LIBRARY OF WELLESLEY COLLEGE
PRESENTED BY
Will.iam G, Thayer, Jr.
"The JVood-Carver of Salem
Nine hundred and thirty copies of ^l)Z S2Eociti=ffl^arfarc o! Salem, of which nine hun- dred are for sale, have been printed from type and the type distributed.
This copy is Number.. _ck_-^^<^—
Plate I. — Profile Medallion of Washington, hand carved in Wood,
1802.
T' Wood-Carver of Salem
6 a m u e I j. vi c l nt ire Hih Life and Work
By Frank Cousins and Phil M, R
Illustrated
lirU \-'-^---.
luiiiit, nrjijLh^ ana L:^//r
The Wood-Carver of Salem
Samuel Mclntire His Life and W^ork
By
Frank Cousins and Phil M, Riley
Illustrated
NON'REFERT
SWVAD • Q3S
Boston
Little J Brown, and Company
igi6
r^' r i, '^^
269272
Copyright, igi6, By Little, Brown, and Company.
All rights reserved
737
Foreword
ABOUT thirty years ago Mr. T. Frank Hunt, of Salem, suggested to Mr. Cousins that he undertake the task of making a comprehensive photographic record of the fine old houses of Salem, many of which could not be expected to exist per- manently. All his life Mr. Cousins had been keenly appreciative of the remarkable history and splendid architecture of his native city ; the idea appealed to him strongly and with the further commendation of Mr. John Robinson, of Peabody Museum, he finally decided to adopt it. From the outset both of these gentlemen were generous in valuable suggestions and material assistance in connection with the research necessary to bring to light a great amount of interesting historical data long buried in the quaint records of the Essex Institute, the City Hall of Salem, the Registry of Probate of Essex
[v]
Foreword
County, and many old books, magazines, and news- papers.
In 1895 the architectural summer school of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, held in Salem, impressed upon Mr. Cousins as never before the artistic and practical value of old Salem build- ings, particularly the delightfully proportioned and admirably executed designs of Samuel Mclntire, that master craftsman of the third period of Colo- nial architecture, and thus emphasized emphati- cally the true importance of his ambitious project. Ten years later, having accumulated over two thousand photographic negatives, he began to show the results of his labor to leading architects in the principal cities, fully a thousand of whom soon be- came his clients. This immediate recognition pres- ently became even more gratifying by reason of the growing interest manifested in Mclntire the man and his work, which culminated in a genuine demand for a book devoted to both. Among those to whom grateful acknowledgement is due for en- couragement and inspiration in its preparation are : Mr. Louis C. Newhall, of Boston ; Mr. Cass Gilbert and Mr. Electus D. Litchfield, of New York ; Mr. Edward Robinson, Director of the Metropolitan Museum of Art, of New York; and
[vi]
Foreword
Mr. Edward R. Smith, of Avery Library, Colum- bia University.
Five years ago Mr. Cousins was invited to meet the editors of Country Life in America and show them his photographs. At that time Mr. Riley was Architectural Editor, and the suggestion to write the text of a book devoted to the life and work of Samuel Mclntire readily won his enthusiastic ap- proval and enlisted his constructive support. He came to Salem to examine into the matter at first hand and after considerable investigation conceived the title and prepared the synopsis of "The Wood- carver of Salem." Then followed much painstaking joint eifort ; the book commenced to take tangible form, and a sincere attempt was made to phrase a true estimate of Mclntire's achievements, and by impartial criticism to interpret in a logical and enter- taining manner its value and significance in modern home building. Thus this volume represents a real collaboration the perusal of which, it is hoped, may prove as informative and pleasurable to the reader as its preparation has been to the authors.
FRANK COUSINS and PHIL M. RILEY. September 15, 1916.
[vii]
Contents
Chapter
Foreword ....
I. Salem Architecture .
II. Samuel and the Other McInt
III. Doorways and Porches
IV. Interior Woodwork .
V. Mantels and Chimney Pieces VI. The Cook-Oliver House . VII. The Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols VIII. Public Work
Index
res
House
Page V
I
17 46
(>^
85
102
117
133 149
[ix]
List of Plates
I. Profile Medallion of Washington, hand carved
in Wood, 1802 .... Frontispiece
Page 11. The Home of Samuel Mclntire, 31 Summer
Street, Salem, Mass. .... 4
III. TheLower and Upper Halls of Mclntire's Home 5
IV. Detail of Mantel in the Front Chamber of Mc-
lntire's Home ; Detail of Mantel in the Chamber where Mclntire died . . 10
V. Detail of a Door in Mclntire's Home; Mantel
and Cornice in the Front Chamber . . n
VI. Mclntire's Gravestone, Charter Street Burial
Ground ....... 16
VII. Petition for a Public Pump signed by Mcln- tire ; Mclntire's Autograph on the Peti- tion ........ 17
VIII. Summer House formerly on Elias Haskett
Derby's Peabody Farm .... 22
IX. Mclntire's Plans of an unknown End-to-the- street House ......
23
X. Basement and Street Floor Plans of an un- known house by Mclntire ... 28
[xi]
List of Plates
Page
XI. Chamber and Street'^^Floor Plans of unknown
houses by Mclntire .... 29
XII. Window Head from Elias Haskett Derby Mansion, and other woodwork preserved at the Essex Institute .... 34
XIII. Detail of Fence and Ornamental Post,
25 Chestnut Street ; Stone Gatepost, Charles Street Entrance to Boston Pub- lic Garden, adapted from Mclntire's earlier wood design .... 35
XIV. Doorway of the Eden-Brown House ; Door-
way of the Kimball House ... 46
XV. Peabody-Silsbee House, erected in 1797 . 47
XVI. Peabody-Silsbee Porch .... 48
XVII. Keyed Marble Lintel, Peabody-Silsbee House ; Entablature of Window Frame, "Oak Hill" 49
XVIII. Cornice, Eaves, and Balustraded Roof, Pea- body-Silsbee House ; Peabody-Silsbee Barn 50
XIX. Porch of the Stearns House ... 51
XX. Porch of the Home for Aged Women . . 52
XXI. Home for Aged Women, formerly the Ben- jamin W. Crowninshield House, erected in 1 8 10; Detail of Side Doorway. . 53
XXII. Clifford Crowninshield House, erected in 1805 ; Pickman - Derby - Brookhouse Estate, erected in 1764 ... 54
XXIII. Clifford Crowninshield Porch ; Gardner-
White-PIngree Porch .... 55
XXIV. Porch of the Tucker-Rice House . . 56
[xii]
List of Plates
XXV. Tucker-Rice House, erected in 1800; Detail of Porch ....
XXVI. Gardner-White-Pingree House, erected in 1810
XXVn. Detail of Gardner-White-Pingree Porch
XXVHI. Nathan Reed House, erected in 1790; Josiah Dow House, erected in 1787
XXIX. Hosmer -Waters Enclosed Porch, and Front Doorway ....
XXX. David P. Waters Enclosed Porch ; Benja- min Pickman Enclosed Porch .
XXXI. Parlor Doorway of Clifford Crownin- shield Hall ; Door in Derby-Crown- inshield-Rogers House
XXXII. Stucco Cornice in Derby-Crowninshield- Rogers House; Wainscot and Sur- base ......
XXXIII. Dado, Surbase, Baseboard, and Archi-
trave Casing, Pierce - Johonnot- Nichols House; Door Paneling, Casing, and Drop Handle
XXXIV. Street Floor Plan, Derby-Crowninshield-
Rogers House ; Front Elevation ; Second Floor Plan ....
XXXV. Doorway in East Front Chamber, Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols House .
XXXVI. Drawing-Room Doorway, "Oak Hill" .
XXXVII. Detail of Doorway of a Chamber at " Oak Hill"
XXXVIII. Doorway of the Morning Room, "Oak Hill"
XXXIX. Architectural Treatment of the Drawlng- Room," Oak Hill" .
[ xiii ]
Page
57
58 59
60 61 64
65 66
(>7
68
69 70
71
72
73
Ljist of Plates
Page XL. Inside of Front Doorway, "Oak Hill" . 74
XLL Two Views of the Second Floor Hall, "Oak Hill," showing Zuber's "Classic" Wall Paper 75
XLH. Hall and Stairway at "Oak Hill" . . 76
XLHI. Elliptical Arches in the Hall, Derby-
Crowninshield-Rogers House . . 77
XLIV. "Winder" in the David P. Waters House;
Stairway in the Hosmer-Waters House 78
XLV. Side Stairway, Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols House ; Back Stairway, Derby-Crown- inshield-Rogers House ... 79
XLVI. "Winder" in the Derby-Crowninshield-
Rogers House ..... 80
XLVn. Stairway at Second Floor Level, Derby- Crowninshield-Rogers House ; Detail of Newel and Stair Ends ... 81
XLVHL Detail of Newel and Twisted Balusters,
"Oak Hill" 82
XLIX. A Doorway in the Hall, "Oak Hill" . . 83
L. Mantel in a Chamber of the Hosmer- Waters House ; Mantel in Northwest Parlor 84
LL Parlor Mantel, Lindall-Barnard-Andrews House ; Corner Section showing hand carved Applied Ornament ... 85
LH. Mantel in the West Chamber of the Pea-
body-Silsbee House .... 86
LHL Mantel in the Rear Parlor of the Woman's
Bureau ...... 87
LIV. Mantel in the Front Parlor of the Woman's
Bureau 88
[xiv]
List of Plates
LV. Detail of Mantel at the Woman's Bureau .
LVI. Detail of Mantel in the Kimball House .
LVII. Mantel in the Kimball House .
LVni. Mantel in the Parlor of the Home for Aged Women ......
LIX. Parlor of the Home for Aged Women
LX. Two Mantels on the Third Floor of the Derby-Crowninshield-Rogers House .
LXI. Corner Section of Adam Mantel, Derby- Crowninshield-Rogers House
LXn. Detail of Mantel in the David P. Waters Reception Room ....
LXni. Parlor of the Clifford Crowninshield House
LXIV. Detail of Mantel in the Clifford Crownin- shield Parlor .....
LXV. Two Chimney Pieces at "The Lindens," Danvers ......
LXVI. Chimney Piece in the Drawing-Room, "Oak Hill"
LXVH. Corner Section of Drawing-Room Mantel, "Oak Hill"
LXVni. Chimney Piece in the Morning Room, "Oak Hill"
LXIX. Chimney Piece in a Chamber at " Oak Hill "
LXX. Preliminary Sketches, Elias Haskett Derby Mansion ......
LXXI. Preliminary Front Elevations, Elias Has- kett Derby Mansion ....
[XV]
Page 89
90 91
92 93
94
95
96
97
98 99
lOO-IOI
lOO-IOI
lOO-IOI lOO-IOI
102 103
List of Plates
Page
LXXII. Woodcut of the Elias Haskett Derby Mansion from Felt's "Annals of Sa- lem"; Floor Plans of the Stair Hall 104
LXXIII. First and Second Floor Plans, Elias
Haskett Derby Mansion . . . 105
LXXIV. Detail of Carved Moldings and Stucco
Work, Elias Haskett Derby Mansion 106
LXXV. Plan of Garden and Grounds, Elias
Haskett Derby Mansion . , « 107
LXXVI. The Cook-Oliver House, erected in 1804 . 108
LXXVn. Detail of Cook-Oliver Gateway and
Porch ; Detail of Gatepost . . 109
LXXVni. Cook-Oliver Entrance, showing Window
Heads no
LXXIX, Stairway, Cook-Oliver House . . . in
LXXX. Doorway in Cook-Oliver Hall . . 112
LXXXI. Palladian Window, Cook-Oliver Hall;
Corner Section of Hall Door . , 113
LXXXn. Parlor Mantel and Scenic Wall Paper, Cook-Oliver House ; Corner Section of Mantel 114
LXXXHI. Wall of Parlor, Cook-Oliver House, show- ing "Panorama of Paris" Wall Paper ; Embrasured Windows with Folding Shutters .... 115
LXXXIV. Detail of Parlor Mantel, Cook-Oliver
House 116-117
LXXXV. The Dining Room, Cook-Oliver House . 116-117
[xvi]
List of Plates
Page LXXXVI. Detail of Mantel in Chamber over
Parlor 1 16-117
LXXXVII. Chamber over Dining Room, Cook- Oliver House .... 116-117
LXXXVIII. Detail of Mantel in Chamber over Din- ing Room, Cook-Oliver House . 118
LXXXIX. The Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols House,
erected in 1782 .... 119
XC. Detail of Gateway and Porch, Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols House , 120
XCI. Detail of Corner Treatment, Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols House; Hand carved Eagle on Barn Roof ; Detail of hand carved Gatepost . . 121
XCn. Enclosed Side Porch, Pierce-Johonnot- Nichols House .... 122-123
XCni. Old Terraced Garden, Pierce-Johonnot- Nichols Estate .... 122-123
XCIV. Paved Courtyard between Pierce-Jo- honnot-Nichols House and Barn, from two viewpoints . . . 122-123
XCV. Hall and Stairway, Pierce-Johonnot- Nichols House ; Detail of Chippen- dale Balustrade .... 122-123
XCVI. Second Floor Hall, Pierce-Johonnot- Nichols House; Third Floor Hall 124-125
XCVH. Inside of Front Door, Pierce-Johonnot- Nichols House; Inside of Rear Door 124-125
[ xvii ]
List of Plates
Page
XCVIII. Palladian Window on Stairway Landing, Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols House; De- tail of Newel Treatment . . . 124-125
XCIX. West or Georgian Parlor, Pierce-Johonnot- Nichols House ; Doorway and Archi- tectural Treatment .... 124-125
C. Embrasured Windows and Seats, West Par- lor, Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols House ; Detail of Mantel .... 126-127
CI. Detail of Chimney Piece and China Closet, West Parlor, Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols House; Corner Section of the Mantel 126-127
CH. Detail of Embrasured Window and Seat, West Parlor, Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols House 126-127
CHI. General View of East or Adam Parlor,
Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols House . . 126-127
CIV. Front and Rear Ends, East or Adam. Par- lor, Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols House . 128-129
CV. Detail of Doorway, East Parlor, Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols House . . . 128-129
CVI. Detail of Adam Chimney Piece, East Parlor,
Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols House . . 128-129
[CVII. Corner Section of East Parlor Mantel,
Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols House . . 128-129
CVIII. Detail of Embrasured Window, East Par- lor, Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols House . 130-131
CIX. Detail and Corner Section of East Parlor Doorway, Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols House 130-131
[ xviii ]
List of Plates
Page
ex. Detail of East Front Chamber Mantel, Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols House ; Cor- ner Section of the same . . . 130-13 1
CXI. East Front Chamber, Pierce-Johonnot- Nichols House ; Architectural Treat- ment of Rear Wall .... 130-131
CXH. Detail of Porch and Fafade, Assembly
House 132
CXIII. The Assembly House, erected in 1782 . 133
CXIV. Western Gateway, Washington Square, erected in 1805, from a Woodcut in Felt's "Annals of Salem" ; St. Peter's Episcopal Church, razed in 1833, and the Western Gate in the distance, from an old painting ..... 134
CXV. The Courthouse of 1785, from an old paint- ing at the Essex Institute ; also, from an engraving in the Massachusetts Magazine . . . . . . 135
CXVI. Interiorof Washington Hall, erected in 1792 136
CXVII. Mantel from the Old Registry of Deeds
Building, erected in 1807 . . , 137
CXVIII. Principal Elevation and Second Floor Plan,
Proposed National Capitol . . 138
CXIX. Rear Elevation and First Floor Plan, Pro- posed National Capitol ... 139
CXX. Interior Sectional Plan at three points, Proposed National Capitol ; Exterior End Elevation; Interior Sectional Plan
[xix]
140
List of Plates
Page
CXXI. Hand;carved'Gilt Eagle on the City Hall, 1805 ; a Carving at the Essex Insti- tute ; Sculptured Eagle, formerly- over the Old Custom House Door, 1805 ; another Carving at the Essex Institute ...... 141
CXXII. The Old South Church, Salem, erected in
1804 142
CXXIII. Hamilton Hall, erected in 1805 ; Detail of the Second Floor Windows and Sculptured Panels .... 143
CXXIV. Side View of Hamilton Hall ... 144
CXXV. Entrance Doors and Music Balcony, Ham- ilton Hall ; one of the Side Walls . 145
CXXVI. Fireplaces, Vaulted and Groined Ceiling,
Hamilton Hall 146
CXXVII. Detail of Mantel, Hamilton Hall ; Corner
Section of Mantel .... 147
[XX]
The JVood'Carver of Salem
The W^ood-Carver of Salem
CHAPTER I SALEM ARCHITECTURE
FEW cities in the United States can boast a resi- dential section, still well preserved and occupied by the best families, which suggests only the long- distant past with virtually no intrusive indication of modernity to mar the illusion. Salem, Massa- chusetts, is among the foremost. That its beauties have been so abundantly preserved to posterity seems to be almost a miracle — particularly when one recalls the great conflagration of 19 14 — and mir- acles are always happy. One may also marvel at the remarkably perfect condition of the woodwork on these old houses as it exists in Salem to-day, proving conclusively that for white-painted exterior wood trim no wood, unless it be cypress, excels white pine for endurance. Street after street in this remarkable city, so rich in historic lore, is lined
[I]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
with houses to which intelligent citizens point with pride because of their pristine beauty, their age, and the splendid manner in which they have been maintained, in many instances for considerably more than a century. Here, indeed, is an example of true New England spirit and Yankee thrift.
Amid such surroundings fancy readily transports the imaginative mind back to the days when Wash- ington, La Fayette, and other men distinguished in the early affairs of the nation were guests within these very-welcoming doorways. In fact, to wander about among the old houses and gardens of Salem is to see a vivid reflection of that golden age when this fascinating place was counted among the prin- cipal centers of culture and wealth ; when leaders in art, science, and letters were familiar figures in the streets, and when prosperous merchants and emi- nent statesmen called the town "home."
Next to Plymouth the oldest settlement in Massa- chusetts, Salem quickly attained civic and com- mercial importance because of its early origin and seacoast situation ; the people, too, were of high ideals, sincere determination, and steadfast purpose — the sort that achieve greatness. Theirs was the first armed resistance to British tyranny at the North Bridge two months before Paul Revere's immortal
[2]
Salem Architecture
ride, and during the Revolution it was their pri- vateers, carrying upward of two thousand guns, which took four hundred and forty-five prizes — more than were taken by the ships of all the other ports combined. The entire merchant marine be- came engaged in privateering, and new ships were built as rapidly as possible, until the number flying Salem signals at the close of the Revolution was said to have been one hundred and fifty-eight. By far the greater portion of the male population of the town was engaged either in building ships or in a sea- faring life. Shipbuilding became a fine art, so to speak ; Salem vessels could outsail almost anything then afloat, and their cabins were the supreme achievement of skilled joiners and wood-carvers, attracted thither by this industry from all sections of the country.
In later, happier days, these very ships, and others built in the quarter century that followed, made Salem the center of commerce and refinement that it became. An idle fleet, more ably manned than any before it, had to be peacefully employed. With admirable courage and remarkable foresight, its owners entered into business relations with the East Indies and other far ports of the world never before reached by trading ships, and thus Salem became our
[3]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
chief port of entry long before New York, Boston, and Philadelphia were even known to the merchants of the East. In 1807 Salem had 252 vessels, aggre- gating 43,570 tons. These ventures brought great wealth to shipowners and captains with which to build more pretentious homes than had previously supplied their somewhat frugal necessities. During the thirty years prior to 181 1, Salem merchants paid into the Custom-house in duties more than eleven million dollars, which gives an indication of the tremendous amount of their business. The refining influence of their extensive foreign travels demanded a better standard of living, and the rare furniture, wall papers, and other objects of art which they had collected called for appropriate home surroundings in which to display them. This pro- vided a higher type of employment for the more versatile of their shipbuilders, and the intelligence and native ingenuity with which these craftsmen adapted the motives of the Renaissance to their own radically different problems is truly remarkable.
That was during the optimistic days a hundred years ago ; but the wheel of progress has turned, as turn it will, and Salem now lives chiefly in the glory of its illustrious past, reminders of which are to be seen in nearly every one of the principal streets.
[4]
Plate 11. — 7"he Home ut Samuel Mclntire, 31 Summer Street,
Salem, xMass.
o X
CI, CI-
TS
c
Salem Architecture
No longer does the ring of the hammer resound in the shipyard of the Beckets ; no longer are rich cargoes from all the great ports of the world discharged at Derby and Crowninshield wharves ; no longer do anxious merchants scan the horizon to seaward from the belvederes and cupolas of their beautiful homes. Salem is no longer mistress of the seas ; her splendid merchant marine, said to com- prise one hundred and ninety-eight ships in 1825, gradually began to decrease in number upon the coming of the railroads, which built up the ports of large cities at the expense of smaller towns. The foreign commerce of Salem is a thing of the past, but most of the homes of her former distinguished men stand intact to-day, compelling universal admira- tion for their refined, substantial beauty, and com- prising in many respects the most notable collection of early American architecture.
In terms of the so-called Colonial style, our national heritage, Salem is the architectural center of New England, and to New England and Virginia must be accorded the highest places in our regard as the principal fountains of our culture and development. But the architecture of Virginia implies the great estate ; it is neither for the town nor the masses. Thus it is that in Salem oftener than elsewhere lead-
[5]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
ing architects and discriminating home builders have found inspiration for modern adaptation. One ever goes to Salem as to a great storehouse of Ameri- can antiquities, walking along her principal streets in admiration and entering her historic homes with reverence. Indeed, this fascinating historic city has become a synonym for the best in Colonial architecture, notably doorways and chimney pieces. Variety and the opportunity for comparison render Salem architecture unique and especially valuable in that it embraces three dissimilar types — one might say four, since they were developed in four distinct periods. First came the lean-to, the aver- age date of the examples still standing being about that of the witchcraft delusion of 1692; next fol- lowed the [gambrel-roof type about 1750; then came the three-story, square wooden house of 1785, and finally the three-story, square brick construction of 1 81 8. None of these aspires to the manorial splendor of the South, but each frankly interprets the refine- ment, the domestic spirit, and reasonable degree of dignity of the people, quite as true in the prosperous period of brick construction as in the earlier years, when the snug comfort of the lean-to sufficed.
Strictly speaking, the first two periods constitute the only really Colonial houses in Salem, but the
[6]
Salem Architecture
custom everywhere is to place in the Colonial cate- gory all houses with classic detail up to the beginning of the so-called Greek revival about 1825, when the vogue came to give houses of wood as nearly as pos- sible the form and aspect of the Doric temple in its purest and severest form. This is logical and proper, inasmuch as the mansions immediately preceding and following the Revolution were a direct develop- ment of their simpler predecessors and hence very closely related to them. Such a broad application of the word seems particularly happy in connection with Salem architecture which did not attain the full measure of its development until after the Revo- lution.
The word "Provincial" has been suggested as a more accurate substitute for Colonial, the argument being that little worthy of serious architectural con- sideration was erected in America during the actual Colonial period. On this basis those splendid houses built during the first three or four decades of our national life should no doubt be termed "Federal." But, after all, the word matters little in comparison with its meaning, provided the latter be well under- stood. The name Colonial has taken the popular fancy and become a byword on every lip, while the architecture it designates, principally because of its
[7]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
very comprehensiveness, expresses our national spirit as nearly as we have been able to express it.
In those days of maritime prosperity large families were the rule, not the exception, and the very num- ber of rooms required, when a state of affluence made large ones possible, tended toward a square house. And it was in this square Colonial town house that Salem architecture reached the pinnacle of its achievement. Although eloquent in substantial comfort and dignified appearance, it had not the picturesque appeal of the lean-to or the gambrel- roof types, yet in its ornamental detail it far sur- passed them both. Severe, almost ugly in line and mass, such a structure needed considerable embellishment in order to ensure an attractive ap- pearance. Quickened by this obvious requirement and the spirit of the time, which ever called for more elaborate externals corresponding to the great wealth being amassed in foreign trade, local builders turned more frequently for inspiration to the published works of the master architects of the Renaissance. The classic orders were modified to domestic uses and applied throughout ; both exterior and interior features responded to the influence. The hard out- lines of the structure as a whole, and especially the plainness of flat-boarded facades, were relieved by
[8]
Salem Architecture
imposing pilaster treatments ; flat roofs were decked with balustrades, and hip roofs terminated in orna- mental cupolas or balustraded belvederes ; columned and pedimented porches shielded the doorways ; architrave casings of doors and windows, both inside and outside, were elaborated by completing the entablature with cornice and frieze to form an orna- mental head ; cornices with elegant hand-tooled moldings and often supported by modillions were placed under overhanging eaves and at the ceiling of interiors.
In the execution of this work, Salem architects and builders were quick to call to their aid the more accomplished of the wood-carvers employed in the local shipyards, then the largest in America. The previous training of these craftsmen and their skill in the use of sharp-edged tools made it an easy matter for them to adapt to their needs and execute in wood the moldings and other classic detail which their fellow workers across the sea were cutting in stone. Done in a masterly manner indicating in- telligent study as well as clever adaptation, the work in its translation to wood took on a lightness and grace which has come to be regarded as one of the principal charms of the Colonial work in this locality. Considering the crude tools of those days, one's
[9]
The W^ood-Carver of Salem
admiration for the nicety with which the fine-scale detail was cut need know no bounds, for it com- pares favorably with the finest handiwork of our most painstaking workmen of to-day. Even simple moldings had to be made with hand planes, while those bearing further enrichment were of necessity carved laboriously with gouges and other chisels.
In the free atmosphere of a new country virtually without local tradition, untrammeled by the letter of European precedent, and immediately influenced by the fanciful rope moldings and other flamboyant decorations then being prepared all about them for ship cabins, these wood-carvers and joiners succeeded in imparting to their work a delightful spontaneity and particular fitness ; it possesses distinguishing traits peculiar to itself. Even the neighboring towns do not anywhere, in work of the same period, dis- close several of the more distinctive motives of Salem's resourceful craftsmen. In admirable pro- portions her architecture is more highly refined ; in exceptional precision of workmanship more uni- form ; in decorative detail more delicate and chaste. But, above all else, it commands favorable attention for its frequent unconventionality and even novelty, combined with marked restraint and undeniable good taste. Not only did the Salem architects in-
[lo]
Plate IV. — Detail of Mantel in the Front Chamber of Mclntire's Home; Detail of Mantel in the Chamber where Mclntire died.
o
hX4
c
o
Salem Architecture
terpret the orders with considerable freedom, vary- ing the moldings, rearranging their relation one to another, and altering proportions for variety of ef- fect, but they neither hesitated to combine mold- ings from two orders in one entablature nor to substitute for any of them clever innovations of their own, which usually preserved virtually the same scale. Cornice and frieze were often utilized without the architrave, but it was chiefly in the bed-molding or dentil course underneath the corona of the cornice, whether outdoors or inside and however employed, that the more prominent alterations were made. In its resourceful initiative, the work of these men is more nearly creative and hence less interpretive than that of the early craftsmen of any other lo- cality. Not subservient to the classic orders as evolved by the ancients, nor yet as modified by the leaders of the Renaissance, they dominated them, cleverly molding them anew to meet their own radi- cally difi"erent needs, with the result that their work became more intimately an expression of its creators than did the Georgian in England.
