■ properties & PRESERVATION Salem’s House of Seven Gables Celebrating 100 years as a museum Randall Decoteau B Built by the prosperous Sea Captain John Turner in 1668, the House of Seven Gables was catapulted to fame through the novel of the same name written by Nathaniel Hawthorne in 1851. In the 1670s, Captain Turner added the kitchen lean-to and a gable and then in 1676, he built the grandest part of the house. This wing included the Great Chamber and parlor with its lofty ceilings and fine paneling. The house was lived in by three generations of the Turner family. John Turner II inherited the property in 1710, at this time adding the best of the Georgian paneling. Later, John Turner III took ownership of the property but he was forced to sell to Captain Samuel Ingersoll in 1782. Ingersoll modernized the house into the Federal style, which involved major structural changes that included the removal of the kitchen ell. Four of the gables were also removed at this time. Captain Ingersoll and his eldest son died aboard ship around 1804. His daughter, Susanna, was the only surviving heir. She was a lady ahead of her time. As a single woman Ms. Ingersoll was legally allowed to inherit the family property. She stayed single for the rest of her life, not only keeping her family’s home, but its business and real estate interests as well. Susanna is the link to Nathaniel Hawthorne. She was his second cousin and is credited with inspiring him to write the novel which immortalized the house. She entertained him frequently for dinner; the evenings spent here are considered the seed of inspiration for the author’s House of Seven Gables. The House of the Seven Gables: Paint restoration in the parlor showing the grey undercoat and verdigris top coat on the 1710 Georgian Paneling. Restoration of the central chimney on the House of the Seven Gables in 2005. Restoration begins After Susanna passed away, the house changed hands a few times and in 1908, the museum’s founder, Caroline Emmerton purchased it. Emmerton hired the renowned Colonial Revival architect Joseph Chandler, who also restored the Paul Revere House in Boston’s North End. His restoration included replacing Page 68 ■ Antiques Journal ■ February 2010 the missing gables and kitchen ell, and in March 1910 the house was ready to be opened to the public. The house celebrates its 100th year as a museum this season. The House of Seven Gables was originally bought and restored for a specific purpose – to conduct tours, collect admissions and use the funds to support a settlement house for eastern European families who came to work at the nearby Naumkeag Mills. The settlement house taught new immigrants social skills; the organization helped immigrants to learn English; and provided a social outlet. The settlement house still exists just across Derby Street and is an active part of the museum’s mission. On the tour are the kitchen, an adjoining “cent shop” where various craft and import goods were sold by the captain’s wife and the expansive dining room with chairs that belonged to Susanna Ingersoll. Visitors move from the dining room to the attic and attic garret via a secret staircase that rises to the left of the center chimney. The counting room, great chamber and parlor are also open to the public. Nathaniel Hawthorne’s sofa from the 1840s is one of the museum’s prized furnishings on view in the parlor. Most of the parlor’s original paneling survives. The parlor also boasts original Prussian blue paint on the interior of its china cabinet. Painted 300 years ago, in 1710, its survival is a spectacular feature in the House of Seven Gables. The exterior counts the seven gables along its roofline as its most notable architectural features. All seven make for a very showy mansion. The second floor of the 1676 wing features an overhang with drop finials, a hallmark of seventeenthcentury design. The batten door facing the harbor is a reproduction patterned after the original fragment found in the attic. The attic itself is wonderful and retains its original floor boards, plasterwork and brick nogging (see Online Exclusive.) Nogging is rough brickwork used as filling in a wooden frame that replaced wattle and daub for a very short time. This English technique didn’t last long because New England temperatures fluctuated too much for it to survive intact. Very few examples of original nogging are known.