This dilapidated Hawthorne mansion is home to Pyncheon relatives Hepzibah, Phoebe & Clifford, & a lodger
The House of the Seven Gables is about the Pyncheon family and their 
family .... Then when Hepzibah's brother Clifford returns to the house from a long 
absence ..... she leaves again and the house falls into its former dilapidated state.