These old mansions of Salem, representing the very flower of a remarkable architectural period, bespeak the earnest study of every prospective home builder. A visit to this quaintly picturesque city
The Wood-Carver of Salem
invariably moves the most blase student of archi- tecture to eloquence, yet to extol its praises amounts only to humming the chorus of the song. Whether one go to Salem or to one of the several other early American centers of wealth and culture for local color, it should not be forgotten that the prin- cipal theme is the Colonial style, now more securely rooted in popular esteem than ever before and more frequently influencing the character of the houses now being erected than any other guiding spirit. This happy outcome finds a more lively appreciation in that it corrects an aberration in the logical devel- opment of our building traditions.
It will be recalled that for half a century after the advent of the Greek revival, the Colonial style completely lost its power of appeal. Fads and fancies took the country by storm, but as the pro- cesses of our economic and social evolution ever turned our eyes backward to scrutinize the funda- mentals of our national life in the solution of the more complex problems of passing years, so the attempt to lift American architecture out of that slough of despond known as the Victorian period led archi- tects back surely and directly to the supreme achieve- ments of our early craftsmen, there to resume the perpetuation of a heritage as fine as that of any coun-
[12]
Salem Architecture
try, unless it be Greece itself. It was inevitable that the Colonial tradition should persist, but this was due as much to the development of a higher average mentality as to the efforts of architects, though they were naturally the leaders. Whereas just prior to the dawn of the present century the pioneers among them were accorded scant encourage- ment in their efforts to revive and adapt this archi- tecture of a bygone day, its advocacy now meets with genuine enthusiasm in most quarters. The whole people seems to respond to the magic word Colonial, and, stirred by a keener consciousness of the meaning of our nationality and quickened by a growing appreciation of its founders and early supporters, is finding a wholesome and appealing significance in the architecture of those brave days and likewise a prototype decidedly worthy of emu- lation. The dissensions engendered by the Civil War, also the unfortunate architectural delusions of that period, have been forgotten. We are now a people more strongly united than ever before in our history, and in architecture we have finally bridged the gap of intervening years and begun, as in all things else, to build for the future as well as the present upon the fundamentals of the past. In such measure do we accord to architecture a continuity
[13]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
as certain as that of the other fine arts In America, and by a rational, concerted national viewpoint do we lay the foundation for a strong and clearly defined American style ; a living style, ever sufficiently related to the past yet always susceptible of greater refinement and further adaptation to the spirit and needs of each successive generation ; a style that though old is yet ever new ; a style to which distin- guishing local traits may be imparted ; a style that lends itself to public and commercial as well as domestic uses.
Thus it may truthfully be said that the real American style now is, always has been, and prob- ably always will be Colonial. Inseparably wrapped up in our glorious history. It has become a conspicu- ous expression of our national life. Its delightful grace, repose, and dignity never fail to make direct appeal to every thinking person possessed of a keen sense of good design and proportion or a ready ap- preciation of our early traditions. In Colonial, rather than the styles brought from far afield, does one find complete fitness, absolute sincerity, and sheer beauty. Embracing the varied Renaissance ex- pressions of the Dutch and French as well as the English peoples in America, it evolved among us the one distinctive type of American architecture which
[h]
Salem Architecture
has aroused the admiration of the world ; it is ours, and we cherish it.
Of course the intrinsic merit which is perpetuating the Colonial style lies in its complete suitability and ready adaptability to new uses and present-day requirements, for happily they are becoming oftener the dictates of comfort than of ostentatious appear- ance, although Colonial motives possess that rare quality of seeming appropriate for either a mansion or a cottage when sympathetically interpreted. In- deed, it daily arouses our admiration anew, solving our ever more complex building problems gracefully and well when other styles fail, and ensuring a home of which the owner will not tire during a lifetime, and which his descendants will be proud to inherit.
The occasional criticism that the style is some- what restricted in its possibilities loses force when one considers not the examples in Salem or any one locality alone but the entire manifestation both in the North and the South. Surely no dearth of evi- dence exists to the effect that Colonial is varied enough for our purposes. Found from Maine to Louisiana, and differing considerably in the several localities, according to size, climatic conditions, constructive materials, and other personal influ- ences, it appeals to us more strongly than any
[15]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
style derived from other sources. How similar yet how different are the New England lean-to, the square Salem town house, the gambrel-roof cottage of the Dutch middle colonies, the hooded, gable-roof Pennsylvania farmhouse, and the stately, porticoed plantation mansion of the South. Despite the similarity and relatively small number of motives, how varied are the effects of altered detail, scale, and arrangement as applied to structures of differing outline, mass, and constructive material. The marked absence of monotony in Salem, for instance, where everything of consequence is Colonial, indi- cates beyond question that any occurrence of monot- onous similarity in neighboring houses must ever be ascribed to the unresourcefulness of the architect rather than to a restricted medium of expression. In fact, whatever one's preference as to local color, and whether one go to Salem or elsewhere for the scale and proportion of the detail, this much is cer- tain, that those basic motives from which the Colonial style springs live as surely to-day as they did over a century ago, and, thanks to the wisdom of our fore- most architects, will continue to live in the hearts, the minds, and the sight of true Americans.
[i6]
Plate VI. — Mclntire's Gravestone, Charter Street Burial Ground.
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CHAPTER II
SAMUEL AND THE OTHER McINTIRES
OF the many Salem craftsmen in wood, most of them long since forgotten, one family of wood-carvers, joiners, and housewrights, named Mclntire, whose skill descended through several generations, stands forth conspicuously because of a genius among them named Samuel. The son of Joseph and Sarah (Ruck) Mclntire, Samuel was born January i6, 1757, in the gambrel-roof house at the corner of Mill and Norman Streets, Salem, now considerably remodeled and numbered 2 and 4 Mill Street. This house had been built by his father, himself a housewright, so that Samuel was bom and came to man's estate in the atmosphere of his father's work. In his father's shop he learned the trade of carpenter and joiner and, as the result of persevering application with his tools and of culti- vating his inherent sense of design through persist- ent study of the classic masters, he became probably
[17]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
the most highly skilled American wood-carver of his time.
These were exciting years in our national history and that through their influence Mclntire became ardently patriotic and a staunch supporter of those fine principles of liberty, of justice, and of humanity, to which we as a people have been devoted from the first, is indicated by the impulse which prompted him to excel in carving that symbol of American ideals, the eagle, and to exalt the national consciousness as well as to exhibit his own loyalty by its frequent use in a variety of ways wherever consistent with the work in hand.
Spurred by the hearty praise and constant encour- agement of Rev. William Bentley, historian and pastor of the East Church, Mclntire was finally induced to carry his carving to the point of assaying his skill in the field of sculpture in its true sense. His several modest achievements in this direction showed great promise, and had he lived this versatile man would doubtless have won renown in this de- partment of the fine arts also. His bust of Governor Winthrop, carved in wood in 1789 for Doctor Bentley, and now in the possession of the American Anti- quarian Society, is no mean achievement, and the complete ornamental figure of a reaper, surmounting
[18]
Samuel and the other Mclntires
the roof of the summerhouse formerly on the Elias Haskett Derby farm in Danvers, compares favor- ably with most similar work in plaster or marble. Referring to the sculptors who at various periods have made enviable names for themselves in Salem, Felt in his "Annals of Salem" writes :
"Among our later sculptors, Samuel Mclntire was noted. He died 1811, aged 54. So was his brother Joseph, who deceased June 11, 1825. The son of the latter, who still survives (1849), has exhibited a similar genius."
The education of Samuel Mclntire's boyhood was meager and did not exceed that of his fellows, but, like others whom the world has heard from, this did not deter him. Realizing that the ability to read opens all doors to a determined mind, the thirst for knowledge led him to spend much of what he could earn for books that he might familiarize himself as nearly as possible with some of those things which his lack of a college education and his inability to travel had denied him. With few exceptions these dearly bought volumes were devoted to the fine arts, and he made the most of them, studying every page repeatedly with increasing comprehension, making their precepts his ideals, and translating them into terms of his own craftsmanship.
[19]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
In 1777 his father died intestate, and Samuel, for a consideration, released all rights to his father's property, which was apportioned among his mother, Sarah (Ruck) Mclntire, his two aunts, Deborah and Mahitable Mclntire, and his brothers Joseph and Angler. Joseph succeeded to the business of his father, and the following year, August 31, 1778, Samuel married Elizabeth Field, the ceremony being performed by Rev. Thomas Barnard, pastor of the North Church and the hero of the North Bridge incident referred to elsewhere. Quickened by the loving encouragement of a congenial helpmate, his meteoric career then began in very earnest, first as a carver, then as a designer, and finally as an archi- tect. In 1782 we find him the architect of the Plerce- Johonnot-NIchols house, one of his greatest works, and from that time until his death, nearly thirty years later, according to Rev. William Bentley, he domi- nated the architecture of Salem. That he could have reached this third and ultimate stage of his career within five years from the Inception of his independ- ent enterprise and at the age of twenty-five speaks eloquently of the thorough training of his father as well as of his own aptitude, determination, and energy.
But those were ambitious days for the youth of Salem; the wonderful exploits of her more adven-
[ao]
Samuel and the other Mc In tires
turous sons at sea set a pace which those at home could match only by the utmost of persistent en- deavor. When one recalls that Benjamin W. Crown- inshield, who finally became Secretary of the Navy, and his three brothers each sailed his own ship at the age of twenty, one begins to comprehend the spirit of do and dare which developed at home the statesmen, jurists, writers, educators, architects, painters, sculptors, and musicians, who, with her merchants and sea captains, won for Salem the re- nown and unique place she has always occupied in the annals of New England and of the nation.
Once established in his career, Mclntire bought the modest, three-story, gable-roof house at Number 31 Summer Street which had been built in 1780 and there he lived until his death. He was too busy with the commissions of others to build for himself such a home as he might have liked, and no record or tradi- tion tells whether he improved this house to any considerable extent. The charming mantels re- semble his work, and the stairway, doors, and other wood finish, although of the utmost simplicity, possess a certain quaint distinction that pleases the eye; had it been otherwise they would doubt- less have offended his sensitive taste and been re- placed. The front of the third story was Mclntire's
[21]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
music room, its coved ceiling under the roof probably being his own idea. Here he had his organ and other musical instruments, and that it was the best room of the house and the place where he entertained his friends is shown by the inventory of his effects at the time of his death which appraises the chairs at a higher value than those of the parlor on the first floor.
In the rear of his house stood the shop where most of the wood finish and exquisite carving for Mclntire's houses were prepared. About 1840 this building was moved to Tapleyville, Danvers, and built into a dwelling there.
A third dwelling still standing in Salem is of much interest in connection with the life of Mclntire. Then the home of Samuel Field, it was in the house at Number 90 Washington Street that Mclntire courted and married Field's daughter Elizabeth. The records show that for about five years, from 1785 to 1790, Mclntire held a mortgage on the front half of this house. The lower front room was then occupied as an insurance ofiice, and here Mclntire probably transacted much of his business, for an insurance company in those days was an associa- tion of merchants, and his frequent presence there brought him in touch with the leading men of Salem,
Plate VIII. — Summer House formerly on Elias Haskett Derby's
Peabodv Farm.
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by whom he was employed. With the construc- tion of the Courthouse near by and his other resi- dential work, Mclntire was exceedingly busy during that period and much in need of an office near the center of the town's business section. Elias Has- kett Derby then lived at Number 70 Washington Street, only two estates north on the same side, and with thoughts of his future mansion maturing in his mind, was probably watching Mclntire's develop- ment with interest. Derby's patronage continued throughout his life and meant much to Mclntire even after Derby's death, for the Derbys, Crownin- shields, Peabodys, Wests, and other prominent families were closely related by marriage and inclined to follow the lead of the senior Derby.
That every rung in Mclntire's remarkable ladder of achievement was sound and represented the direct result of real merit and genuine progress can be shown readily. It is generally conceded that the best carving of Mclntire's time was done in Salem ; contemporary critics so referred to it, as may be seen in many old books, magazines, and newspapers. Certainly nothing to excel it in quantity, quality, and variety has been found elsewhere, and thanks to the enduring character of white pine, these merits need not be taken as a matter of hearsay but may be
[^3]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
corroborated by any appreciative person who will visit this quaint city. Mclntire is the one name which has persisted to this day in connection with the best of this work, so it may be said with justice that he was probably the greatest American carver of his time. As evidenced by quotations which follow later in this chapter, he was so regarded by writers of that period. Even to-day his work needs no written encomiums ; its delicacy and precision speak for themselves to every competent observer.
As a designer Mclntire stood second to none in America. We find even our foremost designers of the present day and students of things Colonial sitting at the feet, as it were, of this master crafts- man of a century ago — this man of the chisel, the plane, and the saw — whose workroom was graced by no institutional diploma, yet who by his rare skill in the use of tools and his innate good taste demonstrated the beneficial influence of a sympa- thetic relation and intimate working knowledge be- tween artist and artisan. Obviously the man who can execute his own designs in a superlative manner becomes potentially the greater designer, and so with Mclntire. He realized both the extent and limitations of his medium ; likewise he appreciated the capabilities of his men and knew by actual ex-
Samuel and the other Mclntires
perience the restrictions imposed by even the best tools available in those days. And with this knowl- edge he had the clever common sense never to court failure by attempting to exceed the confines of either. While he demonstrated again and again his own per- sonal ability to carve even at very fine scale with a delicacy of execution equal to that of the best sculp- tors in clay, he himself could tool only a small frac- tion of the decorative material required for the hundred or so houses which were built or improved under his direction during the thirty years of his practice. The time and expense would have been prohibitive, and he naturally welcomed the advent of applied stucco, composition, or French putty pre- pared from casts or molds after the Adam manner as a means to attain greater delicacy of detail and precision of workmanship more quickly and at smaller cost. When glued in place and painted, the applied pieces could not be distinguished from the wood, so that it combined well with the hand-planed and carved moldings. Most of this applied work was im- ported from England, but several motives not to be found in other than Mclntire's houses so resemble some of his carvings in wood as to lend color to the conclusion that they may have been cast from de- signs or actual carvings by him. It is not unrea-
[25]
The Jf^ood-Carver of Salem
sonable to suppose that his creative ability stood him in good stead here as in working out new mold- ings, and certainly the detailed plan of carved mold- ings and applied work for the oval room of the Elias Haskett Derby mansion indicates that he gave close attention to the composition of this ornamental detail. That he so quickly grasped the possibilities of this new art and so intelligently made it part of his own work discloses a keen understanding of his trade and remarkable foresight as well, for this method has stood the test of time and to-day is more widely used than ever. In this, as in his hand- tooled work, it is the exceptionally pleasing propor- tions which have so strongly appealed to architects. A subtle balance is always maintained between plain surface and rich decoration, and as compared with other contemporary work in Salem and elsewhere his displays greater refinement of detail and a generally lighter and more graceful effect ; always it was delicate without weakness and rich without ostentation.
Although at the outset Mclntire executed most of his decorative woodwork himself, this became impossible as his practice broadened to include the functions of designer and architect, and he began to depend more and more upon the craftsmanship of
[26]
Samuel and the other Mclntires
his two brothers, Joseph, nine years his senior, and Angier, two years his junior, who were housewrights — that is carpenters and master builders, — his own son, Samuel F. Mclntire, and his brother Joseph's son, Joseph, both of whom were accom- plished carvers. The magnificent east parlor of the Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols house, best known and most admired of all his artistry, probably represents the work of all five Mclntires, four craftsmen working under the direction of Samuel, the designer, archi- tect, and master craftsmen of them all. The same is doubtless true of the Elias Haskett Derby mansion, the Tucker-Rice house, the Derby-Crown- inshield-Rogers house, and "Oak Hill." In none of these will be found anything conventionally classic as a whole. Greek and Roman detail was intelli- gently varied and recombined in a manner to elicit enthusiastic commendation for individuality in de- sign, good taste, and resourcefulness in adaptation. The tendency on the part of a few writers of the present day to deny to Mclntire the full measure of credit due him for his achievements, to state, as some have done, that he was hardly an architect but merely a clever carver and builder, or to infer that he cannot be regarded as a great architect be- cause of the trifling fact that all his houses were of
[^7]
The ff^ood-Carver of Salem
the three-story square type and built in the vicinity of Salem, betokens no intent to do his memory in- justice ; rather it betrays a woeful ignorance of the written records regarding the man and his accom- plishments, of which there is a considerable number in the literature of his day and the legal records of Salem.
To say that he is our foremost Colonial architect of domestic buildings is a strong statement indeed, yet what other designer of this period did so much work as well ? To dispute that in this field Mclntire's eminence equals that of Bulfinch in public buildings presents a task which one may well hesitate to attempt. That few encyclopaedias and library catalogs even list his name and only fugitive references are to be found in books of Colo- nial architecture belittles his work not at all. Un- like Bulfinch, who had a daughter to collect, preserve, and publish most of the papers her father ever touched pen to, Mclntire had no one to herald him upon his death, with the result that the facts have become buried in the old records of Salem, and no one has taken the time and trouble to dig them out except a few antiquaries. Yet, despite the oblivion into which his life had passed, the beautiful, refined architecture of Salem and vicinity,
[18]
Plate X. — Basement and Street Floor Plans of an unknown house
bv Mclntire.
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Plate XI. — Chamber and Street Floor Plans of unknown houses bv Mclntire.
Samuel and the other Mclntires
as planned, designed, and hand-tooled by Mclntire with the assistance of his relatives, stands as an en- during monument which requires no written eulogy, for it is known through the medium of photographs to fully a thousand prominent architects in all parts of the country who have admired, studied, and adapted its splendid motives and superb detail to their needs. His doorways, chimney pieces, and other wood trim have furnished the inspiration for more of the best modern Colonial houses than the work of any other one man. Through this medium and the appearance of a few recent magazine articles by the authors and others, interested laymen are also beginning to know and appreciate Mclntire's genius so that a permanent record of his name in the honored place it deserves in the early history of American architecture now seems assured.
Mclntire's exceptional ability as an architect cannot be questioned when Rev. William Bentley's diary, Mclntire's gravestone, and the obituary no- tices in The Essex Register and The Salem Gazette, all quoted later in this chapter, refer to Mclntire's talents as an architect. The Historical Collection of the Essex Institute has references to his work as an architect far too numerous to quote, and those who will take the trouble to examine the records at
[29]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
City Hall will find that Joseph Cloutman, town clerk, made the following entry :
Age ^4. Mr. Samuel Mclntire, carver " The Architect oj Salem "
Bentley wrote in his diary that upon the death of Mclntire, "no man is left to be consulted upon a new plan of execution beyond his bare practice ", and in corroboration of this, Bulfinch designed the Essex Bank, now the house of The Salem Fraternity, in 181 1, and the Almshouse in 18 16. The former, the oldest boys' club in the country, was organized in 1869 to provide evening instruction and whole- some amusement for those who "being confined to their work during the day need recreation at the end of their labors." In addition to physical training and general education, there are classes devoted to many of the principal arts and crafts, a well filled library and reading room. One cannot but think what such privileges would have meant to Mclntire had they existed during his boyhood.
These two buildings, the only ones designed by Bulfinch in Salem, emphasize the loss Mclntire's death meant to the community. Indeed, it may rightly be regarded as a significant fact that the creative influence of the Mclntire family upon the
[jo]
Samuel and the other Mclntires
architecture of Salem ended with the death of Mclntire's son, Samuel F., in 1819, and that nothing of note belonging to this period was built after 1818. Felt's "Annals of Salem" and The Massachusetts Magazine for March, 1790, both contain the state- ment that Mclntire was the architect of the Court- house of 1785, his plans being executed by Daniel Bancroft. Rev. C. C. Beaman writes in the His- torical Collection of the Essex Institute that Mclntire was the architect of the Branch Meeting House and named the seven master carpenters who executed separate parts of the work on contract. In an old letter Perley Putnam states that the Nathan Read house was designed by Samuel Mclntire and built by his brother Joseph and other carpenters.
Mclntire's plans preserved at the Essex Institute, and those of the proposed national capitol in the possession of the Maryland Historical Society, many of them signed and all bearing hand-writing easily identified as his, also indicate his activities as an architect. Although upon comparison with mod- ern building plans Mclntire's draftsmanship may seem crude and his small-scale floor plans and simple elevations, devoted chiefly to mass, fenestration, and the principal doorway, cornice, balustrade, and other ornament may appear somewhat incomplete,
[3']
The Wood-Carver of Salem
it must be remembered that the architect's calling had not then become the highly specialized profes- sion it now is. Every architect was then primarily a craftsman, a carver, a joiner, or housewright as well as a designer, and often himself the man to execute the designs, and was thus less in need of details carefully laid out to scale ; always the work was done under the direct supervision of the archi- tect.
Being primarily a carver, Mclntire left the erec- tion of the structure itself to such successful house- wrights as his brothers, Joseph and Angier, and de- voted himself chiefly to the design and preparation of the wood trim and other ornamental features which were made in his own shop by skilled carvers and joiners, among whom his son, Samuel F., and his nephew, Joseph, finally took the lead, often revealing skill almost equal to his own. There is no evi- dence that Samuel Mclntire was a builder or con- tractor in the modem sense ; but he was virtually an architect in the modern sense and a designer and and carver of note as well. His work as an architect calls for no apology ; neither can his claim to great- ness be denied because his houses were all of the square type. In this he was following the tendency of the time throughout New England, and what the
[3^]
Samuel and the other Mclntires
type lacked in picturesqueness of line and mass he supplied in variety of embellishment as seen in his doorways, porches, windows, cornices, roofs, and occasional pilaster treatment of the fagade. The adoption of brick in his later work considerably broadened its scope, and he demonstrated also that variety can be obtained even in the so-called square house by variation of the floor plan, sometimes actually square, as in the Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols house, again rectangular and broadside to the street, as in the Clifford Crowinshield house, or rectangular and end to the street, as in the Josiah Dow house. In this latter instance the ell and outbuildings ad- join the end of the main house and elongate the rec- tangular arrangement, whereas in the Gardner- White-Pingree house, for instance, which stands broadside to the street, they adjoin the broad rear side.
Mclntire proved his versatility by his public work, to which the last chapter of this volume is devoted. True, his activities in this as well as in the domestic field were confined to Salem and its vicinity, and therein lies much to his credit. To be so highly appreciated at home in itself meant much ; he found all he could reasonably attempt to do in Salem, and as it was then our greatest port of entry and in
The Wood-Carver of Salem
every way important as a civic center, why need he look elsewhere ? So far as is known, his com- petitive plan for the national capitol at Washing- ton was his only attempt to do so. Other unsuccess- ful competing architects were Benjamin Henry Latrobe and Charles Bulfinch who in turn super- vised the building of the capitol as designed and begun by Doctor William Thornton, and it is fair to presume that had he lived Mclntire also would eventually have had an active part in its comple- tion and enlargement.
While, as already stated, there appears to be no definite proof of Mclntire's having designed any house or other building beyond the confines of the old township of Salem, one occasionally sees noble structures in New England seaport towns that must have been his work or inspired by it. The best builders came to Salem from all parts of Massachu- setts and New Hampshire to seek inspiration, and many of the less versatile did not hesitate to copy his detail outright. As an instance in point, the visitor to Portsmouth, New Hampshire, will find in Middle Street a large, square house with a pilaster treatment of the facade so like that of the Derby- Crowninshield-Rogers house in Salem as at least to suggest Mclntire influence.
[34]
Plate XII. — Window Head from Elias Haskett Derby Mansion, and other woodwork preserved at the Essex Institute.
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Samuel and the other Mclntires
One likes to look into the face of such a man and read his character as his life has written it there, but unfortunately no painting or other portrait of Mclntire is known to exist. The most illuminating picture of him is found in the written words of his warm friend, wise counselor, and stanch advocate, Rev. William Bentley, pastor of the East Church, Salem, who, on February 7, 181 1, the day after Mclntire's death, wrote in his diary as follows :
"This day Salem is deprived of one of the most ingenious men it had in it. Samuel Mclntire, aet. 54, in Summer street. He was descended of a family of Carpenters who had no claims on public favor and was educated at a branch of that business. By attention he soon gained a superiority to all of his occupation and the present Court House, the North and South Meeting houses, and indeed all the im- provements of Salem for nearly thirty years past have been under his eye. In Sculpture he had no rival in New England and I possess some specimens which I should not scruple to compare with any I ever saw. To the best of my abilities I encouraged him in this branch. In music he had a good taste and tho' not presuming to be an original composer, he was among our best Judges and most able per- formers. All the instruments we use he could
[3J3
The Wood-Carver of Salem
understand and was the best person to be employed in correcting any defects, or repairing them. He had a fine person, a majestic appearance, calm countenance, great self command and amiable tem- per. He was welcome but never intruded. He had complained of some obstruction in the chest, but when he died it was unexpectedly. The late in- crease of workmen in wood has been from the de- mand for exportation and this has added nothing to the character and reputation of the workman, so that upon the death of Mr. Mclntire no man is left to be consulted upon a new plan of execution be- yond his bare practice."
The following day, February 8, 1811, a notice of his death appeared in The Salem Gazette which in- dicated the high esteem in which Mclntire was held by the community at large :
"In this town, Mr. Samuel M'Intire, carver, age 54 years — a man very much beloved and sincerely lamented. His funeral will be from his late dwelling house in Summer Street, at 3 o'clock Saturday after- noon, where his relations and friends are requested to attend.
"We have received a just and respectful tribute, from one who knew him well, to the genius and vir- tues of the deceased and lamented Mr. MTntire.
[36]
Samuel and the other Mclntires
We regret that it comes too late for insertion this day, but we shall most cordially give it place in our next."
In similar vein, the following appeared in The Essex Register of February 9, 181 1 :
"In this town, Mr. Samuel M'Intire, aged 54. His talents in architecture, sculpture and music were distinguished. His manners combined suavity, pu- rity and firm character. His industry, usefulness and consistent virtues gave him an uncommon share of the affections of all who knew him. By his own well directed energies he became one of the best of men. His funeral will be from his late dwelling house in Summer Street at 3 o'clock on Monday afternoon, if fair weather. If not the next fair day, which his friends and relatives are requested to at- tend."
On February 12, 181 1 the promised "tribute", written by a very intimate friend, appeared in The Salem Gazette, throwing interesting additional side- lights on Mclntire's character as follows :
"OBITUARY NOTICE.
"Of the late and lamented Mr. M'Intire neces- sarily omitted in our last.
"Mr. M'Intire was originally bred to the occupa-
[37]
The JVood-Carver of Salem
tion of a housewrlght, but his vigorous mind soon passed the ordinary limits of his profession, and aspired to the highest departments of the interesting and admirable science of architecture, in which he had advanced with a steady and sure step far beyond most of his countrymen. To a delicate native taste in this art, he had united a high degree of that polish which can only be acquired by an assiduous study of the great classical masters ; with whose works, notwithstanding their rarity in this country, Mr. M. had a very intimate acquaintance. His native town (as well as other places) is enriched with many memorials in this art, whose excellences now, alas ! only serve to sharpen the regret of the beholder for the loss of their author. He had also made a profession of the kindred art of sculpture, in which he had arrived at a very distinguished rank.
