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Forrester-Peabody House – Salem Home for Aged Men // 1818

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Overlooking the Salem Common, this 1818 Federal style dwelling has served as everything from a single-family home to a boarding house and ultimately an assisted living facility, showcasing that old buildings can always be repurposed into new uses. The home was built for Captain John Forrester, son of Simon Forrester, one of Salem’s most successful merchants. The Forrester House was purchased in the 1830s by George Peabody, who added the one-story ballroom wing. Peabody lived in the house until 1892 and the building later housed the Salem Club, a men’s social organization with over two-hundred well-connected members. In the 1920s, it became the Bertram Home for Aged Men, named after Captain John Bertram, who founded the organization in 1877 as a charitable residence providing housing and socialization space for aged men in Salem. The home had fallen into disrepair when it was closed in 1988, to reopen two years later as the first free-standing assisted living community for men and women in Massachusetts, today known as the Bertram House.

White-Lord House // 1811

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The White-Lord House at 31 North Washington Square in Salem, Massachusetts, is one of a row of stately brick, Federal style mansions built for wealthy 19th century merchants overlooking the bucolic Salem Common. This house was built in 1811 for merchant Stephen White by master mason Joshua Upham (1784-1858), adjacent to his brother’s mansion across the street. It was later the home of merchant John W. Rogers from 1831 to 1844 and merchant Thomas P. Pingree from 1844 to 1858 before it was acquired by Nathaniel Lord in 1858 and members of the family continued to occupy the house for the next ninety years. George R. Lord (1817-1891) was a lawyer and assistant Clerk of the Courts. The exterior of the White-Lord House has changed little beyond the switch to the two-over-two sash windows sometime in the latter half of the 19th century.

Conway-Trumbull House // 1848

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Built in 1848 for Rev. James Conway of Salem, this stunning Greek Revival home on Winter Street blends architectural integrity with a bold pop of color! James Conway was born in Ballinamore, Ireland and moved to the United States and was ordained as a Catholic priest. He was a missionary with the Penobscot Tribe in Maine, before preaching in Lowell and later in Salem, Massachusetts. When he moved to Salem, he had this house on Winter Street built with flush board siding, paneled side-hall entry, and moulded window surrounds with corner blocks. Conway would later sell the property to Edward Trumbull, a Salem merchant and later to Ebenezer Putnam. It was likely Putnam who added the oversized second-story bay window on the facade of the house.

Brown-Battis House // 1851

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Captain Nathaniel Brown (1800-1866), a master mariner in Salem, built this fine brick house on Brown Street in 1851. Captain Brown bought the lot from the heirs of Nathaniel Kinsman in 1850, with an older house already occupying the site. The existing house was razed and construction began on this house, with it completed by 1851. The building is unique as it resembles the Federal period form of the five-bay and three-story residence with shortened third-floor windows under a low hipped roof. Although the Federal period waned in popularity by the 1830s, this house clearly took cues from the earlier homes nearby. Following Nathaniel Brown’s death in 1866, James Herrick Battis, a tobacconist and cigar manufacturer, purchased the home. City records state that Battis was issued a building permit in 1878 for an addition to the dwelling. It is probable that the bay windows and front door hood were also added at this time, giving the residence more of an Italianate style. Battis continued to own the property until his death in 1891. By 1930, the residence was converted into apartments and was known as the Conant Apartments. It remains a six-unit apartment building today.


Old Essex County Superior Courthouse // 1861

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Located to the west of the Old Granite Courthouse on Federal Street in Salem, the Old Essex County Superior Courthouse is a visual depiction of the emergence of the Victorian styles from the more Classical Greek mode. Originally built in 1861 from plans by Salem architect, Enoch Fuller, the building was distinctly Italianate in style and built of brick until a major renovation in 1889 gave the building its present Richardsonian Romanesque appearance. The building was enlarged and renovated by architects Holman K. Wheeler and W. Wheelwright Northend which includes: changes to the roof line, creation of dormers, alterations to the window surrounds to create Romanesque arches and more. A three-story projecting pavilion, whose first floor is finished with rusticated brownstone, contains a recessed entry with a large semicircular arch supported on three columns with carved capitals at each end. The central pavilion resolves into a gable with corner pilasters with carved finials centering a blind arch containing the full date span of the complex, “1861-1891” in a field of square rusticated brownstone blocks. The courthouse remained in use until the J Michael Ruane Judicial Center at the end of the block was completed in 2012. The Old Granite Courthouse and adjacent Old Superior Courthouse were both vacated and have been essentially mothballed ever-since under the ownership of the Division of Capital Asset Management and Maintenance as surplus. The fate of the two buildings remains undetermined.

