<P> The earliest section of the House of the Seven Gables was built in 1667 for Capt . John Turner . It remained in his family for three generations, descending from John Turner II to John Turner III . Facing south towards Salem Harbor, it was originally a two - room, ​ 2 ⁄ - story house with a projecting front porch and a massive central chimney . This portion now forms the middle of the house . Four windows of the original ground - floor room (which became a dining room) remain in the house's side wall . </P> <P> A few years later, a kitchen lean - to and a new north kitchen ell to the rear of the house were added . By 1676, Turner had added a spacious south (front) extension with its own chimney, containing a parlor on the ground floor, with a large bed chamber above it . Ceilings in this new wing are higher than the very low ceilings in older parts of the house . The new wing featured double casement windows and an overhang with carved pendants; it was capped with a three - gabled garret . </P> <P> In the first half of the 18th century, John Turner II remodeled the house in the new Georgian style, adding wood paneling and sash windows . These alterations are preserved, very early examples of Georgian decor . The House of the Seven Gables is one of the oldest surviving timber - framed mansion houses in continental North America, with 17 rooms and over 8,000 square feet (700 m) including its large cellars . </P> <P> After John Turner III lost the family fortune, the house was acquired by the Ingersolls, who remodeled it again . Gables were removed, porches replaced, and Georgian trim added . Their relative Nathaniel Hawthorne was occasionally entertained in the house by his cousin Susannah Ingersoll . By Hawthorne's time, the house had only three gables, but his cousin told him the house's history, and showed him beams and mortises in the attic indicating locations of former gables . Horace Ingersoll, Susanna's adopted son, told Hawthorne a story of Acadian lovers that later inspired Henry Wadsworth Longfellow's 1847 poem Evangeline . </P>

The house of the seven gables in salem ma