Salem MA History

William Hunt Double-House // c.1858

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

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!

Old Salem Central Fire House // 1861

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

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 Water Company Offices // 1879

Buildings of New England2 Comments

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.

James Roope House // 1916

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

The only historic brick residence located in the charming Salem Willows neighborhood of Salem, Massachusetts is this stately Colonial Revival house at the corner of Bay View and Juniper avenues. The brick dwelling was constructed in 1916 for James Roope, President and Treasurer of the Salem Lumber Company. Designed by Boston architect, Gordon Robb, it is two stories high, with a shallow hipped roof. The central entry has leaded sidelights and a pedimented porch with trellises at the sides.

Streeter Cottage // 1882

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

In 1881, Gilbert Streeter and his wife Rebecca purchased a small house lot in the Salem Willows for a summer cottage for them to retreat across town to during the warmer months. Gilbert Streeter was an amateur historian, businessman, publisher of the Salem Observer and was able to afford a second residence in his hometown. The Streeter cottage was built by 1882 and stands out not only for its excellent state of preservation, but for its unique architecture. The cross-gabled form cottage is covered in board-and-batten siding with bargeboards lining the eaves.

Joseph P. Allen Cottage // 1877

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

One of the most picturesque and charming summer cottages (now year-round residences) in the Salem Willows neighborhood in Salem, Massachusetts is this Victorian on Bay View Avenue. The cottage was built around 1877 for Joseph Pray Allen (1822-1897) who was a police officer who likely climbed the ranks in the force to afford a second home in the city. The 1 1/2-story cottage has decorative bargeboards at the eaves and stick bracket at the gable. Perfection!

Patrick Dempsey Cottage // c.1875

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

This charming mini-mansard summer cottage is located in the coastal neighborhood of Salem Willows, in Salem, Massachusetts. The neighborhood developed in the 1870s-1900s as a summer colony for middle-income families who wanted a second home away from the hustle-and-bustle of urban living in favor of ocean breezes. The cottage likely dates to the mid-1870s as one of the earliest summer homes in the neighborhood, and historic maps show it was owned by a P. Dempsey. It appears this is Patrick Dempsey (1821-1902), an Irish immigrant who settled in Lowell, Massachusetts, making it big as a liquor dealer and saloon-keeper. The Second Empire style cottage has a partially enclosed porch, but retains much of its original character and is located right on the water with sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean.

William Bates Summer Cottage // 1885

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

While Salem is best-known for its First Period and Federal style buildings, the Salem Willows neighborhood features some of the finest Victorian summer cottages in the Boston area. This cottage was built in 1885 by William Marston Bates (1820-1912), a Salem-based dentist, as his summer retreat when not in the office. The Stick style cottage has a steep gable roof with jerkinhead clip at the facade and a wrap-around porch with decorative jigsawn bracketed details. The house is a well-preserved example of the style, examples of which are becoming less-and-less frequent in recent years.

Salem Willows Park // 1859

Buildings of New England2 Comments

The Salem Willows neighborhood of Salem, Massachusetts sits at the extreme tip of Salem Neck, which juts out into the Atlantic Ocean. The area here was sparsely used until the 19th century, when a smallpox hospital was built here in 1800, mainly used for sailors to recover and be treated. Soon after, a man by the name of Hezekiah Williams planted rows of Willow trees for the enjoyment of patients, which would give the area (and later park) its name. The hospital burned in 1846. Part of the land on the Neck became a park, and a former farm known as the Derby Farm, was purchased and redeveloped with new streets and house lots laid out for summer cottages in the early 1870s. The neighborhood became known as Juniper Point. The Salem Willows Park was enhanced in the late 19th and early 20th centuries with bathing facilities, pavilions, and amusement and commercial buildings. The park is today well-maintained by the City of Salem and is an important protected site that documents the city’s history of the 19th and 20th centuries. I was also pleased to find the 1965 Memorial Shell Band Stand with accordion metal roof designed by the architectural firm of Robert Charles, Associates.

Ropes Mansion // c.1727

Buildings of New EnglandLeave a comment

The Ropes Mansion in Salem was constructed in 1727 for merchant Samuel Barnard, a native of Deerfield who moved to Salem and made a fortune in trade. Samuel died in 1762, and the property was willed to his nephew and brother. The property was sold in 1768 to Judge Nathaniel Ropes II. Ropes’s short tenure as an associate justice on the Superior Court of Judicature, the highest court in the colony, was marked by a significant controversy over how judges were paid. Because these royal judges were effectively at the mercy of the colonists, the British proposed paying them directly, through the already-unpopular colonial taxes. This action further outraged Massachusetts patriots, who feared that the judges would become partial to the Crown over colonial interests. Due to this significant backlash from colonists and Patriots, there was significant pressure on these judges to not accept their royal salaries, including Judge Ropes, who promised that he would not accept the royal salary. Although he had refused his royal salary, he nonetheless held Loyalist views, and his position as a high-ranking judge made him a symbol of British power in the colony. According to tradition, in March 1774 an angry mob attacked the house, throwing mud, sticks, and rocks at the windows and calling for Ropes to renounce his allegiance to the Crown. However, at the time Nathaniel was in his bed, gravely ill with smallpox, and he died the following day, with the stress from the mob supposedly being a contributing factor in his death at just 47 years old. With the death of the last two unmarried Ropes sisters, Mary and Eliza, the house and grounds were bequeathed to the Essex Institute (now the PEM) by 1907 for the purpose of establishing a school of botany, as a perpetual memorial to the Ropes family. The stunning public gardens there were laid out in 1912 John Robinson.