The John P. Peabody House is a historic Colonial Revival-style house on Summer Street in Salem, Massachusetts.
Built in 1874, by Salem merchant John P. Peabody, the Peabody House is a two-story, wood frame house with a grey slate gambrel roof and dormer windows.
The house also features a fanlit doorway, framed by a square portico with Doric columns, two chimneys, and an ell connected to the rear of the house. Unlike the neighboring houses, the John P. Peabody House is set back from the street about 12 feet.
Since Peabody was a merchant who sold women’s clothing, the house has a unique feature: a smaller, abutting second door that opens up to accommodate the large hoop skirts that were popular at the time the house was built.
In 1979, Bay Realty Trust owned the house and used it as office space. On July 29, 1983, the house was added to the National Register of Historic Places.
In 1995, the owners of the nearby Salem Inn, Dick and Diane Pabiche, bought the John P. Peabody House, restored it by removing the old carpeting and linoleum floors to reveal the original cherry and ash floorboards, and opened it to the public as an inn.
Sources:
“Historic Building Detail: SAL.1486 Peabody, John P. House.” MACRIS, mhc-macris.net/details?mhcid=SAL.1486
“Peabody House.”Salem Inn, saleminnma.com/houses/peabody-house/
Guerriero, Lisa. “Three times the charm: The Houses of the Salem Inn.” Wicked Local, 19 Sept. 2008, wickedlocal.com/story/salem-gazette/2008/09/19/three-times-charm-houses-salem/38726416007/