Next to the Old North Congregational Church in Marblehead is a house built in 1732 for John Pousland, a joiner. From 1780 to 1830, the house was home to Capt. Richard Dixey and family. Richard Dixey rode the first ferry from Naugus Head to Salem.
Another renowned three-story residence in Salem is the Peirce-Nichols House, a transitional Georgian/Federal structure at 80 Federal Street. The work of Samuel McIntire, the house was constructed in the Georgian style in 1792, with McIntire also remodeling several interior rooms in the Federal style in 1801. It was built for Jerathmiel Peirce, partner of Aaron Waite in the merchant firm of Peirce and Waite, owners of the East Indiaman Friendship. Behind the house and its stables, a terraced lawn extends back to a small arbor. The property originally extended to the North River, where Capt. Peirce docked his ships. The 1801 remodeling of the house was occasioned by the marriage of Sarah Peirce to George Nichols. At that time, McIntire also crafted the front fence, which has decorative urns. The house passed to John H. Johonnot in 1827, but it was inherited by George Nichols in 1840. The Essex Institute (now the Peabody Essex Museum) purchased the house by subscription in 1917.
Impressively sited on the west side of Salem Common (though often obscured by tour buses!) is the Andrew-Safford House, built in 1818-1819. Regarded as one of New England’s great Federal-era houses, it was built for John Andrew, a wealthy merchant of Russian furs. In the 1860s, the house was owned by the Smith and Creamer families and in 1871 was purchased by John Osborne Safford, a leather merchant. His family gave the home to Essex Institute, now the Peabody Essex Museum, in 1947. Since the picture above obscures the house’s striking Federal entryway, click below to see an image of it… Continue reading “Andrew-Safford House (1818)”
The Sutton-Peirson House in Peabody is a Gothic Revival cottage built in 1847 by General William Sutton as a wedding gift to his daughter, Elizabeth, and her husband, Abel Peirson Jr. An officer in the Massachusetts State Militia and a state senator, William Sutton was a wealthy wool merchant. In 2009, the house was donated to the Peabody Historical Society and moved from its original location on Aborn Street to 33 Washington Street, next to the Osborne-Salata House. The house is being restored and will house the expanded Ruth Hill Library and Archives.
In 1863, some former members of the Somerset Club in Boston who were strong supporters of the Union formed the Union Club. They acquired a house at 8 Park Street in Boston to be their clubhouse. It had been built in 1809 for John Gore and been completely remodeled in Greek Revival style (but with interesting cast iron balconies as well) in 1838 for Abbott Lawrence. The Union Club hired Gridley J. F. Bryant, who had overseen the earlier remodeling, and John Hubbard Sturgis to remodel the interior. Peabody and Stearns were hired in the 1880s to add a fifth floor and the Club was expanded into the adjoining house, at 7 Park Street, in 1896. That house (1809) had been the home, from 1854 to 1856, of Governor Henry Gardener of the “Know Nothing” party. In 1869 the house was sold to John Amory Lowell and the Club acquired the house from his estate.
Located at 14 Broad Street in Salem, next to the Jonathan Neal House, is a house built in 1836 for grocer William Stevens. It may have been built by William’s brother, James Stevens, a carpenter, who had acquired the land from the Pickering family. Augustus Blake owned the house from 1864 to 1908, when he sold the property back to a member of the Pickering family, Anna D. Pickering.
Glen Magna Farms in Danvers began with a house, built in the 1790s by Jonathan Ingersoll. In 1812, the property was acquired by Capt. Joseph Peabody, wealthy Salem shipping merchant, as his gentleman’s estate. Additional acres were later acquired by the Peabody family, who occupied the estate for over a century. In 1893, Peabody’s granddaughter, Ellen Peabody Endicott, hired the Boston firm of Little, Browne and Moore to expand the house into a stylish Colonial Revival mansion. In 1926, she was awarded the Hunnewell Gold Medal from the Massachusetts Horticultural Society for the estate’s plantings. After her death the following year, her son, William Crowninshield Endicott, Jr., continued enhancing the estate until his death in 1936. In 1901, he had brought the 1793 Derby Summer House to Glen Magna. Since 1963, the house and the eleven central acres of the property have been owned by the Danvers Historical Society, which has restored the historic gardens and grounds.
