Commercial Buildings

Commercial Buildings
Images

Commercial Buildings in Salem: Introduction

Brown Building (Union Building), corner of Essex and Union St. in Salem (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA)

This section of the Website presents images and information on the commercial buildings in Salem listed below. In some cases the buildings are related to Nathaniel Hawthorne; in other cases buildings are included to give a sense of Hawthorne's world and also of the Salem a visitor would encounter today. All of these buildings also appear on the 1840 and/or modern map of Salem.

Brown Building (Merchant's Building; Union Building), 2-4 Union St. and 105-107 Essex St
Bowker (Manning) Block, 144-156 Essex St. Mall at Liberty St.
Downing Block, 173-175-177 Essex Street Mall
The Central Building/Old Custom House, 4-10 Central Street and Essex Street Mall
Essex Bank Building, 11 Central Street
Peabody Building, 120-128 Washington St.
Lawrence Place, 133 and 137 Washington Street and 34 Front St.
The Salem Lyceum, 43 Church St
The Hawthorne Hotel, 18 Washington Square, West
The Archer Block (Franklin Building), 18 Washington Square, West
Pickman-Derby Block, 213-215 Essex Street Mall, 1 and 7 Derby Square
Pickering Wharf, Derby and Congress Streets on the South River and Salem Harbor
Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company, at Congress St. on Stage Point

Images of Commercial Buildings in Salem

Town House Square, Salem, c. late 19th or early 20th century

Brown Building (Union Building), corner of Essex and Union St. in Salem
Sophia Peabody's family moved into an apartment in this building in 1810, a year after Sophia was born. Herbert St., where Hawthorne was living with his mother's family at the time, is one street over, and Sophia recalled watching Hawthorne as a boy playing in the yard behind the house. (courtesy of Peabody Essex Museum, Salem, MA)

Bowker (Manning) Block, 144-156 Essex St. Mall at Liberty St.
Built around 1830, this fine example of early nineteenth-century commercial architecture, resembles earlier Federal-style buildings with its tall chimneys, rectangular form, and granite sills and lintels. Originally operated as the Sun Tavern, the owner, William Manning, turned the building into the Bowker Block in 1830; today part of the building houses offices of the Peabody Essex Museum. (courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum; special thanks to Bryant F. Tolles, Jr.)

The Downing Block, 173-175-177 Essex St. Mall (1858)
This Italian Revival building was constructed in 1858 for the Downing brothers, dry-goods merchants. The building was restored in 1973-4 and is considered the finest example of a building of its period and type in Salem. (courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum; special thanks to Bryant F. Tolles, Jr.)

Essex Bank Building, 11 Central St., (1811)

Peabody Building, 120-128 Washington St. (1891-92)

Lawrence Place, 133 and 137 Washington St; 34 Front St. (1808-9); c. 1817; c. 1825

FALSE MMD ID

Hawthorne Inn

FALSE MMD ID

Pickman-Derby Block, 213-215 Essex St. Mall, 1 and 7 Derby Square, Salem
This row of attached brick commercial buildings was constructed in 1817 as the beginning of the development of Derby Square when the merchants Benjamin Pickman, Jr. and John Derby, III purchased the mansion of Elias Hasket Derby and surrounding land. In the mid-1970s, the buildings were restored, and the arches and fanlights originally on the first floor doors and windows were restored. (courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum; special thanks to Bryant F. Tolles, Jr.)

Pickering Wharf

Naumkeag Steam Cotton Company complex (courtesy of the Peabody Essex Museum; special thanks to Bryant F. Tolles, Jr.)

Hawthorne at Salem

Buildings & Houses