Lindall-Gibbs-Osgood House (1755)

by Dan//Colonial, Houses, Salem

The Lindall-Gibbs-Osgood House is a gambrel-roofed residence at 314 Essex Street in Salem. Located between the “Witch House” and First Church, it was built for Mary Lindall and later had other owners, including the Gibbs family. In 1825, it was bought by Capt. William Osgood and remained in his family until was acquired by the Red Cross in the 1940s. The house continues as an office building today. According to The Colonial Architecture of Salem (1919), by Frank Cousins and Phil M. Riley, it was in this house

where Benjamin Thompson, afterward Count Rumford, commander-in-chief of the Bavarian army, lived as a boy and made some of his early experiments. Rumford ovens, invented by this eminent scientist and author, are to be found in several of the larger old mansions of Salem, a few of them even now finding occasional use.

At the age of 13, Thompson was apprenticed to John Appleton, a merchant who owned the house at the time.

Derby Summer House (1793)

by Dan//Danvers, Federal, Outbuildings

The Derby Summer House, also known as the McIntire Tea-house is a garden house, built in 1793 to plans by Samuel McIntire, for wealthy merchant Elias Hasket Derby‘s farm in Salem. In 1901, the Summer House was moved to Glen Magna Farms, the Danvers estate then owned by Ellen Peabody Endicott. Her son, William Crowninshield Endicott, Jr., was instrumental in bringing the Summer House to the property, where it now opens onto a walled rose garden designed by Herbert W. C. Browne. The two sculpted figures on the roof are reproductions of the originals. William Crowninshield Endicott, Jr.‘s wife, Louise Thoron Endicott, willed the Summer House to the Danvers Historical Society in 1958. In 1963, the Society purchased the central eleven acres of the estate and has restored the historic early twentieth-century gardens.

Elbridge Gerry House (1742)

by Dan//Colonial, Houses, Marblehead

At 44 Washington Street in Marblehead, opposite the Old North Church, is a house, built sometime between 1730 and 1742, where Elbridge Gerry was born and spent his early years. Elbridge Gerry (1744-1814), a statesman and diplomat, was a signer of the Declaration of Independence and was one of three men who refused to sign the Constitution because it did not contain a Bill of Rights. Gerry later served as Governor of Massachusetts (1810-1812) and Vice-President (1813-1814) under James Madison. The process of gerrymandering, or drawing electoral districts to favor a particular party, is named for him due to a redrawing of districts in Massachusetts during his term as governor. In the 1820s, a third floor and Greek Revival entrance were added to the house.

Pillsbury House (1843)

by Dan//Danvers, Greek Revival, Houses

The house at 18 Park Street in Danvers was built in 1843 for Elias Putnam, a shoe manufacturer and first president of the Danvers Village Bank. After his death in 1847, his daughter lived on in the house. It was later purchased by Harvey Hughes Pillsbury, who operated a harness factory in town. In 1901, a corporation was formed to establish the “Danvers Home for the Aged.” In 1905, Harvey Pillsbury’s will provided an endowment and left his residence on Park Street to the Home, which was a favorite cause of his wife Clara. Over the years, the Home’s policy changed from providing full care for residents to operating as a boarding house, which by the start of the current century was empty for several years. Eventually, the Pillsbury Foundation successfully appealed to the courts to sell the house, with the proceeds going into the Foundation to support various programs for the elderly. Structural changes to the house in the twentieth century have included the addition of a front porch with an attached belvedere/gazebo.

St. Peter’s Episcopal Church, Salem (1833)

by Dan//Churches, Gothic, Salem

St. Peter’s Episcopal Church in Salem was established in 1733 and a wooden church was built the following year on land donated by Philip English, a wealthy merchant. English and his wife, Mary, had been accused of witchcraft during the Salem Witchcraft Trials of 1692. The original church was taken down in 1833 and replaced by the present stone church, constructed from plans by Isaiah Rogers of Boston. Like Salem’s First Church, it is a highly regarded example of a Gothic Revival stone masonry church of the early nineteenth century. It was enlarged in 1845 and a new chapel was added in 1871, built directly over the parish’s old graveyard. Some of the tombstones were incorporated into the chapel’s walls.

Cabot-Endicott-Low House (1744)

by Dan//Colonial, Houses, Salem

Thought to have been built sometime between 1744 and 1748, the Cabot-Endicott-Low House, at 365 Essex Street in Salem, is an important example of a high-style gambrel roof Georgian colonial residence. The house was built for Joseph Cabot, a merchant, and remained in his family until purchased by William C. Endicott in 1870. Endicott was a justice of the Massachusetts Supreme Judicial Court (1873-1882) and Secretary of War under Grover Cleveland (1885-1889). His daughter, Mary, married British prime minister Joseph Chamberlain in 1888. Endicott‘s friend, merchant and silversmith Daniel Low, owned the house from 1894 to 1919. Continue reading “Cabot-Endicott-Low House (1744)”

Daniel Bancroft, Jr. House (1806)

by Dan//Federal, Houses, Salem

Daniel Bancroft was a Salem architect-builder who worked with Samuel McIntire. According to an article in The Essex Antiquarian, Vol. VI, no. 4 (October, 1902):

Daniel Bancroft, house-carpenter, lived first in Reading, and removed, in 1770, to Worcester, and then, in 1775, removed from Worcester to Salem, having married Hannah, daughter of Benjamin Symonds of Salem, chairmaker, Aug. 14, 1770. They were living in Salem in 1791.— Registry of deeds, and Salem town records.

The same article lists that “Daniel Bancroft, Jr., married Sally Cloutman, both of Salem, Aug. 5, 1794.” The Daniel Bancroft, Jr. House, built in 1806, is at 4 River Street in Salem. According to the plaque on the house, Daniel Bancroft, Jnr. was also a housewright.