Chapter I: 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