The Hawkes House

The Hawkes House. Salem Maritime National Historic Site. , By 1780, the nearly 20-year-old brick Derby House behind you was small and out of fashion for a family growing in size and wealth. The Derbys hired noted architect Samuel McIntire to design and build an enormous 5,000 square foot, three-story house beside their present home. The exterior was almost finished when the Derbys decided to move to an existing mansion in the center of town. The house stood unfinished for 20 years, until ship builder Benjamin Hawkes and his business partner William B. Parker purchased it in 1801., Shortly thereafter, Parker removed his portion of thie structure, the east bay. Hawkes was left with a 3,200 square foot house, which he finished into a smaller version of the original plan, with four rooms on each floor. The Hawkes family lived here until 1833 when financial problems forced them to sell. By the end of the nineteenth century, the house was a tenement for the immigrants and mill workers who lived in the neighborhood. The National Park ervice acquired the building in 1937, and repaired it in the 1940s and 1950s.,

"Yesterday a beautiful copper bottom Brig left her ways at Mr. Hawkes' ship yard. She is called the Cambrian…She is pronounced to be a well constructed and well finished vessel." , , Esex Register, October 17, 1818

, [Captions:] , (above) Samuel McIntire drawing of the front elevation of Derby's "New House", (left) Launch of ship Fame, by George Ropes, 1802. , Shipyards flourished in Salem from the 1640s through the 1860s. When Benjamin Hawkes was building vessels, first in partnership with John Babbidge from about 1795 to 1816 and then on his own from 1817 to about 1825, there were at least ten other active shipyards in Salem. Between 1817 and 1825, Hawkes built at least nine brigs and ships at his shipyard, which was located on the beach to your left.