these Assemblies the students from Harvard College, as it then was, were very popular, and found many a fair partner among the Salem beauties, of whom there was no lack. No less a personage than President Washington himself commented, at the time of his reception at Assembly Hall in 1789, upon the large number, upwards of a hundred, of handsome ladies present.
Mention of the Chestnut Street festivities would hardly be complete without reference to the Salem Cadets, an exclusive military organization resembling the famous Seventh Regiment of New York. They had an armory at 136 Essex Street, formerly the residence of Colonel Francis Peabody, to which a drill-shed was added. In the ‘Banqueting Hall’ of the Peabody mansion Prince Arthur of England, in the country for the purpose of attending the funeral of George Peabody, the London banker, in 1870, was entertained at dinner. This handsome room was finished in carved oak in the Elizabethan Gothic style. The figure of Queen Victoria appears over the fireplace, supported by mailed figures.
This woodwork has been removed to the Masonic Temple on Washington Street, where it adorns one of the smaller rooms. The Peabody house was demolished in 1908.
Wearing their famous scarlet uniforms, and swinging down Chestnut Street, their favorite parade-ground, with handkerchiefs waving from the classic porches on either side, the Salem Cadets lend a touch of color and life which is most attractive against the Colonial background.
The house is nothing without its inhabitant; and thus Salem architecture, however beautiful, would lack in significance if dissociated from the persons, men and women, who have passed in and out of these hospitable doors, or spent years of life beneath the sheltering roofs.
As one scans the roster, he is led to wonder that so many famous names are found upon it—both inhabitants and guests—considering the size of the place: ‘infinite riches in a little room.’ For among those who were born in Salem, or lived here long enough to call it home, are Nathaniel Hawthorne; Nathaniel Bowditch, the famous mathematician; the Honorable Jacob Crowninshield and his brother Benjamin, Secretary of the Navy under two Presidents; Colonel Timothy Pickering, of Revolutionary fame; General Henry K. Oliver, the well-known musician; President E. C. Bolles, of Tufts College; Colonel George Peabody, art-lover and merchant prince; William Bentley and William H. Prescott, the historians; General Israel Putnam; Count Rumford; Henry FitzGilbert Waters, the genealogist; Charles T. Brooks, essayist and poet; the Honorable Rufus Choate; John Singleton Copley, the artist, whose son became Lord Chancellor of England; the Honorable George B. Loring, Congressman and Minister to Portugal in Harrison’s administration; Benjamin Peirce, eminent among the scientists of his day; the Honorable Nathaniel Read, Congressman and inventor of the cut nail; John Rogers, the sculptor; Jones Very, the poet; Joseph E. Worcester, of dictionary fame; General Frederick T. Ward, organizer of the Chinese troops which in the Tai-Ping Rebellion were called the ‘unbeatable army’—and many others.
Among the noted visitors who were at various times guests of the town appear the names of the Marquis de Lafayette, President Washington, Alexander Hamilton, Henry Clay, President Monroe, General W. T. Sherman, the Right Honorable Joseph Chamberlain, War Governor John A. Andrew, President Chester A. Arthur, King Edward VII of England (then Prince of Wales), President Andrew Jackson, Louis Kossuth the Hungarian patriot, General George B. McClellan.
Wealth accumulated in Salem, but men did not decay. Few towns in New England can boast of such striking history and such valuable achievements on the part of their citizens, within a like period of time, as can Old Salem by the Sea.
The earliest hallways in old Salem houses, as we have seen, whether at front or rear, were not hallways in any real sense of the term, but were entries, tiny and dark, receiving a dim illumination from the bull’s-eye or square-paned windows in the upper panels of the door, or from the narrow horizontal transom which was later placed above it. There was little of convenience, and still less of hospitality, in these cramped spaces, which were usually just large enough for the door to swing back against the wall, while the entering guest squeezed by into the room opening at the side.
But with enlarging ideas of comfort and convenience, the entry gradually developed into a hallway proper, leading right through the house, the staircase no longer a meager Jacob’s ladder screwing its way upward, but now a wide and handsome ascent of noble proportions, with carved balusters and newel-posts.
Up such a staircase the guest would pass, pausing on the broad landing to admire the beautifully laid out garden which graced the yard of the fine estate, and resting for a few moments upon the cushioned seat which commanded the charming view, framed as it was in a large ornamental window set in the house-wall at the head of the stairs.
These Palladian windows—so-called after Andrea Palladio, an Italian architect of the sixteenth century—consist of a central opening, usually in scale with the other windows of the house, and having the same number of panes, but with an arched top, circular or elliptical, sometimes resembling a fanlight, rarely a solid segment of wood embellished with carved ornaments. Flanking this central opening are side-lights, of plain or tastefully leaded glass, and as most often in Salem houses the Palladian window is placed directly above the main entrance, the pattern of these side-lights, as also the architectural motif of frame and entablature, echo those of the doorway and porch below.
The original use of the Palladian window in Old Salem was an interior one—to furnish light to hallway and stairs; but later, as increasing attention was paid to the exterior appearance of the house, especially in the period when brick was mostly used in construction, it became an adjunct of front doorway and porch, continuing at the level of the second floor the structural idea which began at the first, in sympathy with the order and proportions of the rest, and repeating upon a reduced scale the columns, pilasters, and ornamentation of the major portion of the work.
It is this use of the Palladian window which in many old Salem houses prevents the porch itself from appearing stubby and squat; for the window continues the idea begun in the porch itself, and leads the eye gently and unconsciously upward until it rests satisfied—the entire center of the façade, though the greater part of its height, being thus occupied by forms of grace and beauty, to which the plain character of the remainder of the structure lends itself as an agreeable foil.
Interesting and handsome examples of the Palladian window abound on old Salem buildings, both public and private, and are repeated also in modern houses which are reproductions of the Colonial type.
Hamilton Hall, built from designs by McIntire in 1805 and still standing at the corner of Cambridge and Chestnut Streets, has an entire row of these windows, five on a side along its second story. The Market House on Derby Street has all windows of this type, that above the entrance more elaborate in design. The Custom-House affords another example. But by far the most beautiful and interesting are to be found on the private houses of Salem citizens erected at the period when beauty and appropriateness of exterior construction began to be recognized as the true counterpart of beauty and appropriateness within. Interiors had long been elaborately and expensively prepared, while the outside of the house had been ignored; but with the advent of the classic and handsome entrance-porch and its almost necessary adjunct, the Palladian window, this neglect began at last to be repaired.
THE CUSTOM-HOUSE
Associated with Hawthorne’s life in Salem
It will well repay Salem visitors to note the beauty and architectural use of these windows in conjunction with a study of doorway and porch. Notable examples are to be found on the Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols house at 80 Federal Street, on the landing of the second floor; at the Dodge-Shreve house at 29 Chestnut Street; the Pickman-Shreve-Little house next door at Number 27; at the Whipple house, 2 Andover Street; the Lindall-Gibbs-Osgood house at 314 Essex Street, this one lighting the landing on the second floor at the rear, as is the case in the Cook-Oliver house at 142 Federal Street, while that over the porch of the Andrew-Safford house at 13 Washington Square presents a unique example of original treatment without departure from the architectural motif of the porch itself.