King Hooper erected a beautiful residence in Marblehead, one of the few elaborate mansions that still remain. It was a common sight in those days to see his magnificent equipages, drawn often by four prancing steeds, come dashing through Salem on his way to Danvers.
The first record of the Danvers house we find is in 1774. Who the builders were will always remain a mystery, but one fact can never be challenged: that the work was done honestly and well, and that McIntire must have been connected with its wood-carving as is shown from the fine examples which are to be found in the interior.
The house, as it now stands, is recognized as one of the best examples of provincial architecture in Massachusetts, ranking in the same class with the famous John Hancock house in Boston, which was later torn down.
The mansion, surrounded at the front by a stone wall, stands far back from the street. The entrance is by a wide, circular driveway enclosing a central grass plot of carefully shaven lawn, the decorative feature then as to-day being the magnificent elms that shaded the home. It received its name from the fact that lindens lined either side of the entrance drive. The grounds are extensive, mowing fields and grass land interspersed with fine old trees showing at the rear of the house. At the rear, also, is a fine old-fashioned garden carefully preserved, where appear the same kinds of flowers that blossomed in our grandmothers' day.
The building itself is a stern, dignified, two-story house with a gambrel roof. This is surrounded with a curved balustrade similar to that found in the Page house, as well as in many others of that period. At the front are four dormer windows, but the central feature is the high porch extending to the dentation in the roof and showing a pointed cap above. The Corinthian column supporting it on either side is an example of fine hand-carving, while the white trim corresponds picturesquely with the gray of the exterior. The house is panelled on the outside and painted to represent a stone house, although in reality it is wood. The entrance door is unique, lacking the distinguishing porch that is found on so many colonial homes. It is framed with white instead.
