Essex County History

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.


Kenneally House // 1913

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While Salem, Massachusetts, is best-known for its Colonial and 19th century architecture, there are some great 20th century buildings that deserve attention. This is the Kenneally House at 3 Williams Street, just north of the Salem Common, a c.1913 Colonial Revival home with great curb appeal. The house was built for Maurice D. Kenneally, a teamster, who lived here with his wife, Mary, and son, Patrick. Symmetrically arranged, the house has a center entry , with sidelights and an elliptical fanlight. The front facade is dominated by a full-width first story porch on paired Doric columns and a gable roof with Palladian window.

St. Peter’s Episcopal Church // 1833

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The St. Peter’s Episcopal Church of Salem, is a landmark example of a granite, Gothic Revival church of the 19th century. The present church, which is constructed of Cape Ann granite, was the second church on the site built for local Episcopalians, replacing a wood-frame building constructed there 100 years prior. Designed by architect Isaiah Rogers, the Gothic church features a prominent entry tower with a quatrefoil window in each elevation, large lancet-arched windows in the tower and lining the sanctuary, and a crenelated parapet. When completed, St. Peter’s had Salem’s first church bell, an 1740 English bell that supposedly still graces the tower today and is said to be the oldest church bell in the United States! In 1871, the rear chapel was added to the building, from plans by George E. Harney. The chapel was built directly over the old parish cemetery, requiring some of the tombstones to be placed inside the chapel walls, while others were moved to the front of the church, creating a really unique “garden cemetery” in front of the church.

George Clark Cottage // 1847

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In 1847, George Clark (1815-1890), a Salem carpenter, purchased a house lot on Oliver Street, a block away from the Salem Common. That year he began constructing this cottage for his family. The Clark Family resided here for just a year until 1849, when George got caught up in the California Gold Rush, selling the property and moving west to make his fortune. Since Mr. Clark was back in Salem by 1850 (according to the federal census), he was likely one of the thousands of forty-niners who did not strike it rich. The Greek Revival style house is unique for its more Gothic style gable, brackets, and segmental arched windows.

Edgerly-Hawthorne House // 1824

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The Edgerly-Hawthorne House on Mall Street, near the Salem Common, is one of the most significant residences in Salem, Massachusetts. The Federal style residence was built in 1824 for Peter Edgerly, who ran a teamster/trucker or distribution company in Downtown Salem. After a decade, Peter became insolvent and the property was sold to Joseph Leavitt, a wealthy property owner in Salem. This house is best-known as the place where Salem-born Nathaniel Hawthorne and his family, lived from 1847 to 1850, and where he wrote The Scarlet Letter. It was in the room closest to the street, on the third floor, that Hawthorne sat at his desk and wrote the American masterpiece of fiction. After publishing The Scarlet Letter, Hawthorne moved to the Berkshires and then back to Concord, Massachusetts, never to live in Salem again. In c.1906, the Edgerly-Hawthorne House was photographed by the Detroit Publishing Company highlighting some landmarks in town. The house looks nearly identical from when it was built over 200 years ago!

Nathaniel B. Perkins House // c.1836

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Nathaniel B. Perkins (1813-1885) was born in Salem the son of Captain Joseph Perkins (born 1785) and Elizabeth Hunt. Perkins was a wealthy ship owner in Salem and served on the Salem School Committee and was Treasurer of the Essex Marine Railway. He married Susan Breed in 1836 and built this house on Oliver Street in Salem soon-after. The high-style Greek Revival house is notable for its prominent recessed center entry with engaged, fluted Ionic columns and a modillioned entablature. Perkins likely had one of his ship carpenters work on the carvings as they are so unique.

J. Michael Ruane Judicial Center // 2011

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In 2005, the Commonwealth of Massachusetts announced plans to build a new court complex on Federal Street in Salem to replace the aging 19th century courthouses. A site adjacent to the 1909 Registry of Deeds and Probate Court was selected, but with one issue, a Federal-period historic Baptist Church was already on the site. The church was purchased from the congregation and moved down Federal street, and construction began on the new contemporary judicial center. Designed by Goody/Clancy Architects, the building takes design cues from the historic courthouses on the street, with a modern interpretation of the Classical architecture and Corinthian columns found nearby. Opened in 2011, the complex was named after late state representative, J. Michael Ruane, and incorporated the former 1805 Baptist Church as the new Essex Law Library.

Essex County Registry of Deeds // 1909

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The Essex County Registry of Deeds and Probate Courthouse on Federal Street in Salem, Massachusetts, was built in 1909 from plans by Boston architect, Clarence Blackall. The Neo-Classical courthouse adds to the rich tapestry of Civic buildings there, showcasing the ever-evolving tastes in architecture as the buildings become more contemporary as you move westward down the street. The two-story granite and cast-stone faced brick masonry building is cross-shaped in plan, consisting of a three-bay wide gable-end entrance with Ionic porch of six fluted columns supporting a dentilled entablature and pediment. The central bay within the entry porch contains a large double-door entrance with elaborate architrave and a scrolling pediment incorporating Classical motifs and a Greek god bust. The building underwent a massive restoration in 2017, and was renamed the Thaddeus Buczko Building after retired First Justice Thaddeus M. Buczko.

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.

Essex County Old Granite Courthouse // 1841

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Aligned in a row on the north side of Federal Street in Salem, the Essex County Court complex is a tour de force of the evolving architectural tastes of three centuries. At the eastern edge of the complex, the Old Granite Courthouse stands as the oldest of the group. The two-story temple-form building is of rectangular plan with gabled roof oriented towards the street. The facade features a recessed porch with paired columns surmounted by Greek Corinthian capitals which are set between broad, squared Doric corner pilasters. The granite building was designed by architect, Richard Bond (1797-1861) of Boston, and the structure is often referred to as one of the finest Greek Revival-style Civic buildings in New England. 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.