Name Samuel McIntire | Role Architect | |
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Died February 6, 1811, Salem, Massachusetts, United States Structures Gardiner‑Pingree House, Hamilton Hall, Peirce‑Nichols House, Derby Summer House, Lyman Estate | ||
Essex County Project
Samuel McIntire (January 16, 1757 – February 6, 1811) was an American architect and craftsman, best known for the Chestnut Street District, a classic example of Federal style architecture. Born in Salem, Massachusetts to housewright Joseph McIntire and Sarah (Ruck), he was a woodcarver by trade who grew into the practice of architecture. He married Elizabeth Field on October 10, 1778, and had one son. He built a simple home and workshop on Summer Street in 1786.
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Starting about 1780, McIntire was hired by Salem's pre-eminent merchant and America's first millionaire, Elias Hasket Derby, for whose extended family he built or remodeled a series of houses. McIntire taught himself the Palladian style of architecture from books, and soon had a reputation among the city's elite for designing elegant homes. In 1792, he entered a proposal in the competition for the United States Capitol.
After 1797, McIntire worked in the style of Boston architect Charles Bulfinch, who had made fashionable here the neoclassical manner of Scottish architect Robert Adam. Unlike Bulfinch, however, whose designs were featured across the East Coast, McIntire built almost exclusively in New England. His wooden or brick houses were typically 3 stories tall, each with 4 rooms around a central hall. In 1799, he went into business with his brothers, Joseph and Angier McIntire, who erected the structures, while at the workshop he oversaw various ornamentations, including the swags, rosettes, garlands and sheaves of wheat which dominate their interior wooden surfaces. McIntire's Salem works include the Peirce-Nichols, the Peabody-Silsbee, the Gardner-White-Pingree, and the Elias Haskett Derby residences. His public buildings, all in Salem, are Assembly Hall, Hamilton Hall, Washington Hall and the courthouse (the latter 2 demolished).
He was a skilled artisan, especially in furniture, and his skill extended to sculpting. Among his works are busts of Voltaire and John Winthrop, the first governor of Massachusetts. Both are now owned by the American Antiquarian Society in Worcester, Massachusetts.
McIntire's grave is in the Burying Point Cemetery, Salem, where his epitaph reads:
Samuel McIntire Historic District
In 1981, Salem created the Samuel McIntire Historic District. Containing 407 buildings, it is the city's largest and this district is the location of the largest collection of homes from this colonial period in all of America. Samuel McIntire house and workshop was located on Summer Street, at the intersection of Chestnut Street where many grand mansions designed by Samuel McIntire display the profits of the Old China Trade these streets display the roots of the Colonial history of the United States in what is now the Samuel McIntire Historic District, which is considered to represent the greatest concentration of 17th and 18th century domestic structures anywhere in America. It includes McIntire commissions such as the Peirce-Nichols House and Hamilton Hall. The Witch House or Jonathan Corwin House (circa 1642) is also located in the District. Samuel McIntire's house was located at 31 Summer Street in what is now the Samuel McIntire Historic District.
World Record for Federal furniture
In 2011, a mahogany side chair with carving attributed to Samuel McIntire sold at auction for $662,500, which set a world record for Federal furniture. The chair was one of a set of eight chairs originally purchased by Elias Hasket Derby, Salem's wealthiest merchant and thought to be America's first millionaire, and his wife, Elizabeth Crowninshield. The set was hand-made and hand-carved in the late 18th century.