"The uncommon native genius of Mr. M. displayed itself in many subjects not connected with his profes- sional pursuits ; and in the various objects to which his unerring taste directed him, he never failed of reach- ing a degree of excellence that would have been honorable to a professed artist. He sometimes employed himself in drawing ; he had an admirable musical taste, and was a good performer of instru- mental as well as vocal music. Thoroughly ac-
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Samuel and the other Mclntires
quainted with the principles of various musical in- struments, in the construction of them, particularly the organ, the most harmonious of all, he was directed by an ear of exquisite nicety, and an exact- ness of mechanism that ensured success. Even on subjects of literature his casual observations evinced a degree of knowledge that surprised all who were acquainted with the variety of his professional and other pursuits. — To these attainments (and these, notwithstanding he had been obliged to struggle against the want of an early education, were not all he possessed) he united an unaffected native polite- ness, and a mildness of deportment, which delighted all who enjoyed his acquaintance. With these rare endowments of the mind, he possessed the best feelings of the heart ; and his exertions in the cause of humanity (in rescuing a child from drowning) probably laid the foundation of that disease which had afflicted him for many years, and terminated his life. Conspicuous among all these excellences shone his unassuming modesty, his sterling integrity and his ardent piety."
Mclntire was laid to rest in the historic Charter Street Burial Ground, the oldest in Salem, where lie most of those who figured prominently in her early history. His gravestone of dark gray slate, like
The IVood-Carver of Salem
others of the time, bears a quaint inscription of com- prehensive brevity, corroborating the opinions of him already expressed :
In Memory of Mr. Samuel Mclntire, who died Feb. 6, i8ii ; ^t. 54. He was distinguished for Genius in Architecture, Sculpture, and Musick : Modest and sweet Manners rendered him pleasing : Industry and Integrity respectable : He professed the Religion of Jesus in his entrance on manly life ; and proved its excellence by virtuous Principles and unblemished conduct
Like his father, Mclntire died intestate, his wife inheriting the property, and his son, Samuel F., continuing the business of carving and woodworking, as indicated by the following interesting advertise- ment which appeared in The Salem Gazette of April
30, 1811 :
For Sale
Sundry Articles belonging to the estate of Samuel
M'Intire, deceased, — VIZ.
I elegant Barrel Organ, 6 feet high, 10 barrels ; I wind chest for an organ ; Encyclopedia complete ; Paladia Architecture, best kind ;
1 Ware's do ; i Paine's do.
2 vols. French Architecture
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Samuel and the other Mclntires
I large Book Antique Statues, excellent ;
Lock Hospital Collection of Music ;
Handel's Messiah in score ;
Magdalen Hymns ; Massachusetts Compiler ;
I excellent toned Spinnet,
I excellent Violin and case
I eight day Clock, Mahogany case ;
12 prints of the Seasons ;
I book drawings of Ships ;
1 large head of Washington ; Number of Busts of the Poets ;
2 Figures of Hercules, 2 feet high ;
I Head of Franklin, and Pillar for a Sign ;
Composition ornaments ;
Number of Moulding Planes and
sundry other Articles. Apply to
Elizabeth M'Intire Adm'x
or to Samuel F. M'Intire Att'y
N. B. The subscriber carries on Carving as usual at the Shop of the deceased, in Summer Street where he will be glad to receive orders in that line. He re- turns thanks for past favors. April 30, 181 1 Samuel F. M'Intire.
Incidentally this corroborates Bentley's obituary and is particularly interesting as a partial list of Mclntire's library. In addition to the works men- tioned, the inventory of Mclntire's property pre- pared by his executors includes Langley's "Archi- tecture", "Directory of Arts and Sciences", "New Version of New Testament", Goldsmith's "Animated Nature", Josephus' "History", and Sandys' "Trav-
[41]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
els." This inventory contains many other items of interest and may be read in full at the Essex County Probate Courthouse, book 380, page 367. It discloses the surprising fact that despite the amount and character of Mclntire's prolific work, he enjoyed only moderate circumstances at the time of his death. Architecture did not command mu- nificent fees in those days, and like many persons of artistic temperament he possessed creative ability but little capacity for accumulating money. Mc- Intire was also generous to a fault and ever ready to help the unfortunate whom chance threw in his way. None of his relatives attained so great earn- ing power, and there is reason to believe that he may have contributed largely in certain instances toward the betterment of their home conditions. His house and shop were appraised at three thousand dollars, probably an undervaluation, his personal property at eleven hundred and ninety dollars in addition to nine hundred and sixty-three dollars in notes. His shop was found to contain the largest equipment of carver's, joiner's, and draughtsman's tools of his time, including three hundred chisels and gouges, forty-six molding planes, and twenty large planes. A few of these tools are preserved at the Essex Institute and an examination of them redoubles
[4^]
Samuel and the other Mclntires
one's admiration for the nicety of the work done with them.
Thus Mclntire was born, lived his busy life, and died in Salem, yet he was not provincial. He never saw the best examples of Georgian architecture in England, but despite this seeming restriction and the fact that his activities were all in and about his native town, his work became favorably and for- ever known throughout America and even across the water, for in those days Salem was known around the globe. It has been said that he was the artistic descendant of Inigo Jones, Sir Christopher Wren, Grinling Gibbons, and the brothers Adam. So he was, and much besides. His designs are more chaste and classic than those of Wren and Gibbons, more original and Imaginative than those of the brothers Adam. That his Is Incomparably more interesting than similar contemporaneous work else- where in America is due at once to his skill with tools, his mental refinement, and his native Inge- nuity. A man of inherent good taste and a keen sense of proportion, qualities that architects of academic training have often lacked, he had the great ad- vantage of being able to design with the fullness of working knowledge and experience. In its pains- taking thoroughness his admirable craftsmanship
[43]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
displays a personal pride in his work, an instinct always to do his best conscientiously for its own sake that was more nearly akin to the religious fervor which built the great cathedrals of the Middle Ages than anything known to us at present in America. Indeed, he seemed to work more directly under the strong impulse of the Renaissance, when designers reverted to the Roman classics of the fifth century, than did his more traveled and more highly educated contemporaries. The very fact that he never saw the great masterpieces of architecture appears to have sharpened and given freedom to his imagination.
Following the lead of English designers of his time less than other American workers, he oftener went back to original sources and adapted direct from Greek temples and Roman palaces, with modifica- tions and innovations of his own. Boldly conceived, strengthened and colored by the simplicity and vigor of local conditions, these novel and clever adapta- tions provide the distinguishing trait of what is in many respects the most notable collection of Colonial architecture — the architecture of Salem from 1782 to 181 1. Indeed, no other square mile in England or America embraces so large, so varied, or so pleas- ing an aggregation of the woodworker's art as was brought into being in thirty years by Samuel Mcln-
[44]
Samuel and the other Mclntires
tire. This carver, designer, and architect, this building genius of Salem, died in the prime of man- hood ; had he been granted a normal lifetime his record of achievement would doubtless have been a far more noble one. Nevertheless every living de- scendant of this versatile and prolific man may take just pride in the important role his ancestor played in the development of our national heritage in archi- tecture, for architects of the present day acknowl- edge that his woodwork presents a more domestic and delightful interpretation of Renaissance motives and therefore a more useful inspiration in modern work than any similar collection. In its freedom, refinement, lightness, and graceful dignity it is more acceptable ; as an expression of the true at- mosphere of the home and the gracious hospitality of the days of the early presidents, without any of its priggishness, it is more indicative.
[4J]
CHAPTER III
DOORWAYS AND PORCHES
JUST as one senses something of a man by the grasp of his hand, so does one pass first judg- ment upon a house by its doorway, for it is the dominant exterior feature, the keynote of the fagade. One never seems to disassociate a house from its en- trance, so that the front doorway becomes a primary consideration in every carefully conceived design for a home ; it must accord with and be worthy of the house, yet not overpower it. Narrow the proposi- tion down to our so-called Colonial style, and we become more than ever convinced that doorways, like men, have character and individuality and so when happily devised and carefully executed will lend distinction and charm to the building as a whole. Each is important, too, as the entrance to a home ; there a welcome is given and first impres- sions are received ; it seems to symbolize the house as a whole.
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Doorways and Porches
One has but to read history in order to realize that houses, even their doorways, reflect the char- acter of those for whom they were built. The wel- coming doorways of Salem are clothed with an inde- finable something — call it atmosphere, what you will — not to be found elsewhere. Salem doorways are as broad as her merchant princes were hospitable and cultured ; they seem to express a sincere spirit of democracy born of the refining influences of exten- sive foreign travel. Of course Salem has other door- ways, such as the enclosed porch and the door with- out accompanying glasswork, but the wide, solid wood door with leaded side lights and elliptical fanlight, comprising one of the most attractive of the distinc- tive Colonial motives, is typical, as indicated by a critical study of the work of Salem's great architect.
Numerous exceptions exist, however, and the doorway of the Eden-Brown house at Number 40 Summer Street, added by Mclntire in 1804 to a house then over forty years old, illustrates the occa- sional use of a simple elliptical fanlight without side lights. The original house was erected in 1762 for Thomas Eden, the first signer of the Salem Marine Society, established in 1766, who was a partner of that rich Marblehead merchant, Robert (commonly known as "King") Hooper because of his Tory
[47]
The Wood-Carver oj Salem
proclivities and the fact that his beautiful country home, "The Lindens ", in Danvers, was occupied by General Gage as a summer residence in 1774, while he was governor of the province of Massa- chusetts.
The architectural treatment of the Summer Street house recalls that given by Mclntire four years pre- vious to the enclosed porch of the Benjamin Pick- man house on Essex Street, to which detailed refer- ence will be made later in this chapter. The reeded pilasters and the festooned drapery, carved out of wood, closely resemble those of the other doorway, but here the oval florets are used as frieze spots on the pilasters and the dentil course of the cornice has been enriched by fine-scale cuttings — one ver- tical flute on the face of each dentil and two horizon- tal flutes on each side. Unfortunately, inappro- priate modern doors mar the original effect.
It is a thoughtful host who provides shelter from sun and storm until his guest can be admitted, and Salem's welcome often includes the sheltering porch as well as the welcoming doorway with its friendly side lights. Such entrances possess characteristics of charm and distinction not seen elsewhere, due chiefly to their splendid proportions, refinement of detail, and precision of workmanship. Architec-
[48]
Plate XVI. — Peabodv-Silsbee Porch.
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Doorways and Porches
turally the porch serves a double purpose ; whereas it may lend picturesqueness to a small house, on a large house it relieves in a measure the severity of a three-story facade with many ranging windows.
Beginning with the exception rather than the rule, the Kimball house, Number 14 Pickman Street, abuts upon the sidewalk, with a porch roof over the four granite steps which rise directly from the brick pavement; there is no porch platform proper. As compared with the Eden-Brown doorway, one sees here the other extreme — the employment of side lights without a fanlight. These side lights with their square panes are of the simplest possible sort, the pleasing effect depending upon the well-propor- tioned door, the paneling over it, and the straight- hanging garlands on the door frame, reminiscent of the Cook-Oliver doorway, which will be described in a later chapter. Obviously, too, a porch renders any considerable embellishment of the doorway un- necessary, even superfluous. Effective simplicity characterizes this porch with its hand-carved Ionic capitals and typical entablature, conspicuous in which are the modillions under the corona with sections of fascia molding between.
Another much more elaborate instance of the Ionic porch may be seen on the Peabody-Silsbee
[49]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
house, Number 380 Essex Street, of interest histori- cally as the birthplace alike of Francis Peabody, a close personal friend of the late J. Pierpont Morgan, and of S. Endicott Peabody, one of the trustees of George Peabody, the London banker for whom Pea- body, Massachusetts, was named. This hip-roofed, three-story, square house, erected in 1797, of which Mclntire was the architect, is one of his best designs executed in brick. Both the deck roof and the bel- vedere on a hip roof, as in this instance, are but archi- tectural modifications of the earlier enclosed cupola so frequently a feature of the mansions of New England seacoast towns. In recent years the walls have been painted gray, but the keyed marble lintels and sills of the windows and the white-painted wood- work remain unchanged. Although strongly Ionic in feeling, the porch is absolutely unconventional, and throughout the entablature shows Mclntire's bent for freshening classic motives with new detail, or with classic detail employed in new ways. And strangely enough, despite his daring innovations, this porch is generally regarded as one of the best in Salem. Could there be a higher tribute to the genius and courage of its designer ? The fluted, nicely tapering columns, with the acanthus-leaf enrichment of the neck of the capitals below the
[50]
Plate XVIII. — Cornice, Eaves, and Balustraded Roof, Peabody- Silsbee House; Peabody-Silsbee Barn.
Plate XIX. — Porch of the Stearns House.
Doorways and Porches
usual volutes, impart a distinctly Roman aspect to the whole, yet the heavy, cubical Tuscan plinths were retained, and a strange, though none the less pleasing, note has been sounded by the guttae of the Doric order both on the architrave and the mutules under the corona of the cornice. A ball molding, a veritable triumph of hand carving, replaces the cus- tomary dentil course, yet gives the same effect of scale. Thus did Mclntire accomplish precedented things in unprecedented ways. The entire cornice has been repeated on a larger scale under the eaves of the house. Except for rosettes directly over the columns, the frieze is plain. The wooden door with its delicately molded panels and tiny corner orna- ments ; the artistic leaded fanlight and side lights, and the iron fence, stair rail, and balustrade over the porch, are all distinctive in the extreme and not surpassed by any similar work in Salem. As a whole, the effect seems actually to visualize the popular mental picture of a typical Colonial doorway.
A word may well be said in passing in regard to the stable in the rear, which, while rightly unas- suming, lives in complete accord with the house, as every outbuilding should.
Roman Doric feeling pervades the porch of the Stearns house, Number 384 Essex Street, despite
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The Wood-Carver of Salem
the cubical Tuscan plinths on which Mclntire's columns of whatever order almost invariably rested. This porch was added in 1785 to a dwelling erected in 1776, and in its pediment and entablature closely resembles the front porch of the Pierce-Johonnot- Nichols house, to which detailed reference will be made in another chapter. It differs, however, in the addition of flat pilasters at each side, which give in- creased breadth, weight, and dignity and so in modern adaptation render it better suited to public than domestic work, unless the house be one of large size and considerable pretension.
Because of the large number of rooms and their spaciousness, the square, three-story brick mansions of the early nineteenth century lend themselves ad- mirably to adaptation for use as semi-public institu- tions. Thus two splendid old dwellings, of which Mclntire was the architect, now serve as the Home for Aged Women and the Woman's Friend Society respectively.
The former, at Number 180 Derby Street, was originally the residence of Benjamin W. Crownin- shield, congressman and Secretary of the Navy under Presidents Madison and Monroe. When President Monroe made his tour of the North in 18 17, this house was prepared for his occupancy and placed at his
[5^]
Plate XX. — Porch ot the Hume tor Aged Women.
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Doorways and Porches
disposal during the four days of his stay in Salem. At a banquet tendered to him in the southeast room on July 9, Commodores Perry and Bainbridge, Gen- erals Miller and Dearborn, Senator Silsbee, Lieuten- ant-Governor William Gray, Judge Story, and other eminent men were present. Later the house became the residence of General James Miller while he was Collector of the Port from 1825 to 1849. He, it will be remembered, was the hero of Lundy's Lane, whose famous reply "I'll try, sir", was stamped on the buttons of his regiment by order of the government. In 1826, William C. Endicott, Secretary of War during Cleveland's first administration, was born here.
But it was through the generosity of a still later owner, Robert Brookhouse, a merchant who had amassed wealth in the African trade, that the house was donated outright to the Association for the Relief of Aged and Destitute Women, organized in i860 at the suggestion of Reverend Michael Carlton, city missionary. In 1896 further donations amount- ing to fifty thousand dollars were expended to enlarge the structure considerably.
This hip-roofed mansion is almost devoid of orna- mentation except for the marble lintels and sills of the windows and the doorways, which are Grecian
[53]
The JVood-Carver of Salem
Doric of the utmost simplicity and chaste appearance, depending almost entirely for their pleasing effect upon nicety of proportion rather than enrichment of detail, and so again demonstrating Mclntire's ver- satility. Solid wood doors, such as this, with care- fully spaced and attractively molded stiles and rails, or panels as the case may be, predominate in Salem, providing an effective background for handsome brass hardware. To the very breadth of the door, and especially to the use of glass about it, as in this instance, is due the pervading spirit of welcome. Side lights encourage intimacy like hands extended in greeting ; they increase the apparent breadth of the doorway and foretell a cheerful interior. With- out them, a solid wood door seems to raise a barrier of reserve and superiority ; the doorway seems nar- rower, and the fanlight indicates the desire for more illumination without the willingness to descend to the equality of the passer-by to obtain it. Who shall say, then, that in his choice of a doorway the prospective home builder does not reflect his own personality and mental attitude toward his fellow men ? Certainly his course is clear, whether he would encourage friendship with his neighbors or maintain toward them an attitude of distant exclu- siveness.
[J4]
Plate XXII. — Clifford Crowninshield House, erected in 1805; Pickman-Derby-Brookhouse Estate, erected in 1764.
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Doorways and Porches
Those who know the annals of Salem commerce will recall that the first Salem vessel to circumnavigate the globe was the Minerva, owned by Clifi^ord Crownin- shield and Nathaniel West. By such daring ventures did the former accumulate the wealth which made possible the erection of his home at Number 74 Washington Square in 1805. Aside from its ample size and excellent interior finish, it is really a hip- roofed dwelling of the utmost simplicity, and the porch over the front doorway afi'ords the only archi- tectural embellishment, other than the necessary windows, to break the great expanse of the facade. As a type, this entrance with its heavy Tuscan columns is the forerunner of the tasteful semi-oval porch which was evolved by Mclntire when he real- ized the possibilities of a slender interpretation of the Corinthian column and entablature. The simple grace of the fence, with its small, square posts, light, molded rail and base, and unique jig-sawed member between each five square pickets, provides an effec- tive foil for the severity of the house itself, the form it takes each side of the porch being especially appro- priate in this instance.
Two excellent examples of the semi-oval Corinthian porch just referred to may be compared as found on the Tucker-Rice house. Number 129 Essex Street,
[5S]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
erected in 1800, and in the Gardner- White-Pingree house, Number 128 Essex Street, erected in 18 10, both designed by Mclntire. The latter was, perhaps, Mclntire's last work. It is conceded to be his best brick house and contains remarkably fine interior finish. Exteriorly, by the ingenious expedient of applying broad, horizontal bands of white marble at each floor level, Mclntire demonstrated how simple a matter it is to relieve the severity of so high a fagade. These bands, together with the marble sills and keyed lintels of the many ranging windows, contribute much toward a seemingly broader front- age and so, like the foreshortened third-story win- dows, tend to reduce the apparent total height. A comparison of this with the Tucker-Rice house also discloses more fully the eifectiveness of a balustraded roof quite apart from its ornamental value. In- stead of increasing the seeming height, it has the very contrary effect, and by placing the roof line some- what below the absolute top of the structure causes the whole mass to look lower.
The Tucker-Rice porch was much admired by Professor Eleazer B. Homer, of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology summer school, who told his class in 1895, while in Salem, that it was the best proportioned porch in the city. And so it remains
[56]
Plate XXIV. — Porch of the Tucker-Rice House.
Plate XXV. — Tucker-Rice House, erected in 1800; Detail of
Porch.
Doorways and Porches
to-day, although its former beauty of ensemble has been marred by the substitution of inappropriate modern doors and surrounding glasswork. Its neighbor across the street, however, still displays the charming, original leaded glass and the quaint door, three panels wide, which became such a popular feature of the doorways of 1818, but the columns of this porch are not fluted in the characteristic Corinthian manner. As one sees these porches to- day, the ideal lies in a mental composite of the two, which would be very nearly what the Tucker-Rice porch originally was. Indeed, despite the elabora- tion of the type by the builders of 1818, nothing was accomplished to surpass this supreme achievement in grace, delicacy, and refinement ; the detail is almost beyond criticism and the proportions such as to make instant appeal to any seeing eye.
Other differences occur in the entablatures, the moldings of the Tucker-Rice porch being worked to a finer scale, though in this it adheres less closely to precedent. It will be seen that in each instance the cornice with its jig-sawed modillions has been repeated on a larger scale under the eaves of the house. The iron fences and stair rails interest the antiquary as contrasting the wrought iron of the older house with the cast iron of the newer. The
[57]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
former repeats well-known Florentine motives al- ways welcome, whereas the latter bespeaks admira- tion for the apparent stability, yet light and decora- tive effect, of the square, openwork gateposts. Both the Tucker-Rice doorway and porch are now pre- served on the grounds of the Essex Institute, the lower floor recently having been remodeled.
The semi-oval porch was also a feature of two other notable houses of Mclntire design no longer in exist- ence. One of these, shown by an old print repro- duced on another page, stood on the site now occupied by the museum building of the Essex Institute, which, before the extensive alterations of 1906, had been Plummer Hall, the quarters of the Salem Athenaeum. Few spots in this historic city recall as many inter- esting associations with the events and personages of bygone days. Here was located the house of Emanuel Downing who married a sister of Governor John Winthrop. Downing Street, London, now a synonym for the official residence of the Prime Minister, was named for their son, George Downing, the diplomatist, while Downing College, Cambridge, derived its name from his grandson. George Down- ing's daughter married Captain Joseph Gardner, the "Fighting Joe" of the Narraganset wars. From this very house he set forth for the "Great Swamp
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Fight" in 1675, during which he was killed. His widow married Governor Simon Bradstreet who lived here in his old age and died here. In later years this estate was for generations the homestead of the famous Bowditch family until the last dwelling on the site was built from plans by Mclntire in 1790 for Honorable Nathan Read, a congressman. On May 4, 1796, William Hickling Prescott, the histo- rian, whose " Conquest of Mexico " is known to most readers of the English language, was born in this house, which in 1799 became the residence of Cap- tain Joseph Peabody, a wealthy merchant prominent in the Calcutta trade, whose ship George made twenty-one voyages to that port, ^651,743.32 in duties being paid into the Salem Custom-house on her cargoes. It was upon the death of Captain Peabody's widow that the estate was purchased by the Salem Athenaeum. The old mansion was razed in 1856, and Plummer Hall was erected in 1857. The other Mclntire house, formerly at Number 151 Lafayette Street, was built for Josiah Dow in 1787, and was afterwards known as the Osgood estate. In later years it was occupied by John F. Hurley, a recent mayor of Salem, until razed in 1909 to make way for the French Catholic Parish House. The original house of brick, three stories high and hip-
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The Wood-Carver of Salem
roofed, was one of those picturesque, end-to-the- street arrangements, with the front door opening upon the yard at one side, and the ell, shed, and barn with their arched doorways and balustraded roof rambling away to the rear. The white marble sills and keyed lintels of the twelve-paned Georgian windows lent character, dignity, and scale to the ex- terior, and its crowning feature, the entrance — porch and doorway — was evidently done by Mc- Intire in the fullness of his artistic powers. The door, topped and flanked with delightful leaded glasswork, possesses all the chaste and delightful charm of the Benjamin W. Crownishield door, while the semi-oval Tuscan porch has not been excelled in effective simplicity. The high picket fence with its modest ornamental gates, particularly that over which an arch of Florentine bent iron formerly sus- pended a lantern, was ever much admired. The splendid posts, surmounted with hand-tooled spheres and otherwise molded and enriched with fluted pilas- ters and carved Ionic capitals, have frequently been copied by architects for modern work.
At the much-used side door, the enclosed porch became a distinctive feature of the early New Eng- land mansion ; it was the forerunner of the modern vestibule, which does so much toward ensuring
[60]
Plate XX\"III. — Nathan Reed House, erected 1790; Josiah Dow House, erected 1787.
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warm interiors in winter. The most frequent con- ception of it took the form of a pediment supported by pilasters with a solid wood door having rails and molded panels spaced according to the characteristic manner of the time, and oval windows in the sides to admit light. A charming example is to be seen on the Hosmer-Waters house, Number 80 Washing- ton Square, designed for Captain Joseph Hosmer by Mclntire in 1795, and rendered more picturesque with the passing years by a giant wistaria which regularly clothes it with a wealth of bloom in spring- time. In this instance fluted pilasters accompany a simple Tuscan pediment, and the combination has stood the test of years, being one of the most admired doorways in Salem. The harmonious rela- tion yet slight difference between this and the front door of the same house offer interesting material for comparison. A similar enclosed porch on the Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols house illustrates the employment of a Doric pediment with the repeated triglyph in the frieze and guttse in the architrave.
The flat-roofed, enclosed porch of the David P. Waters house. Number 14 Cambridge Street, is un- usual in its breadth, due to the employment of the ever-charming side lights beside the door rather than oval sashes in the side walls common to most of the
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The Wood-Carver of Salem
other enclosed porches of Salem. Mclntire im- parted further individuality by adopting the broad two-part door three panels wide. Supported by fine- scale fluted pilasters, the entablature is generally Corinthian in character and includes a hand-tooled dentil course with modillions supporting the corona.
About 1800 Mclntire added an enclosed porch of more picturesque type to the gambrel-roofed house of Benjamin Pickman, the elder, who, in 1756, was Judge of the Superior Court and Colonel of the Salem regiment at the same time. Erected in 1743, the house still stands in the rear of Number 165 Essex Street, partly concealed by stores, but the interior has been despoiled of its beautiful woodwork which illustrated well the tendencies of the p re-Revolution- ary period and was particularly interesting because of the carved and gilded codfish on each stair end, indicating the source of the owner's wealth. The archway through which one passes from the picture gallery into the museum of the Essex Institute was taken from this house. Among the distinguished guests entertained here were Governor Pownall, October 22, 1757, Count Castiglioni, June 23, 1784, and Alexander Hamilton, June 20, 1800.
This Mclntire porch takes somewhat the form of the modern cottage bay window with supporting
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Doorways and Porches
reeded pilasters, which also provide the neck of the capitals, oval windows in the sides to admit light, and a surmounting cornice and frieze to which the designer apparently devoted special attention. The festooned drapery and oval florets of the frieze are carved out of wood, and the cavetto molding of the cornice, suggesting a series of tiny arches, contrib- utes a novel bit of handwork not found in other Mclntire designs. The present door, of course, is obviously modern and inappropriate.
It was for Benjamin Pickman, Jr., a wealthy merchant, that the brick mansion at Number 70 Washington Street, later known as the Pickman- Derby-Brookhouse estate, was built in 1764, replac- ing the large wooden house of Reverend Nicholas Noyes, who was extremely violent in the witch trials of 1692. Later it became the residence of Elias Haskett Derby, who occupied it during the best years of his life until, in 1799 and shortly before his death, he moved into his eighty thousand dollar mansion designed by Mclntire. The accompanying photograph shows the house as it appeared before its removal to make way for the present Masonic Temple. The wood trim, including the Ionic pilas- ters, balustrade of the roof, cupola and hand-carved eagle in wood, also the barn, were added by Mclntire
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The Wood-Carver of Salem
during Derby's occupancy. The festooned drapery on the barn was transferred to the barn of Mr. John Robinson, Number i8 Summer Street, and the cupola to the grounds of the Essex Institute where it may now be seen. On the arched ceiling of the cupola a fresco by Corne depicted the several vessels of the Derby fleet, and in the blind of one of the windows a hole was left through which a telescope could be pointed to watch for ships. John Rogers the sculptor was born in this house, October 30, 1829.
