This Shingle-style church building on Lynde Street in Salem, Massachusetts, was built in 1897 as a satellite chapel for the First Congregational Society in Salem. The chapel was constructed from designs by the Boston-based architect Edward B. Stratton. From 1908 to 1979, the building was owned by the Christian Science Church and was eventually sold to private ownership in 1979, where it has since been home to the Witch Dungeon Museum. The building has retained much of its original design, including the large Gothic sanctuary window, tower, and decorative trusses at the gable. Sadly, the original shingles have been replaced by later siding.
Constructed in 1912, Temple Court at 15 Lynde Street was erected on the site of two earlier buildings during a period of great population growth in Salem. The parcels here were acquired by Aroline C. Gove (1857-1939), a prominent local property-owner and developer between 1908 and 1911. Ms. Gove was a prominent Salem citizen and daughter of notable inventor and businesswoman Lydia Pinkham. With a business-oriented mindset like her mother, Aroline hired architect Harry Prescott Graves of Lowell to furnish plans for an apartment building on this site. Completed in 1912, the apartment building, known as Temple Court, included 36 units with two-, three-, and four-room suites with a live-in janitor. The building is unique for Salem as a courtyard style building, more common in Boston and Brookline. The building’s large mass is broken up by its setback with the U-shaped form and central landscaped courtyard, series of projecting octagonal bays, and multiple entrances. Temple Court was converted to condominiums in the 1980s.
The William Hunt Double House, located at 10-12 Lynde Street in Salem, is a 2 ½ story wood-frame Italianate building that showcases the emerging presence of the Victorian style on residential buildings in the mid-19th century, even in cities with strong support for Colonial and Federal period styles. The two-family house was built by William Hunt, a prominent Salem merchant, as a rental property with occupants of the building in 1859 including: John W. Lefavour, a cashier, and Benjamin F. Faber, a merchant. The property remained in the Hunt Family for three generations, and was converted to a boarding house in the 1930s. In November 2018, a fire gutted much of the building, displacing the residents, and concerned neighbors as to the future of this great property. Luckily for us, the owners hired Seger Architects, Epsilon Associates and Groom Construction to fully restore the building to its former glory. The resulting project won a Salem Preservation Award and received Federal and State Tax Credits to offset restoration costs. What a great success story!
This mid-19th century brick structure on Church Street in Salem, Massachusetts, was built as the Central Fire House for the City. The Salem Fire Engine House was erected in 1861 from plans by an unidentified architect, in an eclectic style focused on function over frills. The façade is dominated by three engine bays with five windows on the second floor, surmounted by a decorative brick cornice. The hidden feature of the fire house is the three-story hose-drying tower capped by a slate mansard roof at the rear of the building. This building remained a fire house for 115 years until 1976, when due to larger fire engines and the tight constraints of the lot and surrounding streets, made use of the building a burden for fire-fighting. The City of Salem sold the building to private owners in 1976 for $24,000, and they underwent renovations to the building from designs by David Jaquith undertaken under the direction of the Salem Redevelopment Authority which sought to promote renovation of select historic buildings within the Downtown Salem Historic District. The recessed entrances through the old engine doors is a nice touch and retains the original fabric of the building. The old Salem Central Fire House is now occupied by Crazy Good Kitchen and the East Regiment Beer Company.
Salem, Massachusetts, was first settled by Europeans in 1626, and it would take 170 years until in 1796, an organization of citizens was established for the purpose of supplying the inhabitants generally of Salem and Danvers with pure spring water. The Salem and Danvers Aqueduct Company was incorporated in 1797 “for the purpose of conveying fresh water by subterraneous pipes into the towns of Salem & Danvers.” As Salem grew, the need for a more central water district and distribution network became a necessity for the health and prosperity of the city. A 1864 law allowed Salem to construct its own water works, and it formed a Board of Water Commissioners who designed and constructed the system. From this, funding was acquired and paid for the laying of tens of thousands of feet of subterranean water distribution pipes connecting the reservoir to buildings and hydrants in Salem. Offices of the Waterworks were scattered and obsolete until 1877, when funds for the construction of this structure at 32-34 Church Street were set aside as the new Water Department Offices. Completed by 1879, the building is a great example of a Romanesque/Italianate style masonry structure with corbelled cornice and arched openings. According to the city directories, this building continued to operate as the Salem Water Works into the late 1930s. By 1945, it was the headquarters of the United States War Price & Rationing Board. In 1964, it held a number of city offices including: Civil Defense headquarters, Fire Department headquarters, Licensing Board, Planning Board, and the City Veterans Service, before being sold by the City of Salem to private ownership in 1976.