Captain John Felt House // 1757

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The Captain John Felt House on Federal Street in Salem, Massachusetts, is a surviving Georgian residence with ties to the American Revolution. In May 1757, John Felt purchased a lot on present-day Federal Street from Benjamin Lynde for 52 pounds, and began building his family home here. John Felt, a Salem native, worked as a “shoreman,” but was primarily an owner of vessels involved in the coasting trade, also owning a large warehouse to store the goods from the West Indies brought in by his ships. Felt’s title of “Captain” came from his involvement in the Essex county militia. Captain Felt was a key figure in Leslie’s Retreat, also called the Salem Gunpowder Raid, which took place on February 26, 1775, in Salem. British Colonel Alexander Leslie led a raid to seize suspected cannons from a makeshift Colonial armory in Salem. Instead of finding artillery, Leslie encountered an inflamed citizenry and militia members ready to stop his search. These colonists flooded Salem’s streets, preventing Leslie’s passage and forcing him to negotiate. Ultimately, the Salemites convinced the British Regulars to stand down and return to Boston. No shots were fired, and no one was seriously injured—but tensions were high and a skirmish was evident until Captain Felt stated, “If you do fire, you will all be dead men.” Had a soldier or a colonist gone rogue and fired their weapon, the American Revolution might have begun in Salem, and not Concord just weeks later. After the Revolution, Captain Felt sold his house and moved to present-day Danvers. After centuries of successive ownership by merchants, today, the Felt House is used (at least in part) as professional law offices.

Roughwood Estate Cow Barn // 1892

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Like the Roughwood Mansion and carriage house, this building was designed and built in Brookline, Massachusetts, in the early 1890s as part of the “Roughwood” estate. Despite its high-style and ornate detailing, the building was actually constructed as a cow barn. Built in two phases for its two owners, William Cox and Ernest Dane, the large barn structure blends Victorian design into a use more reserved for vernacular detailing. The building was designed by Andrews, Jacques and Rantoul, and like the mansion and carriage house, blends Queen Anne and Shingle styles under one roof. Ever-since the estate became a college in the 1960s, the building has been used as a maintenance building. It appears that since it has been owned by Boston College as part of it’s Messina Campus, it is undergoing a thoughtful restoration!

Roughwood // 1891

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Roughwood is a historic estate house on Heath Street in Brookline, Massachusetts. The main residence and the various outbuildings on the grounds were designed by the Boston architectural firm of Andrews, Jaques and Rantoul, and built in 1891 as the summer estate of William Cox, a wholesale dealer in the footwear industry. Mr. Cox died in 1902 and the property was sold to Ernest Dane, the year before he married Helen Pratt, the daughter of Charles Pratt, a wealthy New York businessman and philanthropist. Mr. Dane was a banker who served as President of the Brookline Trust Company. The Dane’s owned the property for decades until the property was eventually purchased by Pine Manor Junior College in 1961. The estate house remained a centerpiece of the campus. In the early 21st century, Pine Manor College saw financial distress, and was saved by Boston College, who acquired the campus and its existing students as Messina College, which opened in July 2024 for over 100 first-generation college students. Architecturally, Roughwood is a high-style example of the Queen Anne/Shingle style of architecture. The mansion is built with a puddingstone and brownstone first floor and a second floor of varied patterns of wood shingles, all capped by a slate roof. The facade is dominated by towers and dormers and the great rustic entrance portico with dragon’s head brackets. To its side, a 1909 Tudor Revival addition served as a music room for the Dane’s family and while stylistically unique, is designed with impeccable proportions.

Hilt-Rayner Houses // 1844

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This is your reminder to get lost and explore your city or town. Tucked off Boylston Street sits Boylston Place, a short, dead-end way that is passed by thousands every day, many not knowing about the little enclave of surviving 19th century buildings there. At the end of the street, the Hilt-Rayner Double House remains in great condition and a reminder as to the residential character of the area in the first half of the 19th century. The houses were built by Henry Hilt, a housewright who owned one unit after completion. The other unit was owned by Thomas L. Rayner, who appears to have rented the unit out. The late example of the Greek Revival style in the rowhouse form is well preserved through nearly 200 years of use. Beginning in the 1920s, the two homes were acquired by the Tavern Club, a private social club established in 1884 in the house next door. It remains owned by the Tavern Club today.

Old Boston Public Library // 1855-1898

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Courtesy of BPL collections.

Established in 1848, the Boston Public Library was the first large, free municipal library in the United States. The Boston Public Library’s first building of its own was a converted former schoolhouse located on Mason Street that opened to the public in 1854. As soon as the library occupied the building, it was apparent that the amount of visitors and collections could not effectively be held in the cramped quarters. Planning began almost immediately for it’s first purpose-built library. Less than a year later, in December 1854, library commissioners were authorized to purchase a lot and fund the construction of the new library. A desirable building lot on Boylston Street, opposite the Boston Common, was purchased and a public invitation for proposals from architects was held. The requirements for the building included: a library hall with alcoves capable of containing on fixed shelves at least 200,000 volumes, a general reading room with ample accommodations at tables for at least 150 readers, a ladies reading room, an adjacent library room for the arrangement of 20,000 books “most constantly demanded for circulation,” and quarters for the Trustees and Librarian. The facade was to be of brick, with stone dressing”. The selected design by architect, Charles Kirk Kirby, was for this handsome Italianate style building which took nearly three years to build, opening in September 1858. Twenty years later, as the library outgrew that space, the Trustees asked the state legislature for a plot in the newly filled Back Bay, and planning began on the McKim Building, built in 1895 down Boylston Street. This building, the first purpose-built Boston Public Library building, was demolished in 1898, and replaced by the ten-story Colonial Theater Building. It stood just 40 years.