It is with genuine admiration that we look to-day upon these famous old doorways of Salem, not only because they have furnished the inspiration for and are the equal of the best recent work, but because they are entirely of wood, hand-tooled out of white pine, and we realize full well how crude were the tools of those days and how essential the utmost of patient, painstaking, and skilful workmanship. With their graceful dignity and simple air of distinc- tion these old doorways are well worth the study of every prospective home builder ; they cannot fail to appeal strongly to any thinking person of good taste and refinement having a ready appreciation of our national traditions.
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CHAPTER IV
INTERIOR WOODWORK
WHITE-PAINTED wood finish provides the only thoroughly satisfactory setting for mahogany furniture, now, as in Mclntire's day, the popular ideal in American homes. Nothing to excel the slender Sheraton and Adam elegance or the more substantial beauty of Chippendale and Heppelwhite designs has been devised by the furniture makers of more recent times. Executed in dark woods, whether mahogany, rosewood, or walnut, these four justly famous types possess rare grace of line, nicety of de- tail, and richness of effect which are enhanced by a background of white standing finish. The interior woodwork provides the setting in which the furniture gems of a room are placed. Just as the row of white pearls sets off to best advantage the richness of the ruby or emerald, so white-painted woodwork serves as a foil to emphasize the mellow warmth and graceful dignity of dark eighteenth-century furni-
[65]'
The Wood-Carver of Salem
ture, forceful in its contrast and cheerful in its brightening eifect. The same pieces would lose half their charm in a room having dark wood trim. Indeed, few woods available for interior finish har- monize with mahogany furniture when waxed or varnished in their natural colors. And while there is a somber richness about mahogany finish and fur- niture combined, both together seem undesirable, except for an occasional room in a large and pre- tentious house.
We realize now as never before that our great- grandfathers displayed excellent taste in placing their rare pieces of furniture, brought from across the seas, in white-trimmed rooms. This treatment has stood the test of time, and with the recurring popularity of architecture and other things Colonial, is again finding the favor it really deserves. It is not surprising, therefore, that to examine the pho- tographs of recent houses designed by almost any ten well-known American architects is to be im- pressed by the predominance of the Colonial spirit which pervades the principal rooms. The lure of white-painted interior woodwork is upon us ; pro- spective home builders of education and artistic tastes are demanding it, and intelligent architects are happy indeed to comply, even in the case of houses
[66]
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Plate XXXII. — Stucco Cornice in Derby-Crowninshield-Rogers House; Wainscot and Surbase.
Interior Woodwork
which in exterior appearance and constructive mate- rials disregard period. This is because it harks back to early traditions which we at once respect and ad- mire.
There is a certain financial psychology about it, too. White pine, once the cheapest of native woods, has been used with such prodigality and for so many purposes that in finish grades, although ob- tainable in ample quantity from the Northwest, it now costs as much as some good hardwoods. Un- fortunately human nature too often permits us to measure the worth of an article by the price which supply and demand have placed upon it. Now that white pine has become expensive because of its scar- city in the East, we have begun to prize it highly. And then, too, we have had an opportunity to ob- serve its sterling qualities in the remarkably well preserved old mansions of our early seaport towns.
Mclntire's admirable work in Salem affords eloquent testimony to the fact that the possibilities of painted softwood for interior finish are fully as great as those of more expensive hardwoods. Ef- fects must be achieved in a different way, however. The broad, flat surfaces and simple moldings of hardwood finish depend for their interest chiefly upon the natural grain of the wood. Painting
[67]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
similar designs executed in softwood would con- ceal the grain and leave them uninteresting and with- out character. Painted wood finish needs beauty of form as a substitute for the beauty of wood grain. Lest the background become monotonous and un^ worthy of its furniture accompaniments, therefore, the motives and details of exterior ornamentation, such as moldings, carefully spaced panels, and appro- priate carving, or its equivalent in applied ornament, are brought to bear upon the interior woodwork in such a manner as to delight the eye, yet not to detract unduly from the contents of the room. To this end a nice balance between plain surface and decoration is as important as the decoration itself. Fireplaces and stairways, the principal architectural features of interiors, properly may be elaborated considerably beyond the somewhat negative char- acter of background accessories. Tasteful ornamen- tation applied to such important forms of utility and necessity seems sincere and amply justified. In- deed, they are regarded almost as furnishings rather than parts of the house.
For convenience in studying them, Colonial in- teriors may well be divided into three classes : first, those having a molded baseboard and a simple pic- ture molding or cornice; second, those of which a
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Plate XXXV. — Doorway in East Front Chamber, Pierce-Johonnot-
Nichols House.
Interior Jf^oodwork
dado or paneled wainscot, almost invariably accom- panied by a cornice, is a feature ; third, those rooms architecturally treated with paneled walls.
Mclntire seldom employed the first of these treat- ments. The hall at "Oak Hill", the summer home of Mrs. J. C. Rogers at Peabody, Massachusetts, erected in 1800, appears to be the only instance of consequence. Although appropriate in any room of a small house, architects of the present day often reserve it, because of its extreme simplicity, for chambers and unimportant rooms not often seen by outsiders. As in this instance the cornice, accom- panied by a flat frieze, but without the architrave, is used with a molded baseboard.
The second, and Mclntire's favorite treatment, combining dado and cornice, has proved itself gener- ally useful, especially in hall, dining room, living room, and the principal bedrooms of large houses.
As an exemplification of the classic orders applied to interior woodwork, it is especially interesting and consistent ; the dado, the wall above it, and the cor- nice corresponding to the pedestal, shaft, and en- tablature respectively. When this treatment is applied to a room, the dado becomes in very truth a continuous pedestal with a plinth and base molding and a surbase surmounting the die or plane face of
[69]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
the pedestal. Suggesting a miniature cornice, this surbase may be molded horizontally, as in most of the rooms at "Oak Hill", or attractively elaborated with vertical hand-carved reedings or flutings on a fascia-like band below the surbase proper. These reedings may be continuous, as in the hall of the Cook-Oliver house, or in groups of seven or so with sections of plain fascia between them, as in the Clifford Crowninshield house. Again, the surbase may be still further enriched by a circular or oval floret, carved or in composition, applied in alterna- tion with the reeded groups, as in the Derby-Crown- inshield-Rogers house. Number 202| Essex Street, and the east front chamber of the Pierce- Johonnot- Nichols house. As seen in the east parlor of the latter delightful old mansion, Mclntire sometimes used vertical fluted instead of reeded groups to or- nament the surbase, while in several rooms of the old house at Number 202^ Essex Street and also in the drawing-room at "Oak Hill" the well-known and always welcome Grecian fret, that favorite mo- tive that so often replaces the dentil course of his cornices, lends distinction to the surbase.
The histories of the two houses last mentioned are so closely interwoven that it seems well to digress momentarily in order to recount them in a single
[70]
Plate XXX\'I. — Drawing-Room Doorway, "Oak Hill.
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brief paragraph. Both in exterior appearance and interior arrangement, as shown by Mclntire's ac- companying floor plans and elevation, the Derby- Crowninshield-Rogers house holds much of interest to the student and architect in that it was originally an early type of the modern town house. Shortly after its erection about 1800, it was occupied by Ezekiel Hersey Derby, a son of Elias Haskett Derby, Salem's greatest merchant. Not having the family love of adventures at sea, however, he soon moved to the family estate in South Salem, there to devote himself to the pursuits of agriculture. His town house then became the last residence in Salem of Benjamin W. Crowninshield before moving to Boston. It was last occupied as a winter residence by Richard S. Rogers, a wealthy merchant in the foreign trade, whose splendid summer home on a farm in Peabody, also designed by Mclntire, is now known as "Oak Hill" and occupied as a summer residence by his son's widow, Mrs. J. C. Rogers. "Oak Hill" was built originally for Nathaniel West, a wealthy merchant and ship owner, who married Elizabeth Derby, one of the daughters of Elias Haskett Derby. When the old Salem residence became the Maynes estate, the street floor was converted into stores, and so it stands to-day a mere echo of its pristine elegance
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The TFood-Carver of Salem
yet still admired by those who know and appreciate good architecture.
While these old dados are of the low type with a plain wood face, in modern work a similar effect is sometimes obtained in dining rooms by the simple expedient of a baseboard and surbase at the same height as the top of the chair backs with a papered wall between. Still another device to carry the wood- work high on dining room walls of the present day is to adopt the paneled wainscot so often exe- cuted in hardwood and equally if not more effective when of softwood painted white. Preferably five or six feet high, this may be surmounted by a plate rail or only a heavy molding as preferred.
When accompanying a dado, the cornice may prop- erly be of more distinctive character, with a prom- inent denticulated molding replacing the corona, as in the hall at " Oak Hill " and in several rooms at Number 202J Essex Street, or considerably elaborated by hand carving after the Adam manner, as in the morn- ing room at "Oak Hill." There the Grecian fret reappears supplemented by a broad frieze beneath, consisting of a continuous band of vertical reedings. In the drawing-room of the same house reeded groups alternate with circular medallions set in square plain sections of the frieze to form a richer effect.
[72]
Plate XXXVIIJ. — Doorway of the Morning Room, "Oak Hill.
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A novel and interesting variation of the cornice may be seen in the hall of the Clifford Crowninshield house. Below the usual cyma recta a reeding, hand- tooled spirally and resembling the twist drills of to- day, though doubtless a modification of the popular rope moldings of the time, replaces the usual flat fillet. The corona with a plain torus below it has been given the width of a narrow frieze, and its flat surface relieved at intervals with groups of seven vertical reedings corresponding to those of the sur- base. Another cornice of still different character in the Derby-Crowninshield-Rogers house consists entirely of plaster-work according to designs by Mclntire, including well-known classic detail of which the ^%% and tongue molding, scroll and in- terlacing circular fillet frets are prominent.
Most pretentious of all, the third treatment of completely paneled walls with embrasured windows best creates the atmosphere of formal rooms, such as hall, reception room, or dining room. Purely as a matter of convenience in the library it sometimes serves attractively to fill the spaces between and above built-in bookcases, doors, and windows. Pan- eling is a true measure of an architect's skill in ap- propriate spacing ; a subtle sense of proportion and careful selection of moldings are necessary. No
[73]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
examples exist to-day to indicate that Mclntire ever completely paneled any of his interiors, as did some of the English builders who came to America prior to the Revolution. Paneling one of the four walls of a room, however, was a picturesque custom of the time often adopted by him and revived occa- sionally to-day. This architectural treatment was usually resorted to when a fireplace was flanked by a door at each side, one often opening into a closet and the other into an adjoining room. Notable examples are found in the Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols house. These same rooms show Mclntire's appli- cation of embrasured windows with folding shutters and window seats to unpaneled walls. In a dining room a clever modern adaptation of the same idea consists of paneling carried around a small oriel window and extended on each side to comer china closets with arched, leaded glass doors. Such an application of white-painted woodwork brightens the space about a window and makes cheerful a por- tion of the room that too often seems dark and gloomy.
In any scheme of interior woodwork, windows and doors naturally attract particular notice. Mc- lntire's windows were usually of the twelve-paned Georgian type which still continues to find favor in
[74]
Plate XL. — Inside of Front Doorway, "Oak Hill."
Plate XLI. — Two Views of the Second Floor Hall, "Oak Hill," showing Zuber's "Classic" Wall Paper.
Interior Woodwork
most Colonial adaptations. With a few exceptions, such as the east parlor of the Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols house, the casings indoors as well as outside were molded after the manner of an architrave, with the window sill at the level of the surbase and the casing across the lintel joining the cornice or being somewhat below, according to the height of the room. The casings of less important doorways were the same, while those in more conspicuous positions, like those at the foot of the stairs at "Oak Hill", were elaborated by the addition of a beautiful cornice and frieze which, with the architrave motive of the lintel, form a complete entablature. The cornice of this doorhead includes one beautifully hand-carved molding with tiny spheres between the dentils, and is supported by pilasters each side of the frieze. A dainty applied grape cluster deco- rates each pilaster, and a superbly modeled fruit basket within an oval, beaded border, also applied, occupies the center of the broad frieze.
Similar doorways are to be seen in the Clifford Crowninshield and Derby-Crowninshield-Rogers houses, in both of which the decorations of the door- head frieze consist of applied work in the form of dainty festooned and straight-hanging garlands with florets between and Adam urns or ornamental flower-
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The Wood-Carver of Salem
pots with blooming plants on the pilasters sup- porting the cornice in which a hand-tooled dentil course invariably is prominent. As in the Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols house, several of the doorways of the Clifford Crowinshield house have casings with groups of flutings at frequent intervals, and in the east front chamber of the Pierce-Johonnot- Nichols house a doorway demonstrates how pleas- ingly the cornice of the room and that of the door- head may be one and the same in low-studded rooms.
Although with few exceptions Mclntire's moldings were planed and carved by hand, most of the more elaborate decorations of doorheads and chimney pieces, such as baskets, urns, garlands, and cornu- copias were molded in French putty, applied to the surface of the wood with glue, and painted. After more than a century these ornaments, as found at "Oak Hill", still remain in perfect condition, indi- cating that leading decorators of the present time make no mistake in continuing to use this form of ornamentation.
Other more elaborate doorways at "Oak Hill", three of which are illustrated herewith, have a con- siderable amount of applied ornament. Outside the casings, upon which hand-tooled reedings are
[76]
Plate XLII. — Hall and Stairway at "Oak Hill."
Plate XLIII. — Elliptical Arches in the Hall, Derby-Crownin- shield-Rogers House.
Interior Jf^oodwork
cut, either molded or fluted pilasters rise from pro- jecting bases, corresponding to the baseboard, to the doorhead. The applied capitals represent vari- ously modified forms of the Corinthian order, in which the acanthus leaf motive is prominent, while in the sunken panels of the pilasters the straight- hanging garland effect is a feature interspersed with other delicate, fine-scale ornament. Fruit-filled urns or sheaves of wheat decorate the pilasters support- ing the cornices, and fruit baskets, urns, and festoons fill the friezes. Two of the moldings of each cor- nice are examples of refined applied work in which the acanthus and Lesbian leaves predominate, and a hand-tooled Grecian fret supplies the dentil course between them.
Quaint in appearance, the old six-panel doors are attractively arranged with four panels of equal size and two small ones at the top, according to Mclntire's favorite manner. Both stiles and the muntin are of equal width, but the lock and bottom rails are broader than the top and frieze rails. In most in- stances moldings are confined to the edges of the panels, but in the drawing-room an additional mold- ing has been applied to the panel itself, about an inch from the edge, recalling the doors of the Derby- Crowninshield-Rogers and the later portion of the
[77]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols houses. The latter instance also illustrates Mclntire's variation in panel arrange- ment, the small panels being happily placed between the larger ones which, in consequence, are of unequal size, the larger pair being at the top. Stiles, mun- tin, and rails are here alike except for the broader bottom rail. In the older portion of this house and also in the Cook-Oliver house the panels are nicely beveled. No finer examples of the quaint and elegant drop handle as a substitute for the more common round brass knob of that day are to be found in America than those in the Pierce- Johonnot- Nichols house, which have several times been repro- duced in recent works.
Returning once more to "Oak Hill", one side of the drawing-room, architecturally treated, illus- trates more convincingly than any similar instance known to the authors the splendid possibilities of white wood finish ; it is the equal of the chimney piece end of the Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols east parlor and hence one of Mclntire's supreme achievements. Two doorways, similar to those already described, are located at opposite sides of the wall, while a large mirror in the same spirit occupies the space between. In three parts, the broad central portion has a seg- mental top, and the narrower flanking portions have
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horizontal tops. These tops take the form of a cor- nice and frieze, echoing those of the room itself, with applied medallions at regular intervals and hand- tooled vertical flutings substituted for the reedings above. A delicately executed urn surmounts the central mirror and from it hang graceful festoons of applied work over the glass. Molded pilasters with applied garlands in their sunken panels serve as mullions or casings. The whole eifect is one of rare beauty, refined, distinctive, a tribute to Mclntire's good taste and exceptional sense of proportion. Indicating clearly the influence of the brothers Adam upon his work, it is still no mere copy of their designs, but is possessed of marked individ- uality.
A wealth of suggestion lies in the front doorway with its well-proportioned fanlight and side lights. Here one sees the interior charm of the typical Colo- nial front doorway arrangement. One notices with interest that the charming pattern in these particu- lar sashes is obtained by the use of iron bent against the glass rather than by means of sash bar divisions. Unfortunately the modern door is not in accord with others in the house, but the original finish, including reeded pilasters with modified Corinthian capitals, a lintel with hand-tooled flutings, and an elliptical
[79]
The W^ood-Carver of Salem
arch with frieze motive of reeded sections between applied florets, is splendid.
As in most houses of this period, the elliptical arch of the fanlight is echoed elsewhere, sometimes sup- ported by pilasters and framing the stairway vista or that at the far end of a long hall, as in this in- stance; also frequently spanning the upper hall at the head of the stairs where it rests upon beauti- fully carved consoles. It may also be seen at intersections of hall corridors in the Derby- Crowninshield-Rogers house. This brings us to a consideration of the Colonial hall, ever of great interest as an avenue of approach from the doorway to the fireside, and its principal em- bellishment, the stairway.
Stairways provide opportunities for architectural treatment quite as spontaneous and admirable as do chimney pieces, and Mclntire's work includes vir- tually all of the really satisfactory types. In the old residences of Salem, wide halls sometimes lead completely through the center of the house with an outside door at both ends and doors at each side giv- ing access to the principal rooms, as in the Cook- Oliver house. Oftener, as at "Oak Hill" and in the Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols house, halls extend only part way through the house, the rear door opening
[80]
Plate XLVI. — "Winder" in the Derby-Crowninshield-Rogers House.
Plate XLVII. — Stairway at Second Floor Level, _ Derby- Crowninshield-Rogers House; Detail of Newel and Stair Ends.
Interior Woodwork
into a room rather than into the yard or garden. Where the balustrade is considerably elaborated, a simple molded baseboard runs about the walls and up the stairway, but oftener there is a dado like that in the David P. Waters hall. The paneled wain- scot of the pre-Revolutionary builders appears not to have appealed to Mclntire, although some paneling occurs in the Derby-Crowninshield-Rogers house.
In long halls the stairway takes the form of a single straight run, as at "Oak Hill", or of a straight run to a landing only three or four steps below the second- floor level where the direction of the flight reverses. On this landing, as in the Cook-Oliver and Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols houses, a beautiful Palladian win- dow admits light and provides an effective feature of the architectural scheme. At opposite sides of the window in bygone days often stood a floor clock and a tip-table on which were placed the candles to light guests to bed. In short halls a broken flight with two landings at opposite sides of the hall where right angle turns occur was less popular about 1800 than now. Although it had been the prevailing type in the mansions of 1750, and was used with heavy turned balusters in the Hosmer- Waters house, erected in 1795, ' Mclntire ordinarily reserved it for the
[8i]
The JVood-Car'ver of Salem
side or rear stairway, as in the Pierce-Johonnot- Nichols or Derby-Crowinshield-Rogers houses. He seemed to prefer the more graceful and striking semi- circular stairway or "winder" as a solution of the short hall problem. A particularly pleasing example occurs in the David P. Waters house, and it may be seen on a much more ambitious scale in the old mansion at Number 202J Essex Street, already referred to many times.
These stairways of whatever type depend in large measure for their beauty and distinction upon the ornamentation of balustrade, dado, and stair ends. Although occasionally painted white, a dark-stained pine or mahogany molded handrail is the rule. Usu- ally it curves outward to the newel at the bottom and occasionally winds about in spiral fashion on a broad, bottom stair, suggesting the volute of the Ionic order, the stair tread taking the shape of the rail above, as in the David P. Waters house. Up- ward, the rail sometimes swings along from flight to flight, unbroken by newels, as in the Pierce- Johon- not-Nichols house, or again, at each landing and floor, sweeps upward in a graceful curve to a newel, as illustrated by the back stairway of the Derby- Crowninshield-Rogers house. When accompanied by a dado as in the Hosmer-Waters hall, its surbase
[82]
Plate XLVIII.— Detail of Newel and Twisted Balusters, "Oak
Hill."
Plate XLIX.— A Doorway in the Hall, "Oak Hill."
Interior Woodwork
duplicated this graceful sweep of the ramped rail. Mclntire's balustrades afford slender turned newels and balusters of several attractive patterns, while the stairway of the David P. Waters house indicates the charm of simple inch-square balusters when applied to a stairway the very form of which provides its own ornament. Almost invariably some form of scroll brackets under the overhang of the tread lent a note of individuality, and sometimes this was supplemented by the application of some form of restrained yet highly effective decoration along the second-floor level, such as the fret in the Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols house, and the applied festooned garlands and oval florets in the Derby-Crowninshield- Rogers house.
Built during the days of our maritime supremacy, many houses, of which "Oak Hill" is an example, were influenced considerably in their decorative de- tails by the shipbuilding industry. This is seen particularly in the stairway with its paneled box- stairs and beautifully turned and carved balusters and newels which were suggested by the rope mold- ings much used in the ship cabins of those days. Three balusters stand on each stair, the twisted por- tion of each being different, although the turned portions at the top and bottom are all alike. The
[83]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
newel is a particularly good specimen of its type and consists of one corkscrew spiral within another, a difficult and excellent piece of hand carving indicat- ing the native ingenuity and intuitive decorative sense of the skilled craftsmen to whom so great a measure of the charm of Salem architecture is due.
[84]
Plate L. — Mantel in a Chamber of the Hosmer-Waters House; Mantel in Northwest Parlor.
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Plate LI. — Parlor Mantel, Lindall-Barnard-Andrews House; Corner Section showing hand carved Applied Ornament.
CHAPTER V MANTELS AND CHIMNEY PIECES
A FIREPLACE ever makes a strong sentimental appeal, not only for the charm of the open fire, but because it seems to represent the ideal of homely comfort in the days when people lived close to the hearthstone ; it is human and direct. A century ago the fireplace was the source of warmth and good cheer during six months of the year and the very center of home life ; here the family gathered when the day's work was done ; here the honored guest was entertained ; here youth plighted troth, and plans for new firesides were whispered in the mellow glow from the hearth. The fireplace was a thing of the utmost necessity that could be made beauti- ful by the application of woodwork with carving and other embellishment. Naturally, therefore, like the architects of all times, Mclntire devoted his best efforts to the judicious ornamentation of his mantels and chimney pieces ; they became the
[85]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
crowning feature of his interiors, indeed virtually the keynote of the scheme of furnishing and decora- tion, and, because of Mclntire's rare skill and creative genius, they are possessed of exceptional grace of line and proportion.
To contemplate these masterpieces of interior woodwork is to comprehend the importance and attributes of the fireplace. Unlike many architects of the present day Mclntire realized fully that while sentiment lies in the fire on the hearth, the fire is absent during warm weather, and that as a perma- nent ornamental feature of the house actual beauty centers not in the fireplace proper but in its archi- tectural setting, the mantel or entire chimney piece. Hence he invariably avoided structural materials that would have emphasized the fireplace opening by strong color-contrast with the white woodwork, such as red brick facings with conspicuous mortar joints. Instead, he employed marble, white and of various tints and markings, gray soapstone, and the like, a precedent in close harmony which may well be followed to-day.
Many of Mclntire's mantels were very simple, yet never deficient in that chaste appearance and just proportion which characterized all his work. An interesting one, intended as the setting for a
[86]
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Franklin stove, may be seen in a chamber of the Hosmer-Waters house. Like numerous others made entirely of wood, the frieze beneath the shelf is plain, and the hand tooling has been confined to the fluted pilasters with Ionic capitals and two moldings of the cornice. The dentil course displays typical Mclntire traits to be seen elsewhere, and a realistic rope molding carved with painstaking care replaces the conventional ovolo.
At the outset of Mclntire's independent career, and occasionally for ten years or so afterward, consider- able of the enrichment of the mantel frieze was carved in wood and applied with glue, as in the case of the delightful mantel made in 1800 for the Lindall- Barnard-Andrews house. Number 393 Essex Street, erected in 1747. Mclntire's personal carving here includes not only the central basket of fruit and flowers, but the festoons, sheaves of wheat, the delicate cuttings after the Adam manner in the architrave and the pleasingly ingenious modifica- tion of the cornice bed-molding. No small measure of the lovely ensemble is due to the slender grace of the colonnettes supporting the complete entablature and the beautiful brass andirons and fire set.
It will be remembered that the Rev. Thomas Bar- nard married Mclntire, and in this exquisite design
[87]
The If^ood-Carver of Salem
and workmanship one seems to see the carver's trib- ute to an esteemed friend. It thrills one to stand in this room, too, realizing that this very clergyman, whose presence it so often knew, for the time being averted bloodshed during the first armed resistance to British tyranny on February 26, 1775. Dis- missing his congregation at the old North Church in response to the urgent summons of a messenger, Doctor Barnard hastened to the North Bridge in the role of peacemaker, and finally succeeded in per- suading the townspeople to lower the draw and permit the British troops to cross in their fruitless search for cannon, which, meantime, had been trans- ferred to a new hiding place.
Returning once more to the Hosmer- Waters house, one finds in the northwest parlor an excellent Adam mantel exemplifying the combined use of carved and applied composition detail. All of the moldings are rightly of a modest nature because of the enrich- ment of the frieze and paneled pilasters with fes- toons, urns, and straight-hanging garlands. Only the bed-molding and architrave bear hand-tooling, and that of simple though effective character. This work was done in 1795 when most of the composition ornament was imported, but the American eagle never became popular with British craftsmen, and
[88]
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Plate LV. — Detail of Mantel at the Woman's Bureau.
Mantels and Chimney Pieces
so Mclntire himself carved the central panel in wood.
This house is of interest to the antiquary in that it was long the home of Henry FitzGilbert Waters, author of "John Harvard and His Ancestry", "An Examination into the English Ancestry of George Washington", and many papers devoted to the genealogy of prominent Salem families. His in- vestigations in London, covering a period of several years, for the New England Historical and Genealogi- cal Society are well known and resulted in his "Gen- ealogical Gleanings in England." During Mr. Waters' occupancy this house contained the best private collection of rare Colonial furniture in New England.
The mantel in the west chamber of the Peabody- Silsbee house with its attractive hob-grate of orna- mental iron will be seen to resemble that in the Hosmer- Waters chamber, but it is richer and shows greater refinement. A conventional cymatium re- places the rope molding with a torus and fillet sepa- rating it from the corona ; the dentil course remains the same. The pilasters are reeded, and a fine- scale vertical reeded belt supplies the capitals as well as the architrave. Both the oval panel and the urns of the frieze are of composition applied.
[89]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
Reminiscent of the Lindall-Barnard-Andrews man- tel, in its pairs of supporting colonnettes and corner projections of the shelf, the rear parlor mantel of the Woman's Bureau, also done in 1800, differs mate- rially in cornice and frieze. Here again a rope mold- ing of the utmost precision replaces the usual ovolo, and the dentil course, with its tiny triangular inci- sions, simulating a continuous band of guttae from the Doric order, is without a parallel in Mclntire's work. The tiny q^%% and dart molding beneath is in applied work, like that edging the central oval panel of the frieze, but the sheaves of wheat and the military symbolic group including a shield bear- ing a small eagle are of wood nicely carved and glued to the face of the sunken panels. The peculiar or- namental hob-grate of cast-iron is shown with its summer blind in place.