Charles Henry Farnam (1846-1909) was a lawyer, genealogist, and the son of Henry Farnam, a wealthy railroad industrialist in New Haven, Connecticut. Following his father’s death in 1883, Charles, who may have inherited a small fortune in the will, purchased a house lot on the finest residential street in New Haven, Hillhouse Avenue. The existing house on the lot, the Benjamin Silliman House, was relocated to front Trumbull Street (and recently relocated again to 85 Trumbull Street), clearing the site for his new mansion. He hired esteemed architect J. Cleaveland Cady, who designed a large, Queen Anne/Romanesque masonry home unlike anything else on the Avenue. The house features an asymmetrical plan, corner tower, a Flemish style gable, fancy brickwork and terracotta detailing, and a slate mansard roof. Charles H. Farnam would sell the property to Henry S. Parmelee, a noted businessman and piano manufacturer, who also is credited with inventing the first automated sprinkler head and as a result, owning the first building in the United States to be equipped with a fire suppression system, his piano factory. Parmelee hired local architect Leoni Robinson, to design a rear addition for the house. Parmelee died in 1902, and the property was maintained by his widow and daughter, until it was acquired by Yale University in 1920. Today, the Farnam Mansion is occupied by the Economics Department.
John Pitkin Norton (1822-1852) was a successful educator, chemist, and author, who at just 27-years-old, built this stately mansion on Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut, for his young family. John P. Norton studied chemistry under Benjamin Silliman at Yale College, and was eventually appointed Professor of Agricultural Chemistry at Yale in 1846. He helped to found the Department of Philosophy and the Arts at Yale College and authored many scientific papers, dealing with the chemistry of crops. Coming from an established family and beginning a successful career himself, John hired New Haven-based architect, Henry Austin, to design this large, Italianate villa. The window surrounds, canopies, and flamboyant Moorish entryway are typical of Austin, with the general form and detailing taking cues from architect Alexander Jackson Davis‘ work. The Norton Mansion was purchased by Yale University in 1923 and was long the home to the Yale School of Management and is now occupied by the Jackson School of Global Affairs.
One of the finest houses in New Haven is this stately residence, the Aaron Skinner Mansion on Hillhouse Avenue. The mansion was built in 1832 for Aaron Nichols Skinner (1800-1858) from plans by architect Alexander Jackson Davis. Skinner was a Mayor of New Haven (1850-1854), and for a short time, ran a boy’s boarding school out of this house. Skinner was also a CT State Representative, serving two terms. The house was originally built as a three-bay, two-story house with one-story side wings and a rear ell. After his death, the house was purchased by Judge William W. Boardman, who in 1859, modernized the property hiring architect, Henry Austin, who filled in the side wings and added Italianate window mouldings. The monumental portico supported by fluted, Ionic columns, creates such a stately presence for the early house on the street. In the early 20th century, the mansion was owned by Rutherford Trowbridge, who renovated the house for his own use. The house remained in the Trowbridge family until the death of his last daughter, Miss C. Rachel Trowbridge, when the estate became the property of Yale University.
In 1871, wealthy engineer and philanthropist, Henry Farnam (1803-1883), purchased a house lot on the desirable Hillhouse Avenue in New Haven, Connecticut, where he would live out his final days in retirement. Mr. Farnam made his fortune beginning in 1839, when he was instrumental in building the railroad connecting New Haven to New York. In 1850, he moved to Illinois where he partnered with Joseph E. Sheffield to build the Chicago, Rock Island and Pacific Railroad, becoming that railroad’s president in 1854. In 1868, Farnam moved back to New Haven when he hired Russell Sturgis, Jr., to design and oversee construction on his home there. Henry Farnam also worked with Sturgis on Farnam Hall at Yale, where he is the benefactor and namesake of the building. Henry Farnam died in 1883, and in his will, he stipulated that he would gift his property to Yale College under the condition that his son, Henry W. Farnam, could live there until his death. Henry Walcott Farnam was an economist, and served as president of the American Economic Association. In 1933, the property ownership was officially transferred to Yale University, who in 1936, renovated the property, changing its appearance from Victorian Gothic to Colonial Revival. Architects, Richard A. Kimball and Ellery Husted furnished the designs for the stately residence. Since that time, the Farnam House has served as the residence of the Yale President.
Buildings of New England 