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ficecl, and expressed something, the feeluigs of the occu- 

 pants and the time. Now we are Chinese or Peruvians in 

 the same breath. Architecture cannot be a living art 

 when it chooses so widely. They could not build but as 

 they did in the good periods. They knew nothing better, 

 or other. 



Salem was fortunate in possessing one architect of great 

 merit at a later date. Macintire had the genius of the re- 

 naissance. His designs are most refined and delicate. 

 He has left the best church of the steeple spire order 

 that can be seen in New England. This is the one in 

 Chestnut street. The fine steps have been taken away and 

 the door injured. A charming design was the house of 

 Mr. Rogers, opposite the market. The upper part is still 

 beautiful. The Assembly house in Federal street is an- 

 other. The old common gates were very stately, and 

 showed true style. 



There was a period of Doric taste, Tuscan Doric, which 

 has left admirably proportioned roofs and noble porches. 

 The Stearns house has one, and there is one in Chestnut 

 street. These are the sifted results of centuries of archi- 

 tectural feeling. Wherever one has attempted to replace 

 them with other designs or proportions one has made a sad 

 bungling. These old styles, if once meddled with, are 

 ruined. Such was the case with the Boardman house, built 

 by my grandfather, opposite the eastern gate of the com- 

 mon, once excellent for porches and proportion. The 

 proportion of the roof remains. General Washington 

 was astonished, on his visit to Salem, that a sea captain 

 could build such a house. In those primitive days it was 

 the largest around the mall. 



As an illustration of the styles, and the contrast they 

 present, the imaginative significance of them, it is in- 

 structive to stud}^ two late churches in Boston, the one 