The front parlor of the Woman's Bureau contains one of Mclntire's two most fanciful mantels. The other is in the Kimball house, and both may well be considered in comparison because they are so similar yet so different and hence illustrate as few others can the resourcefulness of the one who made them. While many will say they are overornate, none can but admire the intricate carving necessary to their making, for there is no applied composition
[90]
Plate LVI. — Detail of Mantel in the Kimball House.
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Mantels and Chimney Pieces
work on either. Even the twist-drill reeds of column and cornice, the flowers and urns of the small oval inserts, and the central panels resembling one already referred to, were carved out of wood. The comer projections have been carried to the extreme in order to provide a place for flanking columns in addition to the fine-scale fluted pilasters which made it desirable, indeed necessary, to carry the shelf around the corners at each end and support it with a second pair of pilasters. But the most unique feature of all lies in the dentil course with its trumpet- like units set well apart ; probably no designer be- fore Mclntire ever thought to use such a decoration on a mantel, or to insert a band of wooden spheres into the edge of a mantelshelf as in the Kimball house parlor.
This is not the only use Mclntire found for a band of spheres, however ; in several instances it replaced the dentil course. Employed in this manner, it ap- pears on a large scale in the cornice of the Peabody- Silsbee house and again is to be seen in the parlor mantel of the Home for Aged Women, formerly the residence of Benjamin W. Crowninshield. Aside from the Corinthian feeling of the capitals, the design adheres to no classic order. The engaged columns are not fluted ; the architrave rather than
[9-]
The Jf^ood-Carver of Salem
the frieze bears most of the ornament, and the cornice or mantelshelf is a thing unto itself. Yet despite its unique traits and marked unconvention- ality, this mantel is distinctly pleasing. Both the sheaves of wheat and the applied fruit groups in alternation with vertical reeded sections in the architrave symbolize the fullness of the harvest, motives which architects of the present day fre- quently make use of in country houses. Though entirely different, the beautiful surbase accords well with the architrave, while the fret of interlaced fillets at the same level about the window em- brasures is one of Mclntire's best and successfully fulfils his desire for variety.
As Mclntire progressed in sculpture, he came to appreciate more highly its excellences and advan- tages for beautifying the mantel frieze, often de- pending almost entirely upon a horizontal bas- relief panel of stucco in which exquisitely modeled human figures were prominent. When applied to the wood and painted white, the ensemble lacked little of the daintiness and purity of marble, in those days almost prohibitive in price because of the im- mense amount of labor required for hand cutting.
Two notable instances of the sort occur on the third floor of the old Derby-Crowninshield-Rogers
[92]
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Mantels and Chimney Pieces
mansion, where, despite the shameful usage to which they have been subjected by careless tenants since the house has been devoted to commercial purposes, the mantels please the eye with their unaffected sim- plicity, and if cleaned and given a fresh coat of white paint would be counted among the most chaste of Mclntire's work. Aside from the bas-relief panel and a conventional bed-molding above, one of these mantels boasts no ornament other than simple, hand-planed moldings, yet in several respects it finds more admirers than the other, for its very propor- tions render it a positive joy to look upon. The other mantel, with its detail of finer scale, implies more skilful craftsmanship because of the reeded pi- lasters and denticulated bed-molding. It exalts its designer no more, however, for with more ornament the eifect was more easily conceived even if more laboriously executed. Indeed, it is axiomatic that the less the amount of ornament and the more the effect depends upon just proportion and carefully balanced spacing, the more difficult the task of de- sign and the more creditable the result.
Lovely as were his mantels with sculptured friezes, Mclntire is best known and most admired for his work in the Adam manner which he applied to both mantels and chimney pieces with positive genius,
The IVood-Carver of Salem
in several Instances worthy of Robert Adam himself. Often these Included a central bas-relief panel with Adam festoons at each side. Another mantel on the third floor of the old Derby-Crownlnshleld-Rogers house is of this character. Its structural work will be seen to resemble closely the simpler of the two mantels of this house already described. The only essential differences occur In the dentil course and the applied enrichment of the frieze, consisting of typical Adam urns, festoons, florets, and a sculptured central panel more fanciful and less pleasing than the others.
Unquestionably the finest Salem mantels done by Mclntire after the Adam manner, exclusive of his chimney pieces, are those in the parlors of the David P. Waters and Clifford Crownlnshleld houses. The former will be seen to be an elaboration of much that has already been considered, in response to the desire for a richer effect. The cornice has been made heavier than is usually the case by the addition of a surmounting thick shelf, while the bed-molding has been augmented by the twist-drill reed above the dentil course. Used in this manner, where its cross section Is not apparent, the latter has much the effect of a bead molding. The motives of the applied treatment of the frieze recall the oval panel and
[94]
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Plate LX. — Two Mantels on the Third Floor of the Derby- Crowninshield-Rogers House.
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basket of fruits and flowers, as well as the wheat sheaves on the pilasters which were features of the Lindall-Barnard-Andrews mantel ; the festoons are reminiscent of one of the Derby-Crowninshield- Rogers mantels and the reeded pilasters of another in that house. The effect here is considerably en- hanced by decorating the architrave with vertical reeded groups of wood in alternation with applied rosettes, and an oval floret adorns the pilaster capital, all of which motives will be seen repeated in the surbase and cornice of the room. The photograph shows another quaint summer blind in place.
Impartial criticism seems to favor the Crownin- shield mantel as representing higher refinement in design and greater precision in workmanship ; cer- tainly it is daintier, more exquisitely carved, and the applied work — festoons, urns, horns of plenty and straight-hanging garlands — are of slenderer grace. The central panel, an oval within a rectangle with its group of musical instruments, is a veritable gem, and the slight projection of the whole panel above the surface of the frieze proper lends a pleasing note of distinction. Here again the cornice has been made heavier by an additional surmounting shelf, in this instance molded on the edge with a torus between two fillets. A nicely carved bead and
[9J]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
reel separates the cymatium from the corona, be- neath which, in the role of a bed-molding, occurs the finest scale work of all, consisting of a band of tiny vertical flutings between ovolo and ogee moldings so tiny as to be hardly more than the smallest of reeds. Groups of flutings adorn the facings about the fireplace opening, as in the famous east parlor of the Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols house, described in the seventh chapter, and have been repeated in the sur- base. Similar feeling will be noticed in the ornate cornice, which appears to be one of Mclntire's welcome innovations suggested in part by the modillions of the Corinthian order and the triglyphs of the Doric. Many, in fact most, fireplaces built about 1750 had no accompanying mantelshelf proper; although often given an architectural setting of considerable pretension, the side of the room in which they oc- curred sometimes was entirely paneled up with or- namental molded facings about the fireplace opening. The desire for, almost the need of, this pleasing and useful adjunct probably accounts for the several Mclntire mantels put into old houses, some of which were erected before his birth. Two such instances at "The Lindens", Danvers, erected in 1745, and referred to in the third chapter, are shown by accom- panying illustrations.
[96]
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Plate LXII. — Detail of Mantel in the David P. Waters Reception Room.
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Mantels and Chimney Pieces
Taken from the Nathan Read house, designed by Mclntire in 1790 and referred to in the third chapter, these mantels are seen at a glance not to have been built for their present locations. Although their height is such as to split the lowest of three original horizontal panels, Mclntire was not responsible for this blunder, nor is it serious enough to detract greatly from the beauty of the mantels themselves, particularly in the instance where a handsome gilt Adam mirror virtually conceals it. In both in- stances the slight projection of the paneling and cor- nice over the fireplace combine with the mantel to simulate the effect of a complete chimney piece.
The frieze of one of these mantels recalls that of the David P. Waters parlor mantel, without the festoons of the latter and including a simpler archi- trave, consisting of a continuous band of exceedingly fine vertical reedings. The broad, reeded pilasters are heavier and the Corinthian capitals are not pres- ent in the Waters mantel, while the broad molded facings about the fireplace opening are by no means common to Salem architecture.
Rarely did Mclntire's work take such a light and fanciful character as in the other mantel at "The Lindens." The bed-molding is a repetition of that of the Peabody-Silsbee mantel, and the twist-drill
[97]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
motive also appears again here. In fact, the latter provides a prominent repeated theme in the cornice, the architrave, and the narrow paneled pilasters. A broad Grecian fret of well-known pattern supplies the architrave and sounds an unusual note in Mclntire design, but chief interest centers in the applied work, not so much in the central panel as in the horns of plenty which serve as frieze spots at each side and particularly the realistic grapevines and fruit which replace the conventional Adam gar- lands in the paneled pilasters. Although perhaps attracting too much attention to themselves, the pictorial Flemish tiles are of peculiar interest as antiques.
With due respect to Mclntire's resourcefulness and good taste, his rare versatility, and remark- able success in the design of varied architectural fea- tures, his complete chimney pieces must be regarded as surpassing all his other achievements. In con- ceiving them he may be said veritably to have out- done himself; certainly no century-old chimney pieces in America equal them in harmonious en- semble, subtle proportion, or exquisite detail ; they are in every way superlative. While the mantels themselves closely resemble those already described, they are richer in ornament throughout, and with the
[98]
Plate LXI V. — Detail of Mantel in the Clifford Crowninshield
Parlor.
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elaboration of the upper part of the chimney breast or overmantel into a highly decorative frame for a mirror or the family portrait take on much greater dignity and pretension.
Although the chimney piece in the east parlor of the Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols house, illustrated and described in the seventh chapter, is best known, no house contains so many or such beautiful examples as "Oak Hill", Peabody, to which frequent reference was made in the fourth chapter. All are after the Adam manner and savor of the Corinthian order, yet differ considerably in detail, although in each one notices the repeated use of Mclntire's favorite double denticulated and vertical reeded ovolo mold- ings. By extending the cornice and frieze around the chimney breast and carrying a pilaster effect up through them, they have been made virtually a part of the chimney piece and a means to relate it closely to the architectural setting of the entire room. As a whole, the effect of each is one of delightful harmony, chaste elegance, and graceful dignity.
Critical examination of the chimney pieces in the drawing-room and chamber discloses many char- acteristics in common. In both, variety with com- plete harmony avoids monotony and preserves good taste. Reeded pilasters or engaged columns support
[99]
The IFood-Carver of Salem
the mantelshelf, while paneled pilasters with beauti- ful applied work are employed for the overmantel, the horns of plenty on those of the drawing-room being unusual. Beautiful composition moldings frame the square panel of the overmantel, scroll and acanthus flower patterns being used together in one, and the pattern of alternate florets and reeded groups being employed with the scroll in the other, thus putting this drawing-room overmantel frame in pleasing accord with the frieze of the room. The flower vases of the chamber mantel frieze contribute a new note, as do the grape clusters in the drawing- room and the use of the baskets of fruit and flowers each side of a pastoral bas-relief panel in the center. In both instances reminiscent of the Cook-Oliver parlor mantel, illustrated in the sixth chapter, the acanthus leaf applied to the cymatium of the mantel- shelf greatly enriches the effect, while the marble facings of the fireplace opening, both the plain slabs in the chamber and those magnificently incised with a Grecian fret in the drawing-room, preserve the chaste appearance so essential to the purity of the fireplace in the unavoidable transition from struc- tural wood to structural stone.
Architects regard this drawing-room chimney piece as one of Mclntire's greatest works, yet fine as
Plate LXVI. — Chimney Piece in the Drawing-Room, "Oak Hill.
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Plate LXVIII. — Chimney Piece in the Morning Room, "Oak HilL"
Plate LXIX. — Chimnev Piece in a Chamber at "Oak Hill."
Mantels and Chimney Pieces
it is, the less spectacular chimney piece in the morning room excels it in harmony of line ; it is a veritable symphony of vertical reeding, conservative in applied ornament yet rich in effect by reason of its fine scale and precision of workmanship. Unlike any other, this distinctive piece of work will be re- membered for its reserve, refinement, and effective simplicity. Here, as well as in the other fireplaces at "Oak Hill", the handsome brass andirons and fire- set form an interesting study.
[.OI]
CHAPTER VI
THE COOK-OLIVER HOUSE
UNFORTUNATELY for the antiquary and the architect, the largest and handsomest dwelling designed by Mclntire no longer exists in its entirety. Happily, however, the plans and a picture of it have been preserved, and much of the splendid wood- work taken from it was built into another house, still standing in an excellent state of preservation at Number 142 Federal Street. Whereas certain Salem buildings erected during that notable period from 1782 to 181 1 command attention chiefly for architectural excellence, others for historic associ- ation, this so-called Cook-Oliver house combines the two in rare degree and possesses the addi- tional attraction of being very closely associated with the chief source of Salem's prosperity.
A stately mansion, standing in the shade of splen- did old trees, it still compares favorably with any- thing old or new in Salem ; but even were it hidden from view, the very gateposts would attract and
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Plate LXX. — Preliminary Sketches, Elias Haskett Derby Mansion.
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Plate LXXI. — Preliminary Front Elevations, Elias Haskett Derbv Mansion.
The Cook- Oliver House
hold the attention of any inteUigent passer-by, so chaste and beautiful is their design. They are the work of Samuel Mclntire, who hand tooled them In 1799 to adorn the entrance of the Ellas Haskett Derby mansion, where they were first erected. Derby, who was Salem's greatest merchant and prominent in the equipment of privateers during the Revolu- tion, spent eighty thousand dollars on the house, which was said to be the most sumptuous in Amer- ica at that time and gave Mclntire the opportunity for his greatest achievement as an architect of domestic buildings. It stood between Essex and Front Streets, on what had formerly been the Colonel William Brown estate, the grounds extend- ing to the water's edge and being beautifully laid out and terraced. The second edition of Felt's "Annals of Salem" contains a picture of it, repro- duced on another page, and Mclntire's own plans, also reproduced and showing the gradual develop- ment from preliminary drawings, may be seen at the Essex Institute.
The Derby gardens, famous throughout New England, owed their beauty chiefly to the good taste and superior knowledge of George Heussler, an Al- satian, the first professional gardener in the vicinity, who came to this country from Harlaam and Am-
[ 103]
The If^ood-Carver of Salem
sterdam in 1780, bringing diplomas and recommenda- tions. His horticultural pursuits were begun in the employ of John Tracy of Newburyport, where he married. In 1790, owing to Tracy's financial diffi- culties, Heussler moved to Salem and continued to work at his chosen vocation at the town residence and also at the farm of Elias Haskett Derby in that part of Danvers now known as Peabody. To his influence is due in large measure the exceptional at- tention which persons of wealth throughout Essex County gave to their gardens, and to him must be attributed the credit for introducing many flowers and valuable fruits new to America.
Reverend William Bentley in his famous diary, under date of October 24, 1801, describes a visit to the farm, then occupied by Derby's son, and refers particularly to the exotic flowers, the oranges, lemons, and other rare fruits which he saw in the green- houses. The beautiful summer or teahouse, formerly another important architectural feature of this garden, and now congenially located in a neighbor- ing town, presents one of Mclntire's most delightful and effective classic adaptations, while the urns at the four corners of the roof and particularly the figure of a reaper with his scythe carved in wood and standing at one end may be regarded as among
[ 104]
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Plate LXXII. — Woodcut of the Elias Haskett Derby Mansion from Felt's "Annals of Salem"; Floor Plans of the Stair Hall.
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Plate LXXIII. — First and Second Floor Plans, Elias Haskett Derby Mansion.
The Cook-Oliver House
his most ambitious successes in sculpture. At the opposite end of the roof there also stood formerly the figure of a milkmaid, like its companion repre- senting an important farm industry and so symboliz- ing the spirit of agriculture. The whole structure is exceptional in its elongated rectangular shape and just proportions, the beautiful pediment, supporting pilasters and window frames, taking the form of the Ionic order and providing adornment of a refined and suitable character. Within, a stairway leads to the second floor, where one finds a surprisingly beautiful room with coved ceiling, paneled wainscot, and charming built-in cupboards for those dainty things pertaining to afternoon tea.
It is interesting to recall that Derby was the first American merchant to open trade with the Cape of Good Hope in 1784 and with China the following year. To those far-off shores he sent the famous Grand Turk, a fast sailing-ship of three hundred tons which originally had been built for him as a privateer. A painting of it in a large punch bowl, made at Canton, China, in 1786, may be seen in the Peabody Museum. Later, in 1788, Derby's ship Atlantic opened the East India trade, being the first to carry the American ensign into the har- bors of Bombay and Calcutta.
[105]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
Upon Derby's death, only a few months after he moved into his new home from the Pickman- Derby-Brookhouse estate at the corner of Washing- ton and Lynde Streets, which he had formerly oc- cupied, the mansion was closed. No purchaser could be found for so expensive an establishment, and so in 1804 the gateposts and much of the charm- ing wood finish, including some of the best examples of Mclntire's genius in design, were removed and built into the new residence then being erected under Mclntire's direction for Captain Samuel Cook, a master mariner whose silhouette portrait may be seen at the Essex Institute. Later, in 1815, the Derby mansion was completely torn down, and the land on which it stood was given by the heirs to the town for a permanent market, ever since known as Derby Square.
The story goes that just before leaving on a long voyage Captain Cook approved Mclntire's design and gave him the commission to have the house erected under his direction. The trip proved so unsuccessful, however, that upon his return Captain Cook despaired of being able to complete the under- taking and ordered the work stopped. But Mcln- tire, with all the self-sacrificing enthusiasm of the builders of old, expressed his eagerness to go
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Plate LXXIV. — Detail of Carved Moldings and Stucco Work, Elias Haskett Derbv Mansion.
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Plate LXXV. — Plan of Garden and Grounds, Elias Haskett Derby
Mansion.
The Cook Oliver House
ahead with It slowly, as his associates had spare time, payment to be made accordingly. More- over, in prevailing upon Captain Cook to buy con- siderable of the fine woodwork then being taken out of the Derby mansion he not only saved his client considerable expense but at a single stroke transformed what had originally been intended as only an ordinary house into one of rare charm and distinction, and also preserved several of his great- est achievements intact to posterity. Thus the Cook house was from eight to eleven years in the building. Mclntire did not live to see all of the interiors completed, but his plans were executed by his brother Joseph, who had regularly been asso- ciated with him as a housewright and master builder, and for the most part the work was done with material which had been prepared before his death. In more recent times the Cook house was occupied until his death in 1885 by Captain Cook's son-in- law, General Henry Kemble Oliver, the famous composer and musician. Here he married Sally Cook and wrote several of his well-known church hymns, including "Federal Street", so dear to the hearts of all Salem residents. His was a life of varied and useful service, since he was at different times one of the early mayors of Lawrence, treasurer
[ 107]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
of her great cotton mills, Adjutant General and State Treasurer of Massachusetts, and Mayor of Salem in his eightieth year.
A study of the Cook-Oliver house ensemble indi- cates clearly that Mclntire rightly regarded the fence as a purely architectural feature which should accord with the house. His pickets, rails, and bases were always of extreme simplicity, with some inter- esting departure from continued verticality in the gate, as seen here, and considerable elaboration of the gateposts, often, as in this instance, four in number in front of the house, with simpler posts for any con- tinuation of the fence and a simpler gateway for the side entrance. These high, square gateposts with their shapely urns and surmounting flame motives are the best and most elaborate of the many in Salem by Mclntire.
They consist of a base, paneled shaft, and en- tablature, the shaft panels containing beautifully carved, straight-hanging garlands, and the frieze panels containing oval sunburst medallions. The fine-scale cornice included a vertical-fluted belt similar to the much heavier one across the front of the house at the second-floor level. Another repeti- tion to relate house and fence and to brighten the whole effect is that of the straight-hanging garlands,
[108]
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one of which decorates each of the vertical door casings, while a festooned garland stretches across the head. These garlands, favorite motives of the brothers Adam, indicate positively their influence upon Mclntire's work and account in large measure for its refinement.
Conforming to the prevailing style of that period, the Cook-Oliver house is a white-painted, square structure, three stories high, with a two-story ell, the third story of the main house being foreshortened with almost square, nine-paned windows to reduce the apparent total height. All the other windows have twelve-paned Georgian sashes which with their two-part green blinds range absolutely on all ele- vations. Clapboards cover the walls with rather narrow exposure to the weather, except for the eastern side of the main house, which is of brick, affording, before its neighbor was built, greater protection against the northeast storms off the sea. Several Salem houses are constructed in this manner. The low hip roof is shingled, and like many houses built for seafaring men of Salem and other New England seaport towns was originally decked with a surrounding balustrade and reached through a scuttle.
Severity of line in the whole house is relieved by several decorative features of pleasing and refined
[ 109]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
appearance. A heavy cornice with large molded dentils adorns the eaves. The second-story windows are elaborated by the addition of beautiful entabla- tures above the heads, the simple window casings of architrave motive being exactly like those on both other floors. These entablatures are hand carved in fine-scale detail with denticulated cornice moldings supported by a flat pilaster eflPect each side of the frieze, the latter consisting of a central horizontal band, vertical-fluted, flanked by an oval medallion beside each pilaster. At the level of the second floor and porch cornice a broad horizontal belt of vertical-fluted wood finish extends across the entire facade, seeming in a sense to "tie" the porch to the house.
Most important of the exterior decorative features are the porch and doorway, showing individuality in design and a keen sense of harmony in adaptation. Upon these Mclntire focused the full measure of his skill, as was the custom of the time, with the result that they stand out with exceptional grace, repose, and dignity, even among the many notable examples in Salem. The naive manner in which free use was made of the orders, characteristic of much of his work, and the surprising harmony, charm of line, and proportion, achieved with such absence of restraint,
[mo]
Plate LXXVIII. — Cook-Oliver Entrance, showing Window Heads.
Plate LXXIX. — Stairway, Cook-Oliver House.
The Cook Oliver House
furnish eloquent tribute to Mclntire's keen discrimi- nation and artistic perception. In the face of such evidence it cannot be said that "the architect of Salem" was any mere copyist.
The porch of the Cook-Oliver house is entirely of wood, including the steps ; substantial but distinctly inviting. The columns, with their smooth shafts and high, square plinths, both those at the front and also the engaged columns each side of the door- way, suggest the Tuscan rather more than the Roman Doric, while the entablature seems to be an Ionic adaptation with flat, plain frieze and denticulated cornice. An elliptical fanlight and vertical side lights, all subdivided with exceptional grace, contain the original Colonial glass, and it is interesting to remember that quite aside from the beauty of these sashes the difficulty of making large sheets of glass and its consequent high cost in those days were par- tial reasons for adopting them. The same was true of ordinary windows, though the subdivisions were useful to give scale, and it is as much for that pur- pose that they are so much used to-day as to carry out any period adaptation. Two-part green blinds, characteristic of the time and the predecessor of the modern screen door, are hung outside the paneled wooden door.
[Ill]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
In such a house it is natural to expect great refine- ment of the interior woodwork, and one is not dis- appointed. White pine, so easily worked and so enduring, was used exclusively. It is painted white, carved and molded in a masterly manner. As in many old houses of the time, the hall extends directly through to the rear of the house, whence a door opens upon a picturesque garden. At the left-hand side of the hall a flight of stairs rises to the second floor, broken three steps below the top by a landing where the direction of the run reverses. Delightful in its slender grace, the balustrade consists of a molded rail and simple turned newel and balusters. A Palladian window on the landing lights the stairway, and at the head of the lower run stands a "clock on the stairs", recalling Longfellow's immortal poem. A flat wainscot with its molded base and surbase hand-carved in fine-scale, vertical-reeded motive extends up the wall side of the stairway, and the stair ends are decorated by a sort of double scroll jig- sawed out of lumber somewhat less than an inch in thickness and applied to the wood trim over the stair stringer.
Most of the casings throughout the house are molded after the manner of an architrave, but those in the hall, which were taken from the Derby
[112]
Plate LXXX. — Doorway in Cook-Oliver Hall.
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The Cook-Oliver House
mansion, are exquisitely hand-carved and other- wise decorated with applied ornament, demonstrat- ing the refined and subtle effect of straight lines re- lieved by curves only in the trim of the head. There is at once harmony and great variety in the combined use of both vertical and horizontal cuttings, the flutings and reedings being almost perfect in exe- cution. Salem has no more exquisite examples of interior wood finish than these heads with their gracefully festooned draperies, fruit-filled urns, and rosettes. The cornice has one deeply-carved mold- ing, and the same motive, resembling a double dentil and a favorite with Mclntire, is repeated in a cornice molding about the ceiling of the hall. One notices with pleasure, also, the panel arrangement of the door, the brass-mounted glass knob, and the brass key-plate.
The accompanying photographs of the hall illus- trate well a beautiful, old, imported wall paper that appears to be unmatched in America. It was hand blocked in eighteen-inch squares and consists of pink roses on a background of green leaves, the coloring having been softened and improved by the passage of time. Owing to its unique character, the paper was purchased early this year by the Metropolitan Museum of Art and has since been removed, cleaned,
["3]
The Jf^ood-Carver of Salem
and taken to New York, where it will adorn one of the several Colonial rooms to become an important, permanent feature of the Museum. Antiquaries may regret its removal from the house where it was first hung, but better certain preservation in this way than possible ruin by some unsympathetic owner of the future.
Through one of the hall doorways can be seen a glimpse of the parlor with its splendid mantel and French scenic wall paper, brought from Europe by Captain Cook about 1820 on his return from one of his sea voyages. It is said that he bought the paper to decorate the "best room" for the approaching marriage of his daughter to General Henry Kemble Oliver in 1825. This quaint wall paper was prob- ably printed by J. Zuber & Company, a famous old Alsatian firm, and its grays, greens, and black with touches of red and yellow have become delightfully mellow with age. It depicts the panorama of Paris as viewed from the Seine a century ago, and includes much of interest to the antiquary. Several panels now show the ravages of time somewhat, yet it is to be hoped that the present owner will preserve them intact. The west wall, representing a pastoral scene, remains virtually as perfect as ever and is among the most beautiful specimens of old hand-
["4]
Plate LXXXII. — Parlor Mantel and Scenic Wall Paper, Cook- Oliver House; Corner Section of Mantel.
Plate LXXXIII.— Wall of Parlor "Panorama of Paris" Wall P Folding Shutters.
Cook-Oliver House, showing aper; Embrasured Windows with
The Cook-Oliver House
blocked wall paper to be found anywhere. Tradi- tion tells us that General Oliver composed "Federal Street" and several other well-known hymns in this room.
Delicate in design and superbly executed, few Salem mantels equal that in the parlor of the Cook- Oliver house. It was hand-carved by Mclntire, in 1799, for the Derby mansion, and among other fea- tures was removed to its present location. Daintier moldings it would be difficult to conceive ; the classic acanthus leaf of the top cyma molding, as well as of the smaller molding below the frieze spot, and the familiar tiny bead molding are prominent, yet there is a certain ingenuousness in their use, and particularly so in the application of the acanthus leaf to the capi- tals of the two slender, reeded colonnettes.
A flat, unadorned central panel with nicely deline- ated medallions on each of the pilasters provides the distinctive but somewhat meager decoration of the frieze, while the architrave repeats the festooned garland effect seen elsewhere indoors and out. Doubtless the central panel originally contained some form of applied ornament after the character- istic Mclntire manner. The acanthus leaves, bead molding, medallions, and garland decorations are good examples of appropriate applied orn-ament.
