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23 Chestnut St - letter from abutter a Stanley Moise Smith 4 Pickering Street Salem,Massachusetts 01970 978-745-0658 (home) 978-257-2370 (cell) sai smithOverizon.net Memorandum June 2, 2019 To: Members of the Salem Historic Commission Reed Cutting Erin Schaeffer Rebecca English Laurence Spang David Hart Robert K. McCarthy Stacey Norcun Mark Pattison cc' s: Joe & Lynda Pyfrin Otis Edwards 21 Chestnut Street Susan Mistier 23 Chestnut Street Tim & Linda Jenkins The Pickering House & Historic Raphael & Jannette Crespo Salem, Inc. 25 Chestnut Street Lee Dearborn, Jr. Patricia Kelleher Richard Griffin Salem Planning Department Derby Square Architects Bryant F. Tolles, Jr. John Goff Carolyn K. Tolles, authors of Architecture in Salem, an Illustrated Guide Re: Alterations proposed to the rear of the Pickering-Mack-Stone Double House constructed in 1814/15 at 21 & 23 Chestnut Street, Salem. Page 1 of 6 Since the Salem Historic Commission' s next meeting will take place while Jody, my wife, and I are in Montana, visiting two young granddaughters and their parents, I thought it would be useful share in writing my thoughts about options for changes under consideration for the rear of the 23 Chestnut Street, which abuts our home on Pickering Street in the McIntire Historic District. My perspectives on alterations to historic buildings in urban neighborhoods are influenced by my prior experience which includes : ■ 1973-1978 Development Director at the Society for the Preservation of New England Antiquities (today called Historic New England) . ■ 1974-1976 Member of the Design Review Board of the Salem Redevelopment Authority. ■ 1976-1981 Treasurer of the Salem Redevelopment Authority ■ 1974-1985 Board of Directors, President, or Treasurer of Historic Salem, Inc. ■ 1979-1982 Consultant to the Boston Landmarks Commission. ■ 1982 to 2004 Executive Director of Historic Boston Incorporated Impacts upon the role of historic preservation in Salem and in the nation. The McIntire Historic District is, viewed nationally, one of the earlier historic districts that seek to preserve the cultural and architectural heritage of the United States. It reflects in part experiences of Salem sea captains who made trade with the Far East and Asia have an enormous impact upon the United States, as well as Salem. Preserving the character of Salem' s Federal period homes helps perpetuate a tangible evidence of the City' s heritage. The mission to preserve this heritage belongs to local home owners, to the Historic District Commission, to the leaders of the City as well as Page 2 of 6 to people associated with cultural resource management at the state and federal level. Any changes being considered for the rear portion of 23 Chestnut Street should preserve and enhance the visual character of this house, as well as serving as an example for the treatment historic structures in Salem and in other towns. Plans for this project that I have seen so far do not do this. So why not allow modern architectural alterations likely to dazzle and inspire people' s perception of historic districts in Salem? After all, I. M. Pei, who died on May 16, 2019, at the age of 102, designed an extraordinary glass pyramid as the entrance to the Louvre Museum in Paris, as seen on the front page of the New York Times on May 16, 2019. 1.lUf.PEI, 1917-2019 A Master Whose Buildings Dazzled the 'World BY PAUL GOLDBERGER ' I.M.Pei,who began his long ca. reer designing buildings for a T New York real estate developer and ended it as one of the most revered architects in the world, died early Thursday at his home in Manhattan.He was 102. His death was confirmed by his son Li Chung Pei,who is also an architect and known as Sandi.He said his father had recently cele- brated his birthday with a family T + dinner. t Best known for designing the East Building of the National Gallery of Art in Washington and the glass pyramid that serves asMAR eiaoupinencNuM rxoTos an Mr.Pei was one of the few arehi� I.M. Pei in 1989 outside the glass pyramid he designed at the tects who were equally attractive Louvre in Paris.The project quickly won over early critics. to real estate developers, corpo. - rate chieftains and art museum a careful balance of the cutting ticular brand of modernism -- boards(the third group,of course, edge and the conservative, clean,reserved,sharp-edged and t often made up of members of the Mr. Pei remained a committed unapologetic in its use of simple first two).And all of his work— modernist, and while none of his geometries and its aspirations to from his commercial skyscrapers buildings could ever be called old- monumentality — sometimes to his art museums—represented fashioned or traditional, his par- Continued on Page A26 t� Page 3 of 6 The answer to this question is simple: the scale of Salem is small and family oriented in contrast to the international fame and culture of Paris, France. The presence of so many families in Salem' s historic neighborhoods creates a real sense of community, which differs from most urban areas and typical American suburbs. Example: We are close friends with a family who used to live in a house across Essex Street from the Salem Public Library. They moved to a lovely house in Wenham, in part so their sons could attend school in Hamilton. Unlike in Salem, they scarcely ever see or interact with