Historic Deepwood Estate

This view north from the turret shows the front yard and just visible at the top of the photo is Mission Street SE. The turret room (7' x 7') is not open to the public. Another view to the east shows the roofline and the carriage house.

Natural Cooling?

The turret windows may have provided a means of ventilating Deepwood House during periods of hot weather. There are four double-hung windows...two in front, one on each side. The door to the turret room connects with the standing room attic and is very wide.

With the turret door and windows open, and the stairway door open (off the upstairs study), it's not hard to imagine a strong draft of cooling air being pulled-in through first floor windows, flowing up the main staircase, down the high-ceilinged second story hall, up the attic staircase on the south side of the house, across the attic space, and out the turret windows.

This arrangement would cool the living quarters of the house *and* the attic. A cool attic means less heat is able to radiate into the rooms below. It's possible this turret was more than a decorative design element. This form of ventilation required no fans and if the theory holds true, was probably quite efficient as it was "powered" by the natural convection of warmed attic air seeking escape.

In addition, because the normal prevailing breezes in Salem are from the SW and the turret windows are located on the north and east sides of the house, it may be that air movement outside from the SW caused a venturi effect (however slight) that increased the draw and therefore the volume of ventilating air moving through the home, upstairs into and across the attic and finally, out the turret windows.

Natural ventilation may very well have been on designer and architect W.C. Knighton's mind in 1893. Too bad we can't email him and ask. (Editors note: I'll see if I can experiment a bit with this theory next summer and report my findings here for building designers who may also have an interest).