["5]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
By no means the least interesting feature of this fireplace is the beautiful brass hob-grate set in soap- stone, the first of its kind ever placed in a Salem house and at that time considered a great extravagance. Indeed, in nearly all the fireplaces of the house there are grates rather than hearths. A surbase extending about the room above the flat dado, hand-tooled in 1804 when the house was built, displays a delicate incised pattern consisting of two entwined bands or fillets, one a flat ribbon and the other made up of repeated round discs. It suggests a modification of the lozenge fret with segmental sides. At the embrasured windows five-part paneled shutters fold into side pockets in such a way that they carry up- ward the panel effect of the wainscot below.
The dining room, at the left of the front door, reflects the parlor, but is simpler in treatment, especially the mantel. On the floors above, large, nearly square rooms open off the hall at each side. Architecturally they are notable chiefly for their simple, well-proportioned mantels and modest, fine- scale cornices. The ell includes a large kitchen and laundry, with servants' rooms above.
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CHAPTER VII THE PIERCE-JOHONNOT-NICHOLS HOUSE
OF Salem's many splendid old mansions, the Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols house, Number 80 Federal Street, has generally come to be regarded as the architectural gem, the finest wooden house in New England, and also the principal monument to the genius of Samuel Mclntire now in existence. While it boasts no direct association with persons or events of great national importance, over this imposing residence the pathos of financial adversity and a romantic friendship sheds a golden glow.
In the planning, and later in the building of the house and development of the grounds, this estate was the pride and joy of Jerathmel Pierce, a wealthy East India merchant. Here were centered virtually his every life-interest both in home and in business. At the rear the land sloped away to a wharf and ware- house on the North River, then a navigable stream, to which his ships came heavy laden with fragrant
["7]
The ff^ood- Carver of Salem
spices and beautiful fabrics. The intervening space, through which he passed and repassed daily, was handsomely laid out as a terraced and formal garden, with box-bordered paths, stone steps, and pic- turesque wooden arches, fruit trees, and a wealth of flowers. Many leisure hours were spent directing the yearly improvements, and with his own hands much tender care was bestowed upon his friends of the horticultural world ; it was his recreation and his exercise. So well was the work done that even to-day what remains of the old garden retains much of its pristine charm, although the warehouse at its western end no longer remains, and successive em- bankments have gradually encroached upon the river until it now resembles a mere canal at this point. No home lover can fail to understand how com- pletely this estate became an expression of the joys, successes, and aspirations of its owner.
For forty-four years this ideal condition continued, and then came disaster. Ventures at sea are pre- carious at best, the Embargo and Non-Intercourse Acts had imposed great hardships upon New England merchants, and in 1826 both Jerathmel Pierce and his son-in-law, George Nichols, lost their fortunes. In consequence it became necessary the following year for the older man to give up his most cherished
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possession, his home, which was bought by George Johonnot, an old friend of both famiHes. Jerathmel Pierce, then in his eightieth year, could not bear the shock of so great a change in his life and cir- cumstances ; only once after going to live with his son-in-law in the famous old Tontine Block, formerly on Warren Street, did he venture to look at the stately home which had once been his, and shortly afterward he died broken-hearted.
Later, in 1840, when both Mr. and Mrs. Johonnot also died within a month of each other, it was dis- covered that the house had been bequeathed to George Nichols and his wife to be held in trust during their lives for their four daughters, who were eventually to inherit it outright. And thus through a remarkable bond of friendship, the property was restored to the descendants of him who had created and loved it so dearly, and the son-in-law was enabled to pass his declining years in the house where he married his first wife and where his second wife, Betsey Pierce, was born. What a benevolent trib- ute to the sacrifice of a friend, the greatness of which George Johonnot came to realize more fully through living on this delightful estate and experiencing an ever growing fondness for it himself ! Is it to be wondered at that lovers of romance and of good
["9]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
architecture alike rejoice in the fact that the Essex Institute is raising a fund with which to purchase and perpetuate the estate in as nearly its original con- dition as possible ? An effort will also be made to reassemble the large and excellent collection of antique furniture, rare china, and silver.
Among the other square houses of Salem, this fine old residence stands architecturally unique and distinct. Like the Cook-Oliver house, it was many years in the building, for those were the days of thorough workmanship, and without machinery of any sort for the manufacture of either structural lumber or wood trim, the preparation of the material was in itself a slow and expensive matter. Erected in 1782, it was not completed until 1800. In this fact lies the source of its greatest charm, for the western half is purely Georgian in conception, whereas the eastern half, built eighteen years later, obviously reflects Adam influence throughout, and so in a single house constitutes to a certain degree a record of the development of Mclntire's mind toward a style of greater delicacy and refinement.
Exteriorly this is particularly true of the pictur- esque one-story portion along one side of the brick- paved stable courtyard, its series of broad doors under elliptical fanlights somewhat after the manner of a
[ J20]
Plate XC. — Detail of Gateway and Porch, Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols
House.
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colonnade and in their treatment utterly at variance with the severity of the front and side entrances. On the opposite side of this courtyard and across one end range the stable and various outbuildings, through one of which the stairway leading down into the garden is reached. Likewise elaborated by a clever adaptation of the flat elliptical arch, these buildings together with the adjacent side of the house form a picture redolent of the quaint New England spirit equal to any stage-setting ever conceived by David Belasco from Salem inspiration. On the roof of one of these outbuildings still roosts in an excel- lent state of preservation one of Mclntire's famous wooden eagles. They were popular then and much used in connection with domestic as well as public work, for those were times when the eagle as a symbol of Americanism meant much and was close to the heart of every true patriot.
As a whole the greater depth, breadth, and fore- shortened third story of the Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols house give it a mass much more pleasing than the average square Salem house. Its unique distinction, however, lies in the attractive balustrades of the low, hip roof and belvedere, whence arriving ships might be watched for, and the welcome embellish- ment of the fluted pilaster treatment at the corners,
[.21]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
a free use of the Doric order, which goes a long way in mitigating the severity in shape of a square house. The Doric spirit also pervades the entrance porch at the front and the enclosed porch at the side door- way, that early forerunner of the modern vestibule. No better instances of pleasing proportion and deli- cate detail are to be found in New England. Despite the fact that Doric, severest of the orders, is better suited to public than domestic work unless inter- preted with the utmost sympathy, and notwith- standing the unresponsiveness of a solid wood door without side lights, which were rarely found in houses prior to 1800, Mclntire succeeded in impart- ing to these doorways a certain indefinable quality of dignified individuality tempered by the character- istic Salem breadth which makes them friendly door- ways ; they speak of a genuine welcome beyond these conventional barriers of seeming reserve. One sees clearly here that gateways and doorways are closely allied ; in fact, are virtually parts of the same effect when treated in harmony, providing an archi- tectural setting for the vista of the doorway itself between them.
The window treatment, both of heads and casings, is one of effective simplicity, and the dark-painted doors with panels well spaced are equipped with
[ 122]
Plate XCII. — Enclosed Side Porch, Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols House.
Plate XCIII. — Old Terraced Garden, Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols
Estate.
Plate XCIV. — Paved Courtyard between Pierce-Johonnot- Nichols House and Barn, from two viewpoints.
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quaint brass hardware, including one of the best knockers in Salem.
Praiseworthy as is the exterior design of this noble example of Colonial architecture, its interior adornment evokes the unrestrained admiration of all, for here in his later capacity of architect and de- signer Mclntire found ample opportunity to employ the product of his original vocation of wood-carver. Upon entering the hall the stairway at once commands attention, its unusual balustrade, as well as the fret along the second-floor level, undoubtedly owing its origin to Chippendale influence. Four slender square balusters alternate with a jig-sawed member very like the well-known chair back to form a scheme at once unique and beautiful. Chippendale's work preceded that of Adam ; already occasional examples of his splendid craftsmanship were being brought to America, and it followed naturally that Mclntire, in his search for distinctive motives for the interior of this house at the time of its inception, came as completely under the spell of Chippendale as he did later that of Adam.
After the manner of the time jig-sawed double scrolls decorate the stair ends, in this instance also bearing three pairs of vertical flutes which sound the only false note of consequence in the entire house.
[123]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
The ingenious newel treatment suggests the volute of the Ionic order, the balustrade with its square balusters winding scroll fashion about a simple turned column and the first stair tread taking the outline of the rail above.
Other features of interest in the hall include the hand-tooled denticulated molding of the cornice with a bead and dentil in alternation, each dentil having a flute carefully gouged upon it ; the vertical fluted surbase of the wainscot; the beautiful Palladian window on the landing three steps below the top of the stairway, where the direction of the run re- verses, and the approach from the landing by two semicircular steps to a door opening upon a chamber at the rear of the house. One looks backward, too, with admiration toward the Inside of the front door- way and fanlight which have been elaborated con- siderably in rare good taste. Here may be studied one of those instances of delightful proportion which, as much as the design and exceptional workmanship, have rendered Salem architecture superior to much contemporaneous work elsewhere. The casings with their broad horizontal flutings below the Corinthian capitals sound an unusual though pleasing note, as do the beaded panels with urn-shaped inserts in ap- plied work each side of the fanlight. The ornamenta-
[■24]
Plate XCVI. — Second Floor Hall, Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols House;
Third Floor Hall.
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The Pierce^yohonnot-Nichoh House
tion of the lintel with festoons and rosettes each side of a vertical reeded central panel, however, exempli- fies a typical Adam treatment. A comparison of this with the simpler though similar rear door under the stairway landing will prove interesting.
The east and west parlors contain the best examples of Mclntire's creative talent as a designer. The latter, a room sixteen and one half feet square, was finished in 1782 along Georgian though hardly con- ventional lines, for it has individuality; more, the wood finish here as throughout the house evinces that superlative skill in the use of plane and chisel which indisputably placed Mclntire among our fore- most early craftsmen. Decidedly substantial in character, it is essentially simple in conception and graceful in form and proportion. A flat dado with molded base and surbase, also a heavy cornice, sur- round the room and serve to combine its several features into a unified whole. First attention natu- rally goes to the fireplace and its treatment, which here, as in many old houses, has been made part of one side of the room architecturally treated with wood paneling throughout. Upon chimney pieces Mclntire ever focused his greatest skill, because of their importance as centers of home life, with the result that they stand out with exceptional beauty
The Wood-Carver of Salem
of proportion and refinement of detail. The preci- sion and regularity of repetition in the incised mold- ings cannot but evoke unstinted praise, the more so considering the laborious manner in which they had to be tooled by hand.
Of these moldings the ovolo under the shelf will be seen to be a repetition of that in the cornice above the dentil course. Generally speaking, an interpre- tation of the classic &%% and tongue motive, it was employed without the customary bead and reel and still further received the stamp of Mclntire's per- sonality by the small round borings at the base of the tongue. A related but dissimilar ovolo molding surrounds the broad panel of the overmantel, while the ogee moldings about the fireplace opening but faintly resemble any well-known ancient motive, though restrained and effective. Thus Mclntire varied and recombined classic detail, nor did his creative instinct permit him again and again to copy these motives mechanically, but rather induced him to freshen them here and there with innovations of his own which indicate clearly his native ingenuity and keen sense of the fitness of things.
The beautiful brass hob-grate mounted on soap- stone recalls a similar one in the Cook-Oliver house and compares favorably with any in America, its
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Plate C. — Embrasured Windows and Seats, West Parlor, Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols House; Detail of Mantel.
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setting within a border of blue and white tiles which depict animals in the wild and hunting scenes being exceptional.
Both the doors and windows of this room deserve careful scrutiny, the former for the arrangement of their molded panels, the casings or architrave motive, their striking caps, and the delightfully quaint hard- ware, particularly the brass drop handles. Were it not established otherwise, the old wrought-iron strap hinges would indicate positively the early ori- gin of the work. The quarter-circular ends of the frieze board above the lintel lend a distinct touch of individuality, as does also the square-end finish board above, which ties the doorhead into the cornice corresponding to the treatment of the windows. The latter, twelve-paned in accordance with the best Salem custom, it will be noticed, are deeply em- brasured with seats underneath and paneled shutters folding into side pockets.
It is the east parlor, however, which has become a veritable Mecca for architects from all sections of the country. Done in 1800 at a time when Mclntire had yielded completely to the spell of those master craftsmen of England, America has no contempora- neous example of the Adam influence superior to this very room. In size a veritable drawing-room six-
[127]
The ff^ood- Carver of Salem
teen and one half by twenty-six and one half feet, it possesses the spaciousness which alone empha- sizes to the full that subtle quality of nice balance between the plain surfaces and delicate ornament to which the Adam manner owes its principal charm of refinement. Indeed, the flat dado with its molded surbase embellished with groups of vertical flutings, the pilaster treatment of the corners with Corinthian capital and fluted shaft resting on an appropriate pedestal, the heavy cornice with delicately carved moldings and frieze with rosettes and vertical reeded groups in alternation on a flat ground, the embra- sured windows with hand-tooled casings and paneled shutters, and last, but best of all, the magnificent chimney piece, provide an architectural setting of rare beauty for some fine old furniture, paintings, and bric-a-brac long cherished by the family.
A favorite Mclntire motive, ever recurring with minor variations throughout his work in the Adam manner, occupies the stringcourse of the cornice. This double dentil or Grecian fret is formed by vertical cross-cuttings alternately from the top and bottom of a square molding, the fine-scale reeded ovolo beneath giving it just the right emphasis and relating the cornice as a whole more closely to the ornamentation of the frieze. On the under surface
[128]
Plate CIV. — Front and Rear Ends East or Adam Parlor, Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols House.
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Plate CV. — Detail of Doorway, East Parlor, Pierce-Johonnot-
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Plate CVI.— Detail of Adam Chimney Piece, East Parlor, Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols House.
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of the projecting cornice and frieze another fret, consisting of interlacing circular fillets, large and small circles in alternation with applied rosettes within the larger ones, represents considerable pains- taking effort.
Turning to the chimney piece, unquestionably the finest in Salem, the logical manner in which both cor- nice and frieze have been carried about and made a part of it, thus tying it into the entire scheme, at once elicits hearty commendation. Delicate hand- planed moldings which echo the motives prominent elsewhere in the room do much toward beautifying this chimney piece, notably the reeded pilasters, the fluted band about the fireplace opening, and the dentil course under the shelf which Mclntire elabo- rated somewhat by cutting into the surface of each dentil with a gouge. The pilasters above the shelf, the molding surrounding the large panel over the chimney breast, in which a mirror or painting was usually set, as, in this instance, the corona of the shelf, which is in itself another cornice, and the capi- tals of the reeded pilasters each side of the fireplace opening, all display exquisite applied work. The ornamentation of the mantelboard or frieze, too, including the graceful festoons, central oval panel, and flanking frieze spots on the pilasters with their
[129]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
nicely delineated figures, is a little masterpiece of bas-relief in French putty.
The doorway of this room, like others in the house, has considerable refined embellishment. Flat pilas- ters rise from the baseboard to the doorhead, beside the casings, upon which hand-tooled reedings are cut. The capital consists of a simple use of the acanthus leaf taken from the Corinthian order. Fruit-filled urns, garlands, and rosettes of applied work ornament the broad frieze and pilasters of the doorhead, which is virtually a complete entablature including the favorite dentil course in its cornice with reed cross-sections between the dentils, but minus the tiny holes in each dentil of the main cornice above, which are probably the marks of a nail set purposely left unfilled. The door itself pleases the eye with its well spaced and carefully molded panels, and the brass drop handle corre- sponds to those of the other principal rooms, but one notices the substitution of modern butts for the old- fashioned strap hinges of the west parlor.
On the floors above, the chambers architecturally worthy of special mention correspond in treatment to the rooms below, those in the earlier western portion being Georgian and in the later eastern portion Adam. Of them all, the east front and prin-
[ 130]
Plate CVIII. — Detail of Embrasured Window, East Parlor, Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols House.
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Plate CIX. — Detail and Corner Section of East Parlor Doorway, Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols House.
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Plate CX.- — Detail of East Front Chamber Mantel, Pierce-Johonnot- Nichols House; Corner Section of the same.
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The Pierce-yohonnot -Nichols House
cipal guest chamber excels. Reversing the usual order of projection, the chimney piece has been re- cessed slightly more than the width of the shelf between flanking closet doorways, the entire end of the room being architecturally treated in wood. The chimney piece itself seems to be a delightfully simplified reflection of the one below with engaged columns instead of pilasters to support the shelf. The reversed position of the reeded ovolo and dentil course in the cornice, the omission of the ovolo from the shelf, the absence of the frieze above and the pilasters at the side of the panel over the chimney breast, also the fluted band about the fireplace opening, constitute the chief differences. The man- telboard is typically Adam, with a central panel of vertical flutings and garlands and flower-filled urns of applied work at each side. In its very restraint and nice selection of simple ornament lies that charm which renders this one of the most admired mantels in New England.
As an example of the delightful architecture of Salem's prosperous days, this old house amply re- pays the critical study of students or prospective home builders, and it seems the more remarkable when one recalls that in those days all the smooth finish and moldings had to be made with hand planes,
['31]
The Jf^ood-Carver of Salem
and all decoration cut out with chisels or applied with composition. It is especially notable for its chaste elegance, the delicacy of its carving, and the careful manner in which they are subordinated to the more important structural features ; skilful balance is always maintained between plain surface and dainty decoration. These qualities are the fruit of Mcln- tire's genius, his painstaking craftsmanship, his exhaustive study of the best architectural publica- tions of his time, and his keen sense of harmony and proportion.
[ 131]
Plate CXII. — Detail of Porch and Facade, Assembly House.
CHAPTER VIII PUBLIC WORK
ALTHOUGH Mclntire is known primarily as a designer of homes, his versatility led him on numerous occasions into the field of public work, where he acquitted himself with success and even renown. Virtually from the very outset of his career as an architect, and almost until its untimely close, he was engaged more or less regularly upon buildings of a public or semi-public character, for as his winning personality and frequent achievements in domestic design ever strengthened the esteem and admiration of his fellow citizens, they saw to it that he found opportunities to serve the town, the county, and even the nation.
As early as 1782 we find him designing Assembly Hall at Number 138 Federal Street, the assembly house of the Federals, political rivals of the Democrats whose headquarters were later established in Wash- ington Hall, also designed by Mclntire. At once
[ ^33 1
The Wood-Carver of Salem
this building took its place among the foremost social centers of the town and became the scene of many receptions, balls, banquets, and other functions. Here La Fayette dined during his first triumphal tour of America in 1784, and here also Washington danced at a ball given in his honor in 1789. In 1795 the building was remodeled for dwelling purposes, Judge Samuel Putnam being among those who occupied it.
This hip-roofed and decked house bespeaks atten- tion chiefly for the elaboration of its flat-boarded facade with Ionic pilasters on the second story under the pediment, within which a pleasing fanlight is located to admit light to the attic. Here, as elsewhere in Mclntire's work, it will be noticed that the order has been employed with considerable license, particularly in the capitals. The porch claims special notice because of its festoons, orna- mental scroll corners, and heavy grape frieze — vine, leaves, and fruit being life-size and carved out of wood in a masterly manner.
Of Mclntire's second venture in this larger field the Massachusetts Magazine for March, 1790, states :
"The Court Houfe in Salem, is a large, elegant building, and ftands towards the end of a handfome fpacious street. On the lower floor, on the eaftern
[■34]
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Plate CXIV. — Western Gateway, Washington Square, erected in 1805, from a Woodcut in "Felt's Annals of Salem"; St. Peter's Episcopal Church, razed in 1833, and the Western Gate in the distance, from an old painting.
Plate CXV. — The Courthouse of 1785, from an old painting at the Essex Institute; also, from an engraving in the Massachusetts Magazine.
Public Work
fide, is a range of offices, large and convenient ; one of which is occupied by the Clerk of the Court of Common Pleas for the county of Effex ; in which are kept all the records of that court : The other two are ufed as offices, for the Selectmen and Affeffors of the town of Salem. The remainder of the lower ftory is a fine capacious area, for walking &c.
"The fecond ftory is compofed of a large court hall, with feats on every fide, for the Judges, officers of the court, and for the auditors — faid to be the best conftructed room, for the holding of courts, of any in the Commonwealth, and perhaps is not ex- ceeded by any in the United States. In the ceiling is a handfome ventilator. Back of the Judges' feat is a Venetian window, highly finished in the lonick order; which affords a beautiful profpect of a fine river, extenfive well cultivated fields and groves ; in addition to which, the paffing and repaffing of vef- fels continually, in the river, makes a pleafing variety. There is alfo on this floor a convenient lobby for Jurors &c. This houfe was begun in 1785, and completed in 1786, at the joint expenfe of the county of Effex and town of Salem. The plan of it was defigned by the ingenious Mr. Samuel MTntire and executed by that able architect, Mr. Daniel Bancroft, both of Salem."
The Jf^ood-Carver of Salem
Felt, in his "Annals of Salem", describes it still further :
"It was planned by Samuel Mclntire, and built under the direction of Daniel Bancroft, two ingen- ious architects. It was two stories high, 62 feet long, and 36f feet broad. It was finished in 1786. Its cost was ^7,145, paid, one moiety by the town and the other by the county. Its walls were of brick and its roof surmounted by a cupola. On the front or southern end of it, was a balustrade, open- ing into the second story, supported by a row of Tus- can pillars. Under the balustrade were wide stone steps, which could accommodate a large number of persons and which led into a door of the lower hall. On the east side of this hall were several offices and the rest was left open for public assemblies and the exercise of military companies. The part thus oc- cupied for the last purposes, was too often appro- priated by unruly boys to their boisterous sports and destructive propensities, until large bulls of authority sounded in their ears and drove them from the prem- ises."
Examination of the records at City Hall would seem to indicate that the total cost of the Courthouse was much greater than Felt states. One additional appropriation of six thousand dollars and another of
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three thousand dollars are certain, and surely such a brick building must have cost at least twenty thou- sand dollars.
This much admired work of Mclntire, erected in 1785, was located in the middle of Washington Street, north end, nearly opposite the Tabernacle Church, as shown by several old steel engravings and a con- temporary oil painting preserved at the Essex In- stitute. There it stood until 1839, when the build- ing of the railroad tunnel beneath necessitated its removal, and the porch columns were removed to the Chase house on Federal Street. It was from the balcony over this porch that Washington was presented to the townspeople on the occasion of his visit October 29, 1789. Here he stood bowing his acknowledgments while odes were sung and the populace shouted itself hoarse. Meanwhile Mclntire, seated at a window near by, studied the features of the first president minutely, and made a sketch which formed the basis for his famous profile bas-relief, thirty-eight by fifty-six inches and executed in wood, which for years adorned the architectural gateway at the western entrance of the Common and now hangs in the Essex Institute.
In 1792 Washington Hall, Number loi Washington Street, was erected after plans by Mclntire, and as
[137]
The If^ood-Carver of Salem
the assembly hall of the Democrats, as already men- tioned, it, too, became a prominent social center. Dedicated on the anniversary of Washington's birthday, February 22, 1793, at the time of his sec- ond assumption of the presidency and amid great rejoicings over the French Revolution, it was the scene of a notable banquet at which Reverend William Bentley made the principal oration. This quaint hall, located on the third floor of the Stearns Building, over stores and offices, presented a curious survival in the Doric style of the old-time Eng- lish assembly room, with built-in seats along the walls, fireplaces, and a music gallery at one end ; the balustrade of this may be seen in the Essex Institute. In later days the hall became a theater, but, being unsuited to modem uses, the entire build- ing has since given way to a modern structure.
It seems appropriate here to digress momentarily from Mclntire's executed designs to include his plans for the national capitol, drawn in 1793 and entered that year in the first architectural competi- tion ever held in America. Still preserved by the Maryland Historical Society in Baltimore, they com- pare favorably with the other submitted plans. The design is one of pleasing mass, great dignity, and impressiveness, the principal fa9ade indicating an
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intimate knowledge of the Renaissance in Italy, France, and England, and the combined use of the Corinthian and Doric orders on the rear elevation again emphasizing Mclntire's characteristic disre- gard of traditional restraint. Although eminently pleasing, the scheme did not possess the grandeur or the novelty of that submitted by William Thorn- ton, superintendent of the Patent Office, which was finally chosen and considerably modified and altered during the course of construction by B. H. Latrobe and Charles Bulfinch who in turn succeeded to the post of Architect of the Capitol after Thornton's death in 1827.
Mclntire's name will ever be inseparably associated with the Common, a tract of about eight acres, formerly the training field of Salem and since 1802 known as Washington Square. In 1801, Elias Has- kett Derby, then a colonel in the militia, raised a fund of about twenty-five hundred dollars to which he contributed largely for grading, planting trees, and otherwise improving it, and in 1805 further contributions were made by individuals and the town to surround the entire field by a wooden fence with four ornamental gateways. The principal ones at the eastern and western entrances are described by Felt, in his " Annals of Salem ", as follows :
The W^ood-Carver of Salem
"Being designed, arched, and ornamented by Mr. Samuel Mclntire, a noted architect, they do much honor to his taste."
The accompanying woodcut, also reproduced from the same volume, gives a general idea of its quaint appearance. Surmounted by one of Mclntire's best sculptures in wood — a gilded eagle — the face of the arch below bore the famous profile medallion of Washington already referred to — a fitting adorn- ment in view of the fact that in naming the field Washington Square it had been dedicated to the memory of the "father of his country." In 1850 the wooden boundaries were replaced by the present iron fence, and the eagle over the gateway was transferred to the fa9ade of the City Hall, where it remains to this day a conspicuous reminder of the past, finely executed and much admired by all who examine it critically. One or both of the uniden- tified carvings now in the possession of the Essex Institute and shown in Plate 119 according to final arrangement were probably features of the eastern gateway of Washington Square.
Although not a Mclntire design, the old Custom- house at Number 6 Central Street is better remem- bered for his sculptured eagle placed over the door- way in 1805 than for the building Itself. Since the
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Plate CXXI.— Hand carved Gilt Eagle on the City Hall, 1805; A Carving at the Essex Institute; Sculptured Eagle formerly over the Old Custom House Door, 1805; another Carving at the Essex Institute.
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present Custom-house was erected in 1818, the older building has been devoted to miscellaneous private business purposes, and the eagle was finally trans- ferred to the Essex Institute for safe-keeping. Of life size, and hand tooled in full relief with superla- tive nicety, this piece of the authenticated personal carving of Mclntlre may confidently be regarded as one of his greatest achievements in sculpture. Along with it may be classed his profile of Washing- ton, the eagle on City Hall, and the figure on the roof of the Derby summerhouse. Two other impor- tant examples of a similar character but of unknown original location form part of the Essex Institute collection and deserve high praise.
When called upon to do so in 1804, Mclntire did not hesitate to essay his skill in the very different and difficult art of church design. Indeed, a few writers of the present day, eager to enlarge the list of his accomplishments, have hazarded the proba- bility that he may have been responsible for the beautiful steeple of the Park Street Church, Boston, but no authentic record has ever been found to prove it, and for years it has been known that the church proper was designed by Peter Banner, an English architect, and that the Ionic and Corinthian capitals of the steeple were the work of Solomon Willard,
[141]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
the architect who superintended the construction of Bunker Hill Monument.
