history of Daland House and Plummer Hall HISTORY OF DALAND HOUSE AND PLUMMER HALL
1851, 1856
The John Tucker Daland House(132 Essex Street), was built in the Italianate style for a wealthy Salem
merchant by Boston architect Gridley F. Bryant in 1851. Five years later, Plummer Hall was built next door
in a compatible style by architect Enoch Fuller to house the Salem Athenaeum, a private library. The two
different uses were reflected in the facades of the two structures. Deland has residential-scale windows
(three levels, five windows across on Essex Street), and Plummer has larger windows reflecting its grand
interior spaces(two main levels and three windows across). Both structures are of similar overall height
though interior levels do not align. They share materials-red brick with brownstone trim—although the
brick color ranges vary.
1907
Plummer Hall was purchased by the Essex Institute in 1906 and joined by a two-story Connector to Daland
in 1907. It repeated the general form and material of Plummer Hall's central arch, and,by relocating the
exterior stairs of Plummer Hall, made the Connector the main entry to the combined structures. The
Connector's interior stair allowed a common access to the Second levels of Plummer and Daland. Despite
becoming the main entry location,the Connector was originally designed to be subordinate to the massing
of the two original buildings. It was about a story lower than their height, and recessed from both the Essex
Street and rear(North)facades.
1913
In 1913, a Vault structure was added to the rear of Daland House to house book stacks. The Vault
extended the general footprint of an original rear wing,though it was built to the full height of Daland.
Because the book stacks had a very low floor-to-floor height,the Vault wing had five levels of windows over
a windowless lower level. The narrow overall massing of the Vault allowed a view of most of Daland's rear
faeade.
1966
In 1966 the Connector was extended North towards the interior of the Essex Block, a third floor was added,
and modifications were undertaken to the original Connector stair. At the rear of Daland House, a new fire
stair, Stack Wing and mechanical room were built. On Essex Street,the ornamental trim around the
second floor window was removed, and the portion of the faeade at the original second and new third floor
was rebuilt.At the near, the Stack Wing is a windowless mass blocking the view of the rear of Daland, and
the addition to the Connector moved its rear faeade close to the plane of the rear of Plummer Hall.
1997
In 1997 a series of additions were made to the North side of the Connector in order to provide accessibility
to the combined structures. These included a simple wooden porch and ramp,and a small architectural
entry fragment from the Grimshawe House(53 Charter Street). The fragment is not related to the history of
Daland or Plummer, and its Federal Style does not match the Italianate Style of Daland and Plummer's
primary facades. (The original Grimshawe House is highly modified and privately owned.)
2013
In 2013 an extensive restoration program was undertaken of the building envelopes at Daland House and
Plummer Hall. The work included restoration of existing historic doors and windows—or,when restoration
was not feasible, replacement with identical units; repointing of masonry and replacement of individual
spalled or damaged brick; restoration of spalled brownstone,or when restoration was not feasible, (and
since original brownstone quarries had closed) replacement with exceptionally well-matched cast stone;
replacement in-kind of copper work and slate roofs;and removal of the temporary wood ramp at the North
facade of Plummer Hall.