The Poynton House
THE POYNTON HOUSE, KNOWN AS THE ‘PINEAPPLE HOUSE’
Built in 1750
In an old painting in the Essex Institute is shown the famous Governor Bradstreet mansion, with its numerous gables, its batten door flanked by curious latticed towers, and its lozenged windows. At the tip of each gable and tower perches a carved ornament in the shape of a pineapple, the ancient symbol of hospitality. Over the doorway of the Thomas Poynton house at 7 Brown Street Court, on a pedestal between the members of a broken arch pediment, was once to be seen a similar pineapple, most elaborately and delicately carved, and resplendent in its appropriate tints of red and green. Captain Poynton was a merchant, and some foreign port may have supplied this famous ornament, which for years lent its name to the ‘Pineapple House.’ The illustration shows the doorway in its original condition, though the door itself is modern. Note the cutting-out of the blinds, made necessary by the height of the pineapple.
Now removed for safe-keeping to the Essex Institute, this beautiful entrance has always attracted the attention of architects and connoisseurs. The simplicity of the fluted Doric pilasters leads the eye upward to a sudden surprise, albeit an agreeable one, in the unusual character of the decorations above. Altogether the effect is unique and charming, and is well brought out against the gray walls of the house itself.