Certain it is, however, that Mclntire designed the South Church, Orthodox Congregational, on the northeast corner of Cambridge and Chestnut Streets, Salem, which came as the result of a separation from the Tabernacle Church in 1774 under the leadership of Colonel Timothy Pickering. Until the edifice was erected, the new society occupied an assembly hall that stood on adjoining land, and in which many notable functions were held before the Revolution, among them a reception tendered to Governor Gage on the last King's Birthday celebrated in Massachu- setts. When completed, the church was considered one of Mclntire's greatest works. Its dimensions were sixty-six by eighty feet with a graceful spire after the Wren manner one hundred sixty-six feet high, and together with the land it cost ^23,819.78. The following description of it by James Gallier, an architect, occurs in the North American Review for October, 1836:
"One of the best proportioned steeples in our country is at Salem, in Massachusetts ; the work of a native artist. The whole church is the best speci- men of architecture in that city, notwithstanding the various efforts which have been made since its
[ 142]
Plate CXXIL— The Old South Church, Salem, erected in 1804.
Plate CXXIII. — Hamilton Hall, erected in 1805; Detail of the Second Floor Windows and Sculptured Panels.
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erection. We are not aware that it has any name; but the building will easily be recognized as the only church in Chestnut Street. The Ionic portico in front is uncommonly elegant, though simple and un- pretending. Above this rises the steeple, to the height of nearly a hundred and fifty feet. Its prin- cipal merit is beauty of proportion, which is not equalled in any steeple, that we know of, in the United States."
This noble example of his versatility in design, under the very shadow of which Mclntire lived, was generally speaking Ionic, with touches of Adam de- tail here and there except for the bell deck, where the cornice, frieze, and flat pilasters are pure Doric. It was from this bell deck that Captain Oliver Thayer watched the naval battle between the Chesa- peake and the Shannon, June i, 1813. Below, the base of the steeple, clapboarded like the building proper, has quoined corners after the manner of stonework. Within this steeple was housed an interesting piece of homemade mechanism said to have been constructed by a Beverly blacksmith, pos- sibly Samuel Luscomb, who also made the clock for the East Church, of which Reverend William Bentley, the historian, was pastor for thirty-six years. The clock in the South Church had no face and was
The Wood-Carver of Salem
provided with works only for striking the hour. It was originally in the First Church at Essex and Washington Streets, then removed to the Old North Church on North Street in 1826, and finally to the South Church ten years later. An iron frame, a pendulum ten feet long, and weights consisting of wooden boxes filled with stones were among its curious parts.
A distinctive feature of the interior of the church was a large crystal chandelier imported in 1807. It had arms for thirty candles and is said to have cost one thousand dollars. For almost a century this edifice stood one of Salem's most picturesque land- marks until destroyed by fire in 1903. Several of the hand-carved urns from the steeple, fortunately rescued from the ruins, are now in the possession of the Essex Institute.
There also may be seen a fireplace and mantel taken from the Old Registry of Deeds Building, erected in 1807 on the corner of Broad and Summer Streets, which was razed when the State Normal School was built. The mantel is one of Mclntire's simplest and best proportioned, and the public character of the building gave him an opportunity to employ one of his ever-popular eagles for the central panel of the mantelboard or frieze.
[ 144]
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Plate CXXV. — Entrance Doors and Music Balcony, Hamilton Hall; one of the Side Walls.
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In 1804 Mclntire was also the architect of the Branch or Howard Street Church built on a lot of land in an open field back of Brown Street, Howard Street not having been laid out at that time. No photograph showing its exact appearance is known to exist, but Reverend C. C. Beaman, speaking before the Essex Institute in 1861, referred to it as "a spa- cious and handsome edifice", and it is on record that the total cost of the land and building was about fourteen thousand dollars. Seven master carpenters took separate parts of the work on con- tract, viz., William Doliver, Joseph Eveleth, Daniel Farrington, George H. Smith, Asa Flanders, Joseph Fogg, and Peter Frye. Shaw and Lovett, of Beverly, did the mason work. What better proof could there be that Mclntire was an architect rather than a mere carpenter or wood-carver and worked in a manner similar to that of the architect of to-day ?
After its dedication, February 6, 1805, this church continued for many years to be one of the important places of meeting in Salem. Here on August 23, 181 3, Judge Joseph -Story delivered his famous eulogy of Captain Lawrence and Lieutenant Ludlow of the Chesapeake^ who were killed in that memorable engagement with the Shannon^ already referred to, which was fought so near shore that many persons
[■45]
The Wood-Carver of Salem
watched it from the highest hills in this vicinity. Finally, after many vicissitudes, the building was sold at public auction in 1867. The structure was taken down, and such of its material as was suitable was used in the construction of the First Methodist Meeting House on Railroad Avenue, Beverly. Mr. Peter Clark, of Beverly, who was on the building committee, states that the frame and boarding was used, but that new clapboards, shingles, and a new tower were necessary. A new first story was also added, so that to-day only that part with the high church windows and the roof retain the form and appearance of the original. Probably none of the exterior wood trim was retained, though some of the inside doors are the originals.
That remarkable statesman and economist, Alex- ander Hamilton, had many ardent admirers in Salem. Several prominent citizens counted him among their personal friends, and the townspeople had seen him in their midst in the pursuance of his mili- tary duties and felt that they knew him. And so in 1805, when the South Building Corporation, an association of wealthy men, decided to erect a building for assemblies on the southeast corner of Chestnut and Cambridge Streets opposite the South Church, they named it Hamilton Hall. Here La
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Plate CXXVII. — Detail of Mantel, Hamilton Hall; Corner Section
of Mantel.
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Fayette dined with three hundred guests on August 31, 1824, during his second triumphal American tour, when he was presented with the sum of two hun- dred thousand dollars and a township of land by the government in recognition of his services to the nation during the Revolution. Here, likewise. Com- modore William Bainbridge, commander of the famous frigate Constitution in succession to Captain Isaac Hull, also Timothy Pickering, a politician with a record of public service equalled by few Americans, were accorded the full measure of Salem hospitality ; and indeed, ever since its erection, this building has remained the very heart of the social activities of Salem.
Exteriorly the structure boasts little adornment other than its purely utilitarian features. The en- trance porch at one end has been so remodeled as to make it difficult to judge with certainty of its origi- nal appearance. The sides, however, remain un- changed, except that the brickwork has been painted, and are pierced on the second and principal floor by five Palladian windows of the simplest sort, somewhat recessed under a double arch of brick headers. A rectangular insert above each window displays one of Mclntire's sculptures, that in the center being one of his well-known eagles, and the others being
[H7]
The W^ood-Carver of Salem
the festooned drapery which he sometimes used on a smaller scale on doorways and mantels. .
Dignified simplicity characterizes the interior treatment of the hall, which consists of fluted pilas- ters in pairs at the comers resting on pedestals cor- responding to the flat dado with molded base and surbase and supporting a heavy cornice entirely of planed moldings. Above, the ceiling is groined, producing a pleasing effect over the two fireplaces at one end of the hall with their mantels of cor- responding simplicity, though distinctive in the substitution of a hand-tooled, vertical fluted molding for the usual dentil course, as well as for the vertical reeded ovolo beneath It. A music balcony with handsome balustrade graces the opposite end of the hall over the double entrance doors, and In the cor- nice one notices again the double denticulated Grecian band so familiar to every studerit of Mcln- tlre's work. The single doors, both In arrangement and spacing of their stiles, rails, and molded par els, represent this notable architectural period at Its best.
[148]
INDEX
INDEX
Acanthus Flower, ioo
Acanthus-leaf, on Peabody- Silsbee house, 50; at "Oak Hill", 77; applied to the cymatium of the mantel-shelf, 100; in Cook-Oliver house, 115; in Pierce- Johonnot- Nichols house, 130
Adam, the Brothers, influence on Mclntire, 25, 43, 79, 87, 93, 99, 120, 123, 127, 143; furni- ture, 65 ; urns, 75, 94; mantel, 88 ; festoons, florets, sculp- tured panel, 94; mirror, 97; garlands, 98, 109; lintel, 125; balance, 128; chambers in manner of, 130; mantel- board, 131
Adaptation, Salem architecture shows clever, 9, 27; Colonial style bends itself to, 14, 15; Mclntire's faculty for, 44, 104, no, 121; Colonial, 75
Almshouse, Salem, 30
American Antiquarian Society, 18
American antiquities, 6
American architecture, 5, 12, 14,
19 American style, foundations for,
14; will probably always be
Colonial, 14 Amsterdam, 103 Andirons, 87, loi "Annals of Salem", 19, 31, 103,
136, 139
Applied work, 25, 26, 68, 70, 92; at "Oak Hill", 75,76, 77,79, 100, loi ; in Pierce- Johonnot- Nichols house, 83 ; in Derby- Crowninshield-Rogers house, 83, 94, 124, 129, 130, 131; in Lindall-Barnard-Andrews house, 87, 90; in Hosmer- Waters house, 88, 89; in David P. Waters house, 95 ; in "The Lindens", 98; in the Cook-Oliver house, 112,
ii3> 115
Arches, over gate, 60; of Pick- man House, 62 ; ceiling of cupola, 64; of china closet doors, 74; elliptical, 80, 121; in Washington Square, 140; in Hamilton Hall, 147
Architects, Salem, their method of treating the classic orders, 10, 1 1 ; of Samuel Mclntire's time and of the present day, 31, 32. See Wood-Carvers ; Joiners
Architecture, Salem. See Salem
Architrave, casings, 9; in Pea- body-Silsbee house, 51; in Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols house, 61 ; in Hosmer-Waters house, 88 ; in Peabody-Silsbee house, 89 ; bearing most of the ornament, 91 ; in David P. Waters house, 95, 97; in "The Lindens", 98; in Cook-OUver house, no, 112,
"5 Assembly Hall, Salem, 133
[ip]
Index
Association for the Relief of Aged
and Destitute Women, 53 Atlantic i Derby's ship, 105
B
Bainbridge, Commodore Wil- liam, 53, 147
Balcony, music, 148
Ball molding, 51
Balusters, 81, 83
Balustrades, 9, 31; porch, of Peabody-Silsbee house, 51; roof, of Dow house, 60 ; roof, on Pickman - Derby - Brook- house estate, 63 ; in Hosmer- Waters house, 81 ; Mclntire's, 83 ; in Cook-Oliver house, 109, 112; in Pierce- Johonnot- Nichols house, 121, 124; in Courthouse, 136; in Wash- ington Hall, 138; in Hamilton Hall, 148
Bancroft, Daniel, 31, 135, 136
Bands, 56, no, 116; fascia, 70; of guttae, 90; of spheres, 91; of flutings, 96, 129; of read- ings, 97
Banner, Peter, 141
Barnard, Rev, Thomas, 20, 87, 88
Barns, 60, 63
Base, of fence, 55, 108; of pilaster, 77; of wainscot, 112; dado with, 125, 148
Baseboard, 68, 69, 72, 77, 81, 130
Bas-relief, 92, 93, 94, 100, 130, 137
Bead and reel, 95, 126;' and dentil, 124
Bead molding, 115
Beaded border, 75
Beaman, Rev. C. C, 31, 145
Becker's shipyard, 5
Bed-molding, 11, 87, 94; bears hand-tooling, 88 ; denticulated.
93 ; in Derby-Crowninshield- Rogers house, 96; in "The Lindens ", 97 Belasco, David, 121 Belvedere, 5, 9; of Peabody- Silsbee house, 51; of Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols house, 121
Bentley, Rev, William, 18, 20, 29, 30, 143; extract from his diary on death of Samuel Mclntire, 35, 36, 41; de- scribes visit to Derby farm, 104; oration made by, 138
Beverly, Mass,, 143, 146
Blinds, 95, 109, III
Boston, Mass,, 4, 71, 141
Bowditch family, 59
Box stairs, 83
Boys' club, 30
Brackets, scroll, 83
Bradstreet, Governor Simon, 59
Branch Meeting House, 31, 145
Brass, hardware, 54, 123 ; knobs, 78, 113 ; andirons and fire set, 87, loi ; hob-grate, 116, 126; drop handles, 127, 130
Brick, 33
Broad Street, Salem, 144
Brookhouse, Robert, 53
Brown, Colonel William, 103
Bulfinch, Charles, 28, 30, 34, 139
Bunker Hill Monument, 142
Busts, 41
Butts, 130
Cambridge Street, Salem, 61, 142, 146
Capitals, Ionic, 49, 60; of Kim- ball house, 49; of the Peabody- Silsbee house, 50, 89, 91; in Mclntire porch, 63 ; at "Oak Hill ", 77, 79 ; in Hosmer- Waters house, 87; in Derby-
[15^]
Index
Crowninshield-Rogers house, 95 ; in David P. Waters house, 97 ; in Pierce - Johonnot- Nichols house, 124, 128, 129, 130; in Assembly Hall, 134; in Park St. Church, Boston, 141 Capitol, the, at Washington, 31,
34> 138 Carlton, Rev. Michael, 53 Carving, equal to best sculpture, 25 ; in Peabody-Silsbee house, 51; on fireplaces, 85; for Lindall - Barnard - Andrews house, 87; delicacy of, in Pierce-Johonnot-Nichols house, 132; unidentified, 140 Casings of doors and windows, 9; molded after manner of archi- trave, 75 ; with groups of flutings, 76; molded pilasters as, 79; in Cook-Oliver house, 109, no, 122; in Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols house, 122, 124, 128, 130 Castiglioni, Count, 62 Cavetto molding, 63 Ceiling, of Samuel Mclntire's house, 22 ; of Pickman-Derby- Brookhouse cupola, 64; of Cook-Oliver house, 105, 113; groined, of Hamilton Hall, 148 Central Street, Salem, 140 Chambers, 69, 70, 76, 87, 89, 99,
100, 130, 131 Chandelier, 144 Charter Street Burial Ground,
Salem, 39 Chase house, 137 Chesapeake, the, 143, 145 Chestnut Street, Salem, 142, 143 Chimney breast, 99, 129, 131 Chimney pieces, 6, 76; Mcln- tire's, 29, 125; considered in detail, 85-101 ; of Pierce-
Johonnot-Nichols house, 128, 129, 131
China closets, 74
Chippendale, 65, 123
Chisels, 10, 42, 125, 132
Churches, 141-145
City Hall, Salem, 30, 136, 140, 141
Civil War, the, 13
Clapboards, 109, 143
Clark, Peter, 146.
Classic detail, 7, 9, 27; in Pea- body-Silsbee house, 50; in Derby - Crowninshield - Rogers house, 73 ; in Pierce-Johonnot- Nichols house, 126
Classic orders, 8, 11, 69, 91, 104
Clock, 81, 112; of South Church,
143 Cloutman, Joseph, 30 Codfish, 62 Colonial, scope of the word as
applied to Salem architecture,
Colonial period, 7 ; work, light- ness and grace of, 9, 10; houses, 29, 44; motive, in doorways, 47; interiors, three classes of, 68; doorways, 51, 79; adaptations, 75 ; hall, 80; furniture, 89; rooms, 114
Colonial style, 5 ; square house, 8 ; principal theme in Ameri- can architecture, 12; persist- ence of, 13, 16; will probably always be the American style, 14; grace, repose, and dignity of, 14; embraces expressions of Dutch, French, and Eng- lish peoples in America, 14; the intrinsic merit of, 15; its adaptability to new uses and requirements, 15; not restricted in its possibilities,
l^sz^
Index
Colonial style, continued,
15, 16; differs in different localities, 15; doorways have character and individuality, 46; spirit of, predominates in recent houses, 66
Colonnettes, 87, 90, 115
Color of furniture and interior woodwork, 65, 66
Columns, of Peabody-Silsbee house, 50, 51 ; Mclntire's, 52; of Clifford Crowninshield house, 55; of Tucker-Rice house, 57; of Woman's Bureau, 91; of "Oak Hill", 99; engaged, 99, in, 131; of Cook-Oliver house, in; of Pierce - Johonnot - Nichols house, 124, 131; of Court- house, 137
Common, Salem, 137, 139
Competition, architectural, 138
Composition ornament, 25, 26, 41; floret, 70; in Hosmer- Waters house, 88 ; in Peabody- Silsbee house, 89
Consoles, 80
Constitution, the, 147
Cook, Sally, 107, 114
Cook, Captain Samuel, 106, 107, 114
Cook-Oliver house, doorway, 49; hall, 70, 80; panels, 78; Palladian window, 81 ; parlor mantel, 100; considered in detail, 102-116; many years in the building, 120; brass hob-grate, 126
Corinthian, porch, 55; column and entablature, 55, 62; capi- tals, modified, 77, 79, 91 ; modillions, 96; capitals, 97, 124, 128, 141 ; order, savor of, at "Oak Hill", 99; acanthus.
130; order, combined with Doric, in plans for Capitol, 139
Corne, 64
Cornices, 9, li, 31, 33, 48; Mcln- tire's, 33 ; of Peabody-Silsbee house, 51; of Tucker-Rice house, 57; of Pickman house, 63 ; picture molding or, 68 ; with flat frieze, 69; accom- panying dado, 72; a novel variation of 73 ; in Derby- Crowninshield-Rogers house, 73; in "OakHill", 75, -j-], 79, 99; in Hosmer-Waters house, 87; in Woman's Bureau, 90, 91, 92; in David P. Waters house, 94, 95 ; in Clifford Crowninshield house, 96; in Nathan Read house, 97 ; twist- drill in, 98 ; in Cook-Oliver house, 108, no, in, 113, 116; in Pierce- Johonnot -Nichols house, 124-131; Doric, 143; in Hamilton Hall, 148
Cornucopias, 76
Corona, n, 49; in Peabody- Silsbee house, 56; in David P. Waters house, 62 ; with width of a narrow frieze, 73 ; sepa- rated from cymatium, 89, 96; in Pierce -Johonnot -Nichols house, 129.
Courthouse, Essex County Pro- bate, 42
Courthouse of 1785, Salem, 23, 31, 35, 134, 136
Courtyards, 120, 121
Crowninshield, Benjamin W., 21, 52,60,71,91
Crowninshield, Clifford, part owner of the Minerva, 55
Crowninshield house, Clifford, 33, 73; hall, 70; doorways, 75; casings, 76; parlor, 94
[154]
Index
Crowninshield wharf, 5 Crowninshields, the, 23 Cupboards, 105 Cupolas, 5,9; of Peabody-Silsbee
house, 50; of Pickman-Derby-
Brookhouse estate, 63, 64; of
Courthouse, 136 Customhouse, Salem, 4, 59, 140,
141 Cyma recta, 73, 115 Cymatium, 89, 96, 100 Cypress, i
D
Dado, 69 ; with cornice, 72 ; in David P. Waters hall, 81; on stairways, 82 ; in Hosmer- Waters house, 82; in Cook- OHver house, 116; in Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols house, 125, 148; in Hamilton Hall, 148
Danvers, 19, 22, 48, 96, 104
Dearborn, General, 53
Deck roof, of Peabody-Silsbee house, 50, 109, 134
Decoration, balance between plain surface and, 68 ; along second-floor level, 83 ; mantel and chimney piece keynote for, 86; cut out or applied, 132
Denticulated moldings, 93 ; in "Oak Hill", 72; double, 99; in Cook-Oliver house, no, in, 113; in Pierce- Johonnot- Nichols house, 124; in Hamil- ton Hall, 148
Dentil course, 11, 48; hand- tooled, 62, 76; in Hosmer- Waters house, 87 ; in Peabody- Silsbee house, 89 ; in Woman's Bureau, 90, 91 ; in Derby- Crowninshield-Rogers house.
94 ; in Pierce- Johonnot- Nichols house, 129, 130, 131; in Hamilton Hall, 148
Dentils, in Cook-Oliver house, 110,113; in Pierce- Johonnot- Nichols house, 124, 128-130
Derby - Crowninshield - Rogers house, the, 27, 34; history, 70, 71 ; cornice, 73 ; doorways, 75; doors, 77; corridors, 80; paneling, 81; stairway, 82; garlands and florets, 83 ; mantels, 92, 94, 95
Derby, Elias Haskett, 71 ; farm, 19, 71, 104, 141; his patron- age of Samuel Mclntire, 23 ; mansion, 26, 27, 63, 103, 106, 107, 113, 115; first American merchant to trade with Cape of Good Hope and China, 105 ; death, 106; raised fund for improvement of Salem Common, 139
Derby, Elizabeth, 71,
Derby, Ezekiel Hersey, 71
Derby fleet, the, 64
Derby Square, Salem, 106
Derby Street, house on, 52
Derby wharf, 5
Design, of Mclntire, 43, 106, no, 115, 124, 142; church, 141
Detail, fine-scale, 10, no; al- tered, 16; delicacy of, 25; ornamental, 26; Mclntire's refinement of, 26, 29; Greek and Roman, 27; Mclntire's, copied, 34; of porches, 48, 57, 122; classic motives freshened with new, 50; of Sheraton, etc., 65 ; of exterior orna- mentation, 68 ; in "Oak Hill ", 83 ; composition, 88 ; of chimney pieces, 98, 99, 126
Dining rooms, 69, 72, 73, 74, 116
[15J]
Index
DolHver, William, 145
Doorhead, 75, 76, 77, 127, 130
Doors, 9, 54; without glasswork, 47; with leaded side lights, 47 ; in Peabody-Silsbee house, 51; three panels wide, 57, 62; of Dow house, 60 ; leaded glass, 74; six-panel, 77; in Cook-Oliver house, 113; in Pierce - Johonnot - Nichols house, 120, 122, 125, 127, 130; in First Methodist Meeting House, Beverly, 146
Doorways, 9; Salem famed for, 6; Mclntire's, 29, 33 ; the key- note of the facade, 46; have character and individuality, 46; reflect character of those for whom they were built, 47 ; the welcoming, 48 ; of the Kimball house, 49; of house on Derby Street, 54; leaded glass and three-paneled door a fea- ture of, 57; the Tucker-Rice, 58; of Dow house, 60; of Hosmer-Waters house, 61 ; of Clifford Crowninshield and Derby - Crowninshield - Rogers houses, 75, 76; at "Oak Hill", 78, 79, 80; of Cook-Oliver house, no. III, 114; of Pierce - Johonnot - Nichols house, 122, 124, 130, 131; of Hamilton Hall, 148.
Doric order, in Stearns house, 51 ; in house on Derby Street, 53, 54; in Pierce- Johonnot- Nichols house, 61,96, 122; in Woman's Bureau, 90; in Stearns Building, 138 ; in plans for Capitol, 139; in South Church, 143
Dow house, Josiah, 33, 59
Downing, Emanuel, 58
Downing, George, 58
Downing College, Cambridge,
Downing Street, London, 58 Drawing-rooms, 70, 72, 77, 78, 99,
100, 127 Drop handles, 78, 127, 130
Eagle, the, Samuel Mclntire fond of carving, 17, 18; on Pickman - Derby - Brook- house estate, 63 ; shield with, 90 ; on Pierce-Johonnot- Nichols estate, 121; on the Common, 140; on old Cus- tom-house, 140, 141 ; on man- tel from Old Registry of Deeds Building, 144; in Hamilton Hall, 147
East Church, 18, 35, 143
East Indies, 3, 105
Eaves, 9, 51, 57, no
Eden, Thomas, 47
Eden-Brown house, 47, 49
Egg and dart motive, 90
Egg and tongue motive, 73, 126
Elevations, 31, 139
Elliptical arches, 79, 80, 121
Ells, 33, 63, 109, 116
Embargo Act, 118
Embellishment, 8, 33, 49, 55, 80, 85, 121, 130
Embrasures, 73, 74, 92, 116, 127, 128
Enclosed porches, 47, 48, 60, 61, 62, 122
Endicott, William C, 53
Engaged columns, 99, in, 131
England, 25, 89, 127, 139
Enrichment, 87, 88, 94
[156]
Index
Entablature, 9, 11; of Kimball house, 49 ; of Peabody-Silsbee house, 50; of Stearns house, 52; of Tucker-Rice house, 57; Corinthian, of Waters house, 62; at "Oak Hill", 75; in Lindall - Barnard - Andrews house, 87; in Cook-Oliver house, 108, no. III ; in Pierce - Johonnot - Nichols house, 130
Entrances, 46, 48 ; of Dow house, 60 ; of Pierce- Johonnot- Nichols house, 121
Essex Bank, the, 30
Essex County, 104, 135
Essex Institute, the Historical Col- lection of the, 29; Mclntire's plans preserved at, 31, 103; tools preserved at, 42 ; Tucker- Rice doorway and porch at, 58; archway from Pickman house at, 62 ; cupola preserved at, 64; "Annals of Salem" at, 103 ; Captain Cook's portrait at, 106; fund being raised by, 120; pictures of Courthouse at, 137; balustrade at, 138; carvings at, 140; eagle at, 141; urns at, 144; speech of Beaman before, 145
Essex Register, The, 29 ; notice of death of Samuel Mclntire in,
37
Essex Street, Salem, Benjamin Pickman house on, 48, 62; Peabody-Silsbee house on, 50; Stearns house on, 51 ; Tucker- Rice house on, 55; Gardner- White-Pingree house on, 56; Derby- Crowninshield - Rogers house on, 70, 72, 82 ; Lindall- Barnard-Andrews house on, 87
Eveleth, Joseph, 145
Facades, flat-boarded, 8, 134; pilaster treatment of, 33, 34; doorway the keynote of, 46; three-story, 49 ; expanse of, 55; of Tucker-Rice house, 56; of Cook-Oliver house, no
Facings, 86, 96, 97, 100
Fanlight, 47, 49; of Peabody- Silsbee house, 51 ; of house on Derby Street, 54; at "Oak Hill", 79; often used, 80; of Cook-Oliver house, in; of Pierce- Johonnot- Nichols house, 121, 124; of Assem- bly Hall, 134
Farrington, Daniel, 145.
