Colonial Homes and Their FurnishingsNorthend, Mary Harrod
History
Colonial Homes and Their Furnishings
Northend, Mary Harrod
Architecture, Colonial; Furniture -- United States
Fenders of brass or iron were generally used with these grates, a small
one placed close to the fire to prevent the ashes from falling over the
hearth, and a larger one arranged around the entire fireplace. Although
hob grates were popular in Northern houses, they were much more
frequently used in the South.
Tiles were little used in America until the hob grate era, when they
seem to have come into vogue. They were used to surround both hob grates
and Franklin stoves. Some of them showed decorations of religious
subjects, while others, like a set in a Salem house, told in pictures
the story of Æsop's Fables. There is a tiled fireplace still in
existence in the Saltonstall-Howe house at Haverhill, Massachusetts, a
dwelling originally owned by Dr. Saltonstall, the first medical
practitioner in the city. This fireplace, in the dining-room, shows a
double row of tiles, depicting a series of Scriptural events, and it is
equipped with a fender of ancient hammered brass, a family heirloom. The
date of the fireplace can be definitely determined without knowledge of
the time of the erection of the house from the fact of the absence of a
mantel above. Another similar fireplace adorned with quaint Dutch tiles
is shown in the Pickering house living-room. Like the Saltonstall one,
this fireplace has a beautiful, ancient fender of brass and a pair of
bellows that were made by Rev. Theophilus Pickering, a preacher in
Essex, Massachusetts, who succeeded the Rev. John Wise.
The first hob grate ever placed in a Salem home is to be seen in the
Waters house on Washington Square. It is topped with one of McIntyre's
famous mantels, showing that the original fireplace was brought down to
be used with the grate.
Elias Hasket Derby, one of Salem's most famous merchants, had a
beautiful estate where Market Square now stands. The house, which was a
marvel of elegance, stood in the center of the square, surrounded with
terraced gardens that swept to the water's edge. After his death the
house was too large and elegant to be kept up, and it was torn down and
the land sold. The timbers of the house, the wood carving, and mantels
were purchased by Salem house owners, one hob grate finding its way to
the old Henry K. Oliver house on Federal Street. This dwelling, which
was built in 1802 by Captain Samuel Cook for his daughter, who married
Mr. Oliver, shows old-time fireplaces in many rooms, one of brass being
found in the parlor. This was the first of its kind ever placed in a
Salem home, and it has a grate, on either side of which are brass
pillars about three feet in height, with brass balls on top. A brass
band extends from pillar to pillar below the grate, and the fender is
also of brass. The mantel above is elegantly carved, and came from the
Elias Hasket Derby mansion.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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