Broad Street Painters — Pickering House, Broad Street Cemetery & 15 documented houses

The Pickering House at 18 Broad Street dates to 1651. According to the National Park Service walking-trail brochure, it started as a two-room farmhouse, grew through the 18th and 19th centuries, and was remodeled in the Gothic Revival style in 1841. Broad Street Cemetery, laid out in 1655, is directly across the road.

Historic Salem, Inc. has written up 15 house histories on the street, and the dates spread widely. Number 12 is recorded at 1767 and number 6 at 1774. Number 2 was a warehouse around 1762 and became a home in 1834, the same year number 4 was moved here from Summer Street. Federal-period dates follow at 29 (1808) and 8 (c. 1810), then 30, 14, 31 and 19 between about 1830 and 1847. Later entries include 1880s houses at 10, 21.5 and 23–25.5, a c. 1895 house at 28 and, at 34, a 1916 house built for Humphrey Haley, a laborer, and Bridget Haley.

Census Tract 2042, which takes in Broad Street along with Chestnut, Summer and Hathorne Streets, shows how old and how divided this housing is. Of its 2,791 units, 68.5% were built in 1939 or earlier. Just 12.7% are single-family detached homes, while 57.1% sit in two-, three- or four-unit buildings. About a third of occupied units (33.9%) are owner-occupied.

A new color needs a certificate first

The NPS brochure places Broad Street within the McIntire district the city designated in 1981. Under the Historical Commission's guidelines, a paint color change visible from a public way needs a Certificate of Appropriateness, and the application should include a paint chip. Repainting in the existing colors falls under a Certificate of Non-Applicability. Check the city's district maps to confirm your parcel.

Paint removal is regulated

The same guidelines say a Health Department permit is required before any paint removal, that electric sanding of exterior surfaces is prohibited, and that abrasive blasting needs a Board of Health variance. On a house whose oldest layers may be two centuries old, prep is planned around hand scraping and lead-safe containment.

Each era carries different trim

A 1767 house, an 1841 Gothic Revival remodel and the 1885 building at 23–25.5 call for different color placement and different detail work. The guidelines leave the palette open but ask that colors suit the building's period and its neighbors, so the house's era is the starting point for any color plan.

Shared buildings, shared decisions

In the census tract around Broad Street, 57.1% of units are in two- to four-unit buildings and about two-thirds of occupied homes are rented. If your building is one of those, an exterior job can involve several owners, a condo association or a landlord, and agreeing on scope and colors before the Commission filing keeps the schedule intact.