Fascia molding, 47, 49, 70
Federal, the word, 7
Federals, the, 133
Federal Street, Salem, 103, 133,
137 "Federal Street" hymn, 107, 115 Felt, the historian, 19, 136,
139
Fence, 51, 55, 57, 60, 108, 139
Fenceposts, 55, 60
Festoons, 48, 63, 64, 75, 83, 87; in Hosmer-Waters house, 88; in Adam manner, 94; in David P. Waters house, 95, 97 ; in Cook-Oliver house, 109, 113, 115; in Pierce-Johonnot- Nichols house, 125, 129; in Assembly Hall, 134; in Hamil- ton Hall, 148
Field, Elizabeth, 20, 22
Field, Samuel, 22
Fillets, 73, 89, 92, 95, 116, 129
Fireplace opening, 86; facings, 96, 97, 100; ogee moldings about, 126; fluted band about, 129, 131
[■57]
Index
Fireplaces, 68, 74, 85, 86; in David P. Waters house, 97; in Cook-Oliver house, 116; in Pierce - Johonnot - Nichols house, 125; in Washington Hall, 138; in Hamilton Hall, 148 Fire sets, 87, loi First Church, Salem, 144 First Methodist Meeting House,
Beverly, 146 Flame motives, 108 Flanders, Asa, 145 Flemish tiles, 98 Florentine bent iron, 60 Florentine motives, 58 Florets, oval, 48, 63, 83, 95; cir- cular or oval, 70; between garlands, 75; applied, 80; enrichment of frieze, 94 ; alter- nate, 100 Flower-pots, 75 Flowers, carved ornaments, 87,
91, 95, 100, 104 Flutes, 48, 70, 76, 77, 79 ; of Pea- body-Silsbee house, 50; of pilasters of Dow house, 60; in Hosmer- Waters house, 87; in Crowninshield house, 96; in Pierce - Johonnot - Nichols house, 96, 121, 123, 124, 128, 131; in Cook-Oliver house, 108, no, 113; in Hamilton Hall, 148 Fogg, Joseph, 145 Foreshortening, 56, 109, 121 France, 139
French Catholic Parish House, 59 French putty, 25, jd, 130 Fret, Grecian, 72, 77, 98, 100; interlacing fillet, 73, 92; in Pierce - Johonnot - Nichols house, 83, 123, 128, 129; lozenge, 116
Frieze, 9, ii ; of Peabody-Silsbee house, 51, 89; of Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols house, 6i, 75, 127-13 1 ; of Pickman house, 63 ; at "Oak Hill ", 69, lly 77, 79. 80, 99, 100; sup- planting Grecian fret, 72 ; in Hosmer-Waters house, 87, 88; enrichment of, 87, 94; of Woman's Bureau, 90; advan- tages of beautifying mantel, 92; mantels with sculptured, 93 ; of Nathan Read house, 97; of David P. Waters house, 97; of Cook-Oliver house, no, in, 115; of Assembly Hall, 134; of South Church, 143 Frieze spots, 48, 98, 115, 129 Front Street, Salem, 103, 133,
137
Fruit, carved, 92, 98, 113
Fruit baskets, carved, 75, 77, 87, 95, 100, 130
Frye, Peter, 145
Furniture, white-painted interior setting for mahogany, 66, 67; the four famous types, 66; built-in, 73, 105, 138; collec- tion of rare Colonial, 89; antique, 120
Gable-roofs, 16, 21 Gage, General, 48, 142 Gallier, James, 147 Gambrel-roof type of architecture,
6, 8, 16, 17, 62 Gardens, 2; Derby, 103, 104;
of Cook-Oliver estate, 112;
of Pierce - Johonnot - Nichols
estate, 118, 121 Gardner, Captain Joseph, 58
[■58]
Index
Gardner - White - Pingree house,
33, 56
Garlands, 76, 130, 131; straight- hanging, 49, 75, 77, 88, 95, 108,109; appHed, 79; appHed festooned, 83; Adam, 98; festooned, 115
Gateposts, 58, 102, 106, 108
Gates, 60, 108
Gateways, 122, 137, 139, 140
George, the, 59
Georgian style, 43, 120, 125, 130; windows, 60, 74, 109
Gibbons, Grinling, 43
Glass, Colonial, iii
Gouges, 10, 42, 129
Grand Turk, the, 105
Grape clusters, 75, 100
Grape-vines, 98
Grates, hob, 89, 116, 126
Gray, Lieutenant - Governor William, 53
Great Swamp Fight, 58, 59
Grecian bank, 148
Grecian Doric, 53, 54
Grecian fret, 70, 72, 77, 98, 100, 128
Greek revival, 7, 12
Greek temples, 44
Guttae, of Peabody-Silsbee house, 51; of Pierce- Johonnot- Nichols house, 61 ; in the Woman's Bureau, 90
H
Halls, at "Oak Hill ", 69, 72, 80; in Cook-Oliver house, 70, 112- 116; of Clifford Crowninshield house, 73 ; the Colonial, 80- 82; in Pierce -Johonnot- Nichols house, 123, 124; in Courthouse, 136 ; of Hamil- ton Hall, 148
Hamilton, Alexander, 62, 146
Hamilton Hall, 146
Handrail, 82
Hardware, 54, 123, 127
Hardwood, 57, 67, 72
Harvard, John, 89
Headers, 147
Heppelwhite, 65
Heussler, George, 103, 104
Hinges, 127, 130
Hip roof, 9; Peabody-Silsbee house, 50; building of Asso- ciation for the Relief of Aged and Destitute Women, 53 ; Clifford Crowninshield house, 55 ; Dow house, 59, 60 ; Cook- Oliver house, 109; Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols house, 121 ; Assembly Hall, 134
Hob grates, 89, 116, 126
Home for Aged Women, Salem, 52
Homer, Professor Eleazer B., 56
Hooper, Robert (known as
"King"), 47 Horns of plenty, 95, 98, loi Hosmer, Captain Joseph, 61 Hosmer-Waters house, 61, 81, 82,
87-89 Houses, reflect character of those
for whom they were built, 47 Housewright, 17, 27, 32, 38, 107 Howard Street, Salem, 145 Howard Street Church, Salem,
147 Hull, Captain Isaac, 147 Hurley, John F., 59
I
Individuality, of doorways, 46, 122; of room, 125; lent by ends of frieze board, 127
Inserts, 91, 124, 147
Insurance company, 22
[159]
Index
Interior finish, 55, 56, 66, 67
Interior woodwork, setting for fur- niture, 65, 66; white-painted, 65, 74; details of exterior ornamentation brought to bear on, 68 ; classic orders appHed to, 69; importance of fire- place to, 86; of Cook-Oliver house, 112
Ionic capitals, 49, 60, 87, 141
Ionic order, volute of, 82, 124; pilasters and window frames with form of, 105 ; entablature of, III; South Church, 143
Ionic pilasters, 63, 105, 134
Ionic porches, 49, 50
Italy, 139
J
Jig-saw Work, 55, 57, 112, 123
Johonnot, George, 119
Joiners, their work on ships, 3 ;
employed on houses, 10; were
architects, 32 Jones, Inigo, 43
K
Key-plate, 113
Kimball house, porch, 49 ; mantel,
90, 91 Knobs, 78, 113 Knocker, 123
La Fayette, Marquis de, 2, 134,
146 Lafayette Street, Salem, 59 Landing, 81, 82, 112, 124, 125 Lantern, 60 Latrobe, Benjamin Henry, 34,
139 Lawrence, Captain, 145
Leaded glass, 57, 60, 74 Lean-to, the, 6, 8, 16 Lesbian leaf, 77 Library, 73 Lindall-Barnard-Andrews house,
87» 90, 95 "Lindens, The ", 48, 96, 97 Line, 8, 33, 65, 86, loi, no Lintel, 53, 75, 127; keyed, 50, 56, 60; with hand-tooled flutings, 79 ; with festoons and rosettes,
125 Living room, 69 London, 50, 58, 89 Longfellow, Henry W., 112 Louisiana, 15 Ludlow, Lieutenant, 145 Lundy's Lane, 53 Luscomb, Samuel, 143 Lynde Street, Salem, 106
iM
McIntire, Angier, 20, 27, 32 Mclntire, Deborah, 20 McIntire, Elizabeth (Field), wife
of Samuel McIntire, 20, 41.
Siee Field McIntire, Joseph, 17, 19, 20, 27,
3i» 32, 107 McIntire, Joseph, son of Joseph,
27, 3i> 32
McIntire, Mahitable, 20
McIntire, Samuel, birth, 17; learns father's trade, 17; most skilled American wood-carver of his time, 17, 18, 24; fond of carving eagles, 18; as a sculptor, 18, 35, 37, 38, 40; his bust of Gov. Winthrop, 18; his figure of a reaper, 18, 19; notice of, in Felt's "Annals of Salem," 19; education, 19, 39; library, 19, 40, 41 ; father's
60]
Index
death, 20; marriage, 20, 22; first a carver, then designer, finally architect, 20; his home, 21, 22, 42; workshop, 22; mortgage, 22 ; music room, 22; musical instruments, 22, 40; office, 22, 42; inventory of effects, 22, 40, 41 ; Elias Haskett Derby's patronage, 23 ; as a designer, 24 ; rec- ognized extent and limita- tions of his medium, 24; welcomed advent of stucco, 25 ; pleasing proportions of his work, 26; his plans, 26, 31, 34; work marked by refine- ment of detail and light and graceful effect, 26; called "The Architect of Salem ", 30; buildings ascribed to, 31; his draftsmanship, 31 ; handwrit- ing, 31; primarily a carver, 32; not contractor in modern sense, 32; brick adopted by, 33 ; depended on craftsman- ship of two brothers, 26, 27; detractors, 27, 28 ; facts about, buried in the old records of Salem, 28 ; inspiration fur- nished by his work, 29; his place assured, 29; references to his talents as an architect, 29, 30; versatility, 33 ; his door- ways, porches, etc., 33 ; his de- tail copied, 34; as a musician, 35> 37> 38, 40; death, 30; extract from Rev. William Bentley's diary on death, 35, 36; funeral, 36, 37; notices of death in The Salem Gazette and The Essex Register, 36, 37; personality, 36, 37, 39, 40; tribute to, in The Salem Gazette, 37-39; burial, 39;
gravestone, 29, 39 ; died intes- tate, 40; notice of sale of articles from estate, 40, 41 ; circumstances at time of death, 42 ; estate, 42 ; tools, 42 ; was not provincial, 43 ; appre- ciation of the man and his work, 43, 44; innovations of, 44, 50, SI, 63, 90,^91, 96-98, 126; imporant role of, 45; last work, 56
Mclntire, Samuel F., 27, 31, 32, 40, 41
Mclntire, Sarah (Ruck), 17, 20,
40
Mclntire, family, influence of, upon the architecture of Salem, 30, 31
Mahogany, 65, 66, 82
Maine, 15
Mansions, of Revolutionary times, 7; bespeak earnest study, 11 ; of New England seacoast towns, 50, 67; square, three- story brick, 52; enclosed porch, feature of, 60; of 1750, 81
Mantelboard, 129, 131, 144
Mantels, of house at No. 31, Summer Street, 21 ; detailed consideration of, 85-101 ; in Cook-Oliver house, 11 4-1 16; in Pierce - Johonnot - Nichols house, 131 ; from Old Registry of Deeds Building, 144; in Hamilton Hall, 148
Mantel shelf, in Hosmer-Waters house, 87; in Woman's Bureau, 90, 91 ; in Home for Aged Women, 92 ; in David P. Waters house, 94; in Clifford Crowninshield house, 95; none in house of 1750,
96
[.61]
Index
Marble, lintel of, 50; sills, 56, 60; of mantels and chimney pieces, 86; high-priced in time of Mclntire, 92; facings of fireplace opening of, 100
Maryland Historical Society, 31
Masonic Temple, 63
Massachusetts Magazine , The, 31,
134
Maynes estate, 71
Medallions, circular, 72 ; applied, 79, 115; sunburst, 108; oval, no; profile, 140
Merchant marine, 3, 5
Merchants of Salem, 2, 4, 21
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, 113, 114
Milkmaid, figure of, 105
Mill Street, Salem, house at Nos. 2 and 4, birthplace of Samuel Mclntire, 17
Miller, General James, 53
Minerva, first Salem vessel to circumnavigate the globe, 55
Mirrors, 78, 79, 99, 129
Modillions, 9; of the Kimball house, 49; of Tucker-Rice house, 57; of Waters house, 62 ; of Pierce- Johonnot- Nichols house, 96
Moldings, hand-tooled, 9 ; rope, 10, 73, 83,87, 89,90; bed, II, 87, 88, 93, 94, 96, 97; modi- fication of classic, II ; ball, 51 ; of Tucker-Rice porch, 57; cavetto, 63 ; picture, 68 ; base, 69 ; surmounting wainscot, 72 ; denticulated, 72 ; egg and tongue, 73 ; cornice of door- head, 75 ; of cornice, 77, 87 ; ovolo, 96, 99, 126, 128, 131, 148 ; of Hosmer-Waters house, 88; egg and dart, 90; ogee, 96, 126; vertical reeded ovolo.
99; composition, 100; of Cook-Oliver house, no, in, 113, 115; of Pierce- Johonnot- Nichols house, 120, 125, 126, 128, 129, 131; vertical fluted, 148
Monroe, President, 52
Morgan, J. Pierpont, 50
Motives, varied effects with few, 16; of Salem architecture, 29; classic, freshened, 50; Florentine, 58; Grecian fret, 70; acanthus leaf, 77; frieze, 80; of country houses, 92; of applied treatment of frieze, 94; repeated in surbase and cornice, 95 ; twist drill, 98 ; flame, 108; architrave, no, 127; vertical reeded, 112; repeated in cornice, 113; egg and tongue, 126
Mullions, 79
Muntins, 77, 78
Music gallery, 138, 148
Musical instruments, 95
Mutules, of Peabody-Silsbee house, 51
N
New England, 5, 16, 34; sea- coast towns, 50, 109; man- sions, 60; spirit, 121 New England Historical and
Genealogical Society, 89 Newel, 82, 83, 84, 112, 124 Nichols, George, 118, 119 Non-Intercourse Act, 118 Norman Street, Salem, 17 North American Review, descrip- tion of South Church in, 142 North Bridge, the, 2, 20, 88 North Church, 20, 35, 144 North River, 117
[.62]
Index
North Street, Salem, 144 Noyes, Rev. Nicholas, 63
O
"Oak Hill", 27; the hall at, 69, 72, 80, 81; surbase at, 70; drawing-room, 70; history of, 71 ; morning room, 72 ; cas- ings, 75; ornaments, 76; interior woodwork, 78-80 ; decorative details influenced by shipbuilding industry, 83 ; chimney piece, 99; fireplaces,
lOI
Ogee moldings, 96, 126
Oliver, General Henry Kemble,
107, 114, 115 Oriel window, 74 Ornaments, corner, 51 ; applied,
68, 76, loi ; composition, 88;
frieze, 92 Osgood estate, 59 Outbuildings, 33, 51, 121 Overmantel, 99, 100, 126 Ovolo moldings. See Moldings
Paint, of interior woodwork, 65- 68, 72, 74, 76, 82, 92, 93, 112; of outer doors, 122
Paintings, 105, 137
Palladian windows, 81, 112, 124,
147 Paneling, molded, 51, 61, 127, 148; door, 54, III, 113, 122, 130; door three panels wide, 57, 62; carefully spaced, 68; wainscot, 69, 72, 81, 105 ; of walls, 73, 74, 96, 114, 125; arrangement of panels in doors, 77, 78 ; sunken, 79 ; of box- stairs, 83 ; of pilasters, 88, 98,
[I
100; oval, 89, 90, 95 ; carved, 91; bas-relief, 92, 93, 94; projection of, 97; of shaft, 108 ; decoration of frieze, 115; of shutters, 116, 128; beaded, 124; of the over- mantel, 126; over the chimney breast, 129, 131 Papers, wall, 4, 113, 114, 115 Park Street Church, Boston, 141 Parlors, of Derby-Crowninshield- Rogers house, 70; of Pierce- Johonnot-Nichols house, 75, 96, 99, 125, 127, 130; of Hosmer-Waters house, 88 ; of Woman's Bureau, 90; of Kimball house, 91 ; of David P. Waters house, 97 ; of Cook- Oliver house, 114 Peabody, Francis, 50 Peabody, Captain Joseph, 59 Peabody, S. Endicott, 50 Peabody family, 23 Peabody, Mass., 50, 69, 99, 104 Peabody-Silsbee house, 49-51, 89,
9i»97 Pedestals, 70, 128, 148 Pediment, 105 ; of Stearns house,
52; Doric, 61 Pennsylvania, 16 Period adaptation, iii Perry, Commodore Oliver Hazard,
53 Photographs, 29
Pickering, Col. Timothy, 142, 147 Pickets, 55, 60, 108 Pickman, Sr., Benjamin, 62 Pickman, Jr., Benjamin, 63 Pickman - Derby - Brookhouse
estate, 63, 106 Pickman house, Benjamin, 48, 62 Pickman Street, Salem, No. 14,
house at, 49 Picture molding, 68
63]
Index
Pierce, Betsey, 119
Pierce, Jerathmel, 117, 118, 119
Pierce- Johonnot- Nichols house, 20, 27, 33, 61 ; porch, 52, 61 ; east front chamber, 70, 76; east parlor, 70, 78, 96, 99; paneling, 74; casings, 75; halls, 80, 81, 82; fret, 83; detailed study of, 1 17-13 1
Pilasters, 9; Mclntire's, 33, 63; of house in Portsmouth, 34; reeded, 48, 63, 89, 93, 97, 129; of Stearns house, 52; of Dow house, 60; fluted, 61, 87, 91, 121, 148; Ionic, 63, 105, 134; cornice supported by, 75, 76; molded or fluted, 77; with applied garlands, 79; arch of fanlight supported by, 80; paneled, 88, 98, 100; with wheat sheaves, 95 ; effect, 99 ; medallions beside, no; medallions on, 115; with Corinthian capital, 128; with rosettes, 130; flat, 143
Planes, 125
Plaster work, 73
Plinths, 51, 52, 69, III
Plummet Hall, 58, 59
Plymouth, Mass., 2
Porches, columned and pediment- ed, 9; Mclntire's, 33 ; of Salem houses, possess charm and dis- tinction, 48 ; of Kimball house, 49; of Peabody-Silsbee house, 49-51; Ionic, 49, so; of Stearns house, 52; of house in Washington Square, 55 ; semi-oval, 55, 58, 60; of Tucker-Rice house, 56; of Dow house, 60; enclosed, 60, 61, 62 ; of Pickman house, 62 ; decorations, no; of Cook- Oliver house, III; of Pierce-
Johonnot-Nichols house, 122;
of Assembly Hall, 134; of
Hamilton Hall, 147 Portico, Ionic, 143 Portsmouth, N. H., house showing
Mclntire influence, 34 Pownall, Governor, 62 Prescott, William Hickling, 59 Profile of Washington, 137, 140,
141
Proportion, characteristic of Salem architecture, 10; char- acteristic of Colonial style, 14; Mclntire had sense of, 43, 79, 86, 132; of porches, 57, no, 122; sense of, necessary for paneling, 73 ; of mantel, 93 ; of Mclntire's chimney pieces, 98, 126; of door and fanlight in Pierce-Johonnot- Nichols house, 124; of steeple of South Church, 143
Provincial, the word, 7
Public work, 33, 52, 133-148
Punch bowl, 105
Putnam, Perley, 31
Putnam, Judge Samuel, 134
Quoins, 143
Q
R
Railroads, 5
Rails, 61, 78, 108, 148; stair, 51,
57, 124; molded, 54, 55, 82,
112; plate, 72; frieze, 77;
ramped, 83 Read, Nathan, 59 Read house, Nathan, 31, 59, 97 Reaper, figure of, carved by
Samuel Mclntire, 18, 19, 104 Reception room, 73
[164]
Indi
ex
Reeds, of pilasters, 63, 89, 95, 97, 129; hand-carved, 70, 76, 130; band of vertical, 72 ; below the cyma recta, 73 ; frieze motive of, 80; in architrave, 92; twist-drill, 94; ovolo molding, 99 ; groups, 100, 128 ; symphony of vertical, loi ; wainscot, 112; casings, 113; colonnettes, 115; central panel, 125; ovolo, 131, 148
Registry of Deeds Building, Old, Salem, 144
Renaissance, the, 4, 8, 11, 14, 44,
45. 139 Revere, Paul, 2 Revolution, the, 3, 7, 74, 103, 142,
147
Robinson, John, 63
Rogers, John, 64
Rogers, Mrs. J. C, 69, 71
Rogers, Richard S., 71
Roman Doric, 51, iii
Roman palaces, 44
Roofs, flat, 9, 61 ; hip, 9, 50, 53, 55» 59» io9» 121, 134; Mc- Intire's, 33 ; balustraded, 56, 60, 63 ; figures on, 104, 105
Rope moldings, 10, 73, 83, 87, 89, 90
Rosettes, 51, 95, 125, 128, 129, 130
Rosewood, 65
Run (stairway), 112, 124
Salem, Mass., boasts well-pre- served residential section, i, 2, 4, 5 ; perfect condition of woodwork in houses of, i ; old houses of, recall the past, 2 ; next to Plymouth, the oldest settlement in Massachusetts, 2; merchants of, 2, 4; at the
time of the Revolution, 2, 3 ; ships and shipbuilding of, 3 ; center of commerce and refine- ment after the Revolution, 3 ; chief port of entry, 3, 4; ships and tonnage of, in 1807, 4; Custom-house of, 4, 59, 140, 141 ; now lives in the glory of its past, 4, 5 ; the architectural center of New England for Colonial style, 5 ; a storehouse of American antiquities, 6; architecture of, embraces four dissimilar types, 6; scope of the word Colonial as applied to the architecture of, 6, 7; the square Colonial town house of, 8 ; modification of classic orders, 8, 9; charac- teristics of its architecture, 10,11; everything of conse- quence in, is Colonial, 16; ab- sence of monotony in archi- tecture of, 16; during the early years of Samuel Mclntire, 20, 21; home of Samuel Mclntire in, 21, 22; houses at Nos. 70 and 90 Washington Street in, 22, 23 ; best carving of Samuel Mclntire's time was done in, 23, 24; archi- tecture of, stands as monu- ment to Samuel Mclntire, 28, 29; buildings designed by Bulfinch in, 30; Samuel Mc- lntire's activities confined to old township of, 33 ; archi- tecture of, from 1782 to 181 1, 44; doorways of, have an atmosphere of their own, 47; porches of, possess charm and distinction, 48; charm of architecture of, 84 ; superiority of architecture of, 124
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Index
Salem Almshouse, 30 Salem Athenaeum, 58, 59 "Salem Fraternity, The", 30 Salem Gazette, The, 29; notice of death of Samuel Mclntire in, 36; tribute to Samuel Mc- lntire in, 37-39; notice in, of sale of articles from estate of Samuel Mclntire, 40, 41 Salem Marine Society, 47 Sashes, oval, 61 ; with iron bent against the glass, 79; twelve- paned Georgian, 109; in Cook- Oliver house. III Scale, fine, 91, 93, 96, loi, 108,
no, 112, 116, 128 Scenic papers, 4, 113, 114, 115 Scroll, cornice, 73 ; brackets, 83 ; with acanthus flower, 100; stair ends, 112, 123 ; balusters, 124; corners of porch, 134 Seats, built-in, 138 Second floor level, 81, 83, 108, 121 Shaft, paneled, 108; smooth, in ;
fluted, 128 Shannon, the, 143, 145 Sheaves of wheat, 77, 87, 90, 92,
94
Sheraton, 65
Ships and shipbuilding of Salem, 3-5, 9, 10, 83
Side lights, 47, 48, 79; of the Kimball house, 49; of Pea- body-Silsbee house, 51; of house on Derby Street, 54; of Waters house, 61 ; of Cook- Oliver house. III; rarely found before 1800, 122
Side pockets, 116, 127
Sills, 75 ; of the Peabody-Silsbee house, 50; of house on Derby Street, 53 ; of Gardner-White- Pingree house, 56; of house on Lafayette Street, 60
Silsbee, Senator, 53
Smith, George H., 145
Soapstone, 86, 116
Softwood, painted, possibilities of, 67 ; painted, needs beauty of form, 68; wainscot of, eflFective, 72
South Building Corporation, 146
South Church, 35, 142, 143, 144, 146
Spacing, 93, 122, 130, 148
Spheres, 60, 75, 91
Spiral, 82, 84
Spire, 141-144
Square houses, 6, 8, 16, 28, 32, 33 ; at Portsmouth, 34; Peabody- Silsbee house, 50; lend them- selves to adaptation, 52; Clark-Oliver house, 109; Pierce - Johonnot - Nichols house, 120
Stable, of Peabody-Silsbee house, 51; of Pierce - Johonnot- Nichols house, 120, 121
Stair ends, 62, 82, 112, 123
Stair rails, 51, 57, 124
Stairways, 75; of Mclntire's home, 21 ; one of principal features of interiors, 68, 8a- 83 ; of Cook-Oliver house, 112; of Pierce - Johonnot - Nichols house, 121, 123, 124, 125
Standing finish, 65
State Normal School, 144
Stearns Building, 138
Stearns house, 51, 52
Steeple, 141-144
Steps, III, 136
Stiles, 54, 77, 78, 148
Story, Judge Joseph, 53, 145
String course, 138
Stringer, 112
Stucco, 25, 92
Summer house, 19, 104, 141
[.66]
Index
Summer Street, Salem, 21, 22, 40, 47, 63, 64, 144
Surbase, surmounting die, 69; molded horizontally, 70 ; height of top of chair backs, 72 ; window sill at level of, 75 ; accompanied by dado, 82 ; in Peabody-Silsbee house and Home for Aged Women, 92 ; motives repeated in, 95, 96; molded, 112; in Cook-Oliver house, n6; in Pierce- Johon- not-Nichols house, 124, 125, 128; in Hamilton Hall, 148
Tabernacle Church, 137, 142 Tapleyville, Mass., 22 Teahouse, 104 Thayer, Captain Oliver, 143 Thornton, Doctor William, 34,
139 Tiles, 98, 127 Tracy, John, 104 Tread, 82, 83, 124 Triglyph, 61, 96 Tucker-Rice house, the, 27, 55-
Tuscan, plinths, 51, 52; columns, 55, in; porch, 60; pedi- ment, 61 ; pillars, 136
U
Urns, 113; Adam, 75, 94, 131; in French putty, 76; on pilasters, 77, 88 ; over mirror, 79; frieze, 89; of oval in- serts, 91; applied, 95, 130; on roof, 104; on gateposts, 108; from steeple, 144
Vases, ioi
Venetian window, 135 Victorian period, 12 Virginia, 5 Volutes, 82, 124
w
Wainscot, paneled, 69, 72, 81, 105, n6; flat, 112; surbase of, 124 Wall papers, 4, 113, 114, 115 Walls, of Peabody-Silsbee house, 50; paneled, 69, 73, 74; dining room, 72 ; baseboard about, 8i; clapboards on, 109; side of stairway, 112 Walnut, 65
Warren Street, Salem, 119 Washington, D.C., Capitol, 31,
34
Washington, George, 2, 89, 138; ball in honor of, 134; bas- relief profile of, 137, 140, 141
Washington Hall, 133, 137
Washington Square, Salem, 55, 61, 139, 140
Washington Street, Salem, 22, 23,
63, 105, 137, 144
Waters, Henry Fitzgilbert, 89
Waters house, David P., 61, 81, 82, 83, 94, 97
West, Nathaniel, 55, 71.
West family, 23
White pine, I, 23 ; doorways of, 64; highly prized, 67; dark- stained, 82; in Cook-Oliver house, 112
Willard, Solomon, 141
"Winder", 82
Window frames, 105
Window heads, no, 122
[■67]
Index
Window seats, 74, 127
Window sills, ^ee SiLLr
Windows, 9, 49; Mclntire's, 33, 74; Georgian, 60; in Tucker- Rice house, 56; oval, 61, 63; embrasured, 73,74,92; twelve- paned, 74; Palladian, 81, 112, 124, 147; nine-paned, 109; in Cook-Oliver house, 109-112, 116; Venetian, 135
Winthrop, Gov. John, 18, 58
Witchcraft, 6, 63
Woman's Bureau, 90
Woman's Friend Society, 52
Wood-carvers, employed to dec- orate Salem ships, 3 ; em- ployed on houses, 9; skill of, 9, 10; were architects, 32
Wood finish, 65, 66; of Mclntire's home, 21 ; painted, needs beauty of form, 68; at "Oak Hill", 78; on Pickman-Derby- Brookhouse estate, 106; in Cook-Oliver house, 113; in Pierce - Johonnot - Nichols house, 131
Wood trim, i, 112, 120; Mc- lntire's, 29, 32; on Pickman- Derby-Brookhouse estate, 63 ; dark, 66
Wren, Sir Christopher, 43, 142
Wrought iron, 57, 127
ZUBER & Co., J., 114
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Library Bureau Cat. No. 1137
724,173 C83m
ClAPP
3 5002 02027 4614
NA 737 . M25 CS Cousins^ Frank, 1851- The wood-carver of Salem