{"nrhp_refnum":"68000020","name":"Derby Summerhouse","other_names":[],"category":"building","location":{"address":"Magna Estate, Ingersoll St.","address_restricted":false,"city":"Danvers","county":"Essex County","state":"MA","lat":42.57319212150006,"lon":-70.96610673235668,"geom_source":"nps_gis"},"listed_date":"1968-11-24","is_nhl":true,"nhl_designated_date":"1968-11-24","areas_of_significance":["Architecture"],"significance_levels":["national"],"summary":{"what_it_is":"A two-story frame garden house, twenty feet square, built in 1793-94 on the Elias Hasket Derby farm in South Danvers and moved in 1901 to the Glen Magna Estate on Ingersoll Street, Danvers, Massachusetts. It was designed by Samuel McIntire.","why_significant":"The nomination calls it a rare and excellent example of a formal eighteenth-century garden house, with the lightness of detail typical of the Federal style. It is the work of Salem craftsman-carpenter Samuel McIntire. Its two life-size wooden roof figures, carved by John and Simeon Skillin in 1793, are described as some of the earliest surviving sculpture made in America.","narrative":"This small garden house in Danvers, Massachusetts, was designed and built by Salem craftsman Samuel McIntire in 1793-94 for the farm of merchant Elias Hasket Derby. It is a twenty-foot-square frame building. A heavier lower story with wooden quoins and arched windows supports a lighter upper room, where tea was served, framed by fluted Ionic pilasters and topped with a pedimented gable. Two nearly life-size wooden figures, a gardener and a shepherdess, sit on the ridgeline. John and Simeon Skillin of Boston carved them in 1793, and they are described as among the earliest surviving American sculpture. The original shepherdess, damaged by fire, is in the Peabody Institute, and the current figure is a reproduction. In 1901 the building was moved to the Glen Magna Estate and set in a formal garden designed by Herbert Browne in 1904. It is valued as a rare, refined example of Federal-style garden architecture.","period_of_significance":"1793","architect_builder":"Samuel McIntire; figures carved by John and Simeon Skillin of Boston","architectural_style":"Federal (Adamesque) with Palladian influence","criteria":[],"status_note":"Condition listed as good and altered. The building was moved in 1901. The Danvers Historical Society received it by bequest in 1958 and has since repaired, repainted and reroofed it. The Milkmaid figure is a reproduction.","vacant_flag":null,"machine_generated":true,"model":"claude-sonnet-5-5","prompt_version":"v1.0-2026-10-29","generated_at":"2026-10-29 02:11:54.010757-05","source_pdf":"https://s3.amazonaws.com/NARAprodstorage/opastorage/live/29/7937/63793729/content/electronic-records/rg-079/NPS_MA/68000020_NHL.pdf"},"photo":{"url_800":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/68000020/b6e31713dc-800.webp","url_1600":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/media/68000020/b6e31713dc-1600.webp","licence":"CC BY-SA 3.0","author":"Daderot.","credit_html":"<a href=\"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Derby_Summer_House_-_Glen_Magna,_Danvers,_Massachusetts.JPG\" rel=\"noopener\">Daderot.</a>, <a href=\"http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/\" rel=\"license noopener\">CC BY-SA 3.0</a>, via Wikimedia Commons","source_page":"https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Derby_Summer_House_-_Glen_Magna,_Danvers,_Massachusetts.JPG"},"district":{"nrhp_refnum":"75000252","name":"Salem Village Historic District","url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/districts/massachusetts/salem-village-historic-district-75000252/"},"sources":{"nps_snapshot_date":"2026-05-22","nara_catalog":"https://catalog.archives.gov/id/63793729","wikipedia":"https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Derby_Summer_House","wikidata":"https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q5261514"},"indexable":true,"url":"https://nationalhistoricalregister.com/massachusetts/essex-county/derby-summerhouse-68000020/"}