Samuel McIntire

Samuel McIntire (1757-1811), American builder and furniture maker, was the most representative craftsman in New England in the late 18th century.

Samuel McIntire was born in Salem, Mass., and his career was summarized in his obituary in the Salem Gazette on Feb. 12, 1811: "Mr. McIntire was originally bred to the occupation of a house wright (his father's trade), but his vigorous mind soon passed the ordinary limits of his profession, and aspired to the highest departments of the interesting and admirable science of architecture…. To a delicate native taste in this art, he had united a high degree of that polish which can only be acquired by an assiduous study of the great classical masters; with whose works, notwithstanding their rarity in this country, Mr. M. had a very intimate acquaintance."

McIntire's evolution from artisan-carpenter through master craftsman and professional sculptor to the position of head architect of an "office" (consisting in this case mainly of his son and his brothers) can be traced by stylistic analysis of works attributable to him. The earlier (1782) parts of the Pierce-Nichols House in Salem, which McIntire designed from the half-century-old Builder's Treasury of Batty Langley, are relatively naive in conception. However, growing refinement is visible in the later (1801) woodwork in the hall, east parlor, and chamber of the house. The Pingree House (1804) in Salem reveals decorative and spatial subtleties suggesting the influence of Charles Bulfinch.

McIntire stamped Salem with his personality; the stylistic standards and character of the town's architecture were established in his shop. In Sidney Fiske Kimball's words (1940): "Salem at the end of his life presented a very different aspect from its appearance when he began his work. The churches and public buildings had been rebuilt or remodelled from his design…. rows of tall stately mansions, a great number from McIntire's hand, lined Essex Street, Federal Street, and Washington Square. That was no idle phrase when the town clerk called Samuel McIntir…. 'the architect of Salem."'

In 1792 McIntire, who had never left his native town, submitted a design for the national capitol. Though unsuccessful, it was an indication of how times were changing, so that a man thoroughly in the tradition of anonymous artisanship could now assert individuality and make his art a means of personal expression, fame, and fortune as never before.

McIntire's achievement was recognized by his contemporaries. "This day," wrote Salem diarist William Bentley on hearing of McIntire's death, "Salem is deprived of one of the most ingenious men it had in it." And on his tombstone McIntire was recorded as "distinguished for Genius in Architecture, Sculpture and Musick."

Further Reading

Sidney Fiske Kimball rediscovered McIntire in his American Architecture (1928) and later devoted a special monograph to him, Samuel McIntire, Carver: The Architect of Salem (1940). Decades of research were summarized in Benjamin W. Labaree, ed., Samuel McIntire: A Bicentennial Symposium 1757-1957 (1957).

American architect and builder, he worked in and near Salem, MA, producing a number of well-mannered houses in an elegant late-Georgian style, mostly of three storeys. His sources appear to have been pattern-books, including those of Langley and Ware, and he was certainly familiar with Palladianism, for he used that style at the Peirce-Nichols House (1782). The influence of Bulfinch, from whose work he seems to have been introduced to the Adam style, was evident in many of his domestic designs (e.g. the John Gardner House (1804–5), a refined composition with an entrance-porch bowing outwards).

Bibliography

• Kimball (1966a)
• Labaree (ed.) (1957)
• Jane Turner (1996)
• Wasmuth & Kalman (1983)

The full bibliography for this book is available to download as a pdf file.
Download the bibliography for A Dictionary of Architecture and Landscape Architecture (PDF: 1.2MB)

File:Samuel McIntyre.jpg

Samuel McIntyre, c. 1786, pastel portrait attributed to Benjamin Blyth

Samuel McIntyre (January 16, 1757 – February 6, 1811) was an American architect and craftsman. He was one of the earliest architects in the United States, and was one of the primary examples of Federal style architecture. Born in Salem, Massachusetts to housewright Joseph McIntyre 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.

Starting about 1780, McIntyre 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. McIntyre 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, McIntyre 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, McIntyre 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 McIntyre, 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. McIntyre'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 epigraph reads:

In Memory of Mr. Samuel McIntyre who died Feb. 6, 1811, Æt. 54. He was distinguished for Genius in Architecture, Sculpture, and Musick: Modest and sweet Manners rendered him pleasing: Industry, and Integrity respectable: He professed the Religion of Jesus in his entrance on manly life; and proved its excellence by virtuous Principle and unblemished conduct.

In 1981, Salem created the Samuel McIntyre Historic District. Containing 407 buildings, it is the city's largest.

Gallery

Derby Summer House, Glen Magna Farms

Benjamin Hawkes House

References

Cousins, Frank, and Phil Madison Riley. The Woodcarver of Salem: Samuel McIntyre, His Life and Work. Boston: Little, Brown & Company, 1916

Lahikainen, Dean T. Samuel McIntyre: Carving an American Style. Salem, Massachusetts: Peabody Essex Museum, 2007

External links

• McIntyre Historic District

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