But with the advent of the gambrel-roofed house, an adaptation of the French Mansard, about the beginning of the eighteenth century, Salem doorways become at once important in architectural value. Pilaster and architrave, pediment and column, come boldly to the front and assume their rightful place. Top-light and side-light come into general use. With the appearance of the square wooden house of three stories, soon after the Revolution, these historic doorways and porches may be said to reach almost their full development, the genius of Samuel McIntire carrying this on to its peak, the full fruition of his work being seen in the entrances to the red-brick mansions of the beginning of the nineteenth century, against whose mellow background the pure white classic forms of porch and doorway stand out in striking and delightful contrast. After 1818, the Colonial style began to suffer its decline. CHAPTER IV THE DOOR ITSELF The Salem Colonial door, while an integral part of the entrance, possesses nevertheless such distinctive characteristics as to deserve a chapter of its own. The log cabins of Naumkeag, as has been seen, had primitive doors of vertical slabs hung on iron strap hinges and backed perhaps by a curtain of skins to keep out the draft. These doors were ‘battened’ within by transverse pieces at top and bottom, the whole fastened solidly together by spikes clinched on the inside, or perhaps by means of wooden pins. A heavy oaken bar falling into sockets on either doorpost further barricaded the entrance at need. With improvement in the type of Salem houses, the batten door still for a time persisted, though in a more finished form, and with some attempt at ornamentation. A notable example of this later batten door is found in the Rebecca Nurse house at Danvers, formerly a part of Salem. This house was built in 1636, the door being embellished with regular rows of nails so arranged as to form a diamond pattern, the outline of which is scratched upon the planks. Another example is found in one of the entrances to the famous ‘House of the Seven Gables’ in Salem, known through Hawthorne’s novel by that name. [Illustration: THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES Batten Door] [Illustration: THE HOUSE OF THE SEVEN GABLES]