their immediate neighbors who live across the road or on adjacent properties. Large lawns and treed areas do not bring people together. We are blessed to live in the McIntire Historic District because of wonderful ties with our immediate neighbors, including the new owners of 23 Chestnut Street, Otis Edwards and his wife Susan Mistler. So, what would be the impact of the changes being proposed to the structure to the rear of 23 Chestnut Street? Recently an architect, John Goff, who is deeply involved with the preservation and reuse of the former First Universalist Church on Bridge Street as a cultural center, came to visit me to talk about the former church property. I invited him to look at the rear of 23 Chestnut Street and at the preliminary architectural drawings for changes to it. He told me that every building ideally has three parts: base, middle, & top. Base: The brick walls of prospective garden house at 23 Chestnut Street rest on long slabs of granite that seem to define the "base" of this structure. [This granite would be hidden by the concrete patio intended to be poured adjacent to the west fagade of the prospective garden house. ] Middle: The six windows on the west side of the 23 Chestnut Street house extension are evenly spaced and vertically centered. There are distinct brownstone lintels above and below each window. White mullions divide the glass panes into a six over six pattern which Page 4 of 6 is consistent with the rest of this house as well as with the fenestration of neighboring homes in the McIntyre Historic District . [The design proposals I have seen call for much longer windows . The number of panes for each sash varies depending upon which architectural rendering one is reviewing. The various proposed changes offer variations of fenestration which would not be consistent with the rest of the house or the neighboring ones. Architectural sketches for the long folding doors appear to make the scale of these changes high inconsistent with the rest of the house or' the neighborhood. ] Top: A twelve inch horizontal wooden board painted white just below the eves and gutters defines the top. [I do not know if any changes are being proposed for this historic feature. ] I asked Architect John Goff what he knew about the source of the idea that defines the base, middle, and top architecture facades . He emailed a description of the. proposed changes to this building to several friends seeking an answer to my question. Though I have not had time to find and read this article, he obtained the following reference from one of his friends: Palladio' s Theory of Proportions and the Second Book of the "Quattro Libri dell 'Architettura" By: Branko Mitrovic and Ivana Djordjevic Journal of the Society of Architectural Historians Vol. 49, No. 3 (Sep. , 1990) , pp. 279-292 Published by: University of California Press on behalf of the Society of Architectural Historians] I trust that the Salem Historic Commission and our new neighbors will find ways to assure that alterations to the rear of 23 Chestnut Street will be useful, beautiful, and consistent with the rhythms of the Chestnut Street architecture that tend to define Salem' s McIntire Historic District. Page 5 of 6 Excerpt from Architecture in Salem, an Illustrated Guide, by Bryant Tolles (University Press of New England, originaly published in 1983 by the Essex Institute) : Chestnut and Broad Streets 199 Cousins and Phil M Riley claimed(The Colonial Architecnire of Salem, p.68)that Rantoul also added a delicate stickwork balustrade (since removed)at the roof eaves,as well as new window frames, those on the first stop-possessing architrave casings.Covered by a hipped roof and one room deep,the house depends on a three-story ell for sufficient living and service space. It has been conjectured that the master builder may have been Perlev Putnam(1778-1864), y who supervised the construction of the Stephen Phillips house(see E-9)at number 17 • ]i�i E-13 PICKERING•MACK-STONE DOUBLE HOUSE 1814115 21-1-3 Chestnut Street \R.MHD This substantial three-story rectangular brick(Flemish bond)double house was erected in 1814115 by master builder Jabex Smith for brothers John and Henry Pickering. It is believed that William Roberts did the masonry work.Henry Pickering,who made the con- struction and furnishing arrangements,first occupied the smaller eastern half,while John,the linguist and lexicographer,moved into the westem half.From 1837 to 1896 Judge Elisha Mack and his son Dr.William Mack owned the eastern half.In 1820 Pickering Dodge acquired the western half and lived there until his house at number 29(see E-18)was completed, then selling in 1822 to the Stone family,who remained here until 1898.When Andrew Jackson paid a visit to Salem it, 1833 he was entertained at the house. 200 Architecture in Salem The Pickering-Mack-Stone double house possesses a symmetrical front facade with matching doorways screened by identical semi- circular Ionic porticos,similar to but heavier than the one at number 29.All of the windows are capped by splayed lintels with beaded keystones.Above the modillioned cornice of number 21 is a ribbon of iron cresting to hold back snow in winter. The front cast- iron fence and stair railings are among the best on Chestnut Street. Behind number 23 is an outstanding two-story Federal-style brick carriagehouse with a brick dentiled cornice. Page 6 of 6