Maine

Brooklin IOOF Hall //1896

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Welcome to Brooklin, Maine! Constructed in 1896 by local builder Ralph E. Bent, the coastal town’s I.O.O.F. Hall is one of Brooklin’s largest and most architecturally significant nineteenth century buildings. The Independent Order of Odd Fellows is a historic and long-running (somewhat secret) fraternal organization which has branches all over the world. In Brooklin, this building was designed to accommodate commercial uses on the first floor, community functions and theatrical productions on the second floor and lodge meetings in the upper/mansard story. The building saw disinvestment by the turn of the 21st century, and by the time the building came on the market in 2017, the hall had languished for years, and the structure was in a serious state of disrepair. The building needed new plumbing and electrical wiring, a new foundation and roof, foundation repairs, and heat; its roughly $270,000 price tag reflected the amount of work it would need to be rehabilitated. John Ike, an esteemed architect, and frequent visitor to Brooklin, formerly of Ike Kligerman Barkley and now of Ike Baker Velten, had long been enamored by the decaying building, and felt compelled to act. With his two friends, Robert Baird and Steve White, the trio restored the old building which continues its connection to the small town’s history and became a vibrant contributor to its present. The upstairs space can be rented short-term, which helps sustain the maintenance of the old building.

Sargentville Chapel // 1889

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The Sargentville Chapel in Sedgwick, Maine was built in 1889 to provide a more convenient site for services, meetings and other community activities for residents of the Sargentville Village in town, a distance from Sedgwick’s main village. A building committee was established with the goal to erect a new chapel, and A.J. Long, a lumber manufacturer and builder submitted the lowest bid of $1,100 to “put up the building, finish the outside, and put on one coat of paint”. The offer was accepted and the first meeting in the chapel took place in January. 1890. The small chapel has been an active community space for members of the Sargentville section of Sedgwick since the late 19th century and the group continues to maintain the Victorian Gothic building extremely well to this day.

“Reach View” // 1797

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Reach-View has been home to members of the Currier family and their descendants since the late 1700s. Richard Currier (1773-1837) first built a small home on land he bought in 1797 from his future father-in-law, Rev. Ebenezer Eaton, one of the original proprietors and settlers of the future town of Sedgwick, Maine. In 1799, Richard married Abigail Eaton, daughter of Ebenezer and Abigail Herrick Eaton. They lived together in Reach View until Richard died in 1859. Richard willed Reach View to their unmarried son Ebenezer “Eben” Eaton Currier, who lived there with his mother until her death in 1870. He was responsible for rebuilding much of the house after 1864. Eben’s sister would later purchase Reach-View and add the piazza (porch), bays, and interior detailing. The home remains a true family estate in the sleepy coastal town of Sedgwick.

“Maplehurst” // 1837

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Wyer Groves Sargent (1810-1900) was a descendant of the famous Sargent and Choate families and at the age of seven, arrived to the sparsely developed town of Sedgwick, Maine in 1817 with his parents. Twenty years later, Wyer has this house built in 1837. The original house was a one-story Cape house with a central chimney and an ell connected to a barn. He worked in the village of Sargentville in the town of Sedgwick as a merchant, operating a store, and traveling extensively to buy and sell goods along the New England coast. Operating a lucrative business allowed him to expand his outdated and cramped home in 1868 to the current configuration. It was then known as Maplehurst. Wyer raised the house and extended the front by adding a floor beneath it. When Wyer died in 1900 the house went to his daughter Martha Spooner. Martha sold it to Dr. Frederick Sweet. Last known, the home is still owned by Dr. Sweet’s great-granddaughter.

Sedgwick Public Library // c.1915

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Nothing screams Maine architecture like weathered cedar shingles. The Sedgwick Public Library on Main Street was built in the early 20th century as a small village library to serve the small and seasonal population of the coastal town. The building is Craftsman in style in almost every feature. A broad hipped roof terminates with exposed rafters at the eaves, tuscan columns at the entry support the projecting portico, and a rubblestone foundation continues the composition of natural materials.

Luther G. Philbrook House // c.1850

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This stately mansion on Main Street in Sedgwick, Maine, was built in the mid-19th century as one of three adjacent, near-identical homes. This house was purchased by Luther Groves Philbrook who appears to have “Victorianized” the formerly modest five-bay residence. He added a central tower, porch, and side addition. The home recently was listed for sale and has been decaying for years, here’s to hoping this old home gets restored.

Dr. Hagerthy House // c.1860

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Dr. Rufus Hagerthy (1859-1933) was born in Surry, Maine to father, Daniel Hagerty (sic) a naturalized citizen in 1871 who hailed from County Kerry, Ireland and mother, Carrie. Rufus went to Bowdoin College where he completed his study of medicine in 1884. He moved back to Sedgwick, Maine and married Jane C. Holden (1861-1896), the couple lived in this home, which served as a home-base for Dr. Hagerthy to make house calls by horse or sleigh (depending on the weather). Dr. Hagerthy was eventually wealthy enough to get involved in real estate, and developed Byard’s Point in Sedgwick in 1909, the town’s first sub-division.

Riverside Hall // c.1860

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Located across the street from the Sedgwick Baptist Church at 28 High Street, this modified Greek Revival style building in Sedgwick, Maine stopped me in my tracks. Sadly, I could find little on the building besides the fact that the building is absent from an 1860 map of Hancock County, but it appears in an 1881 map listed as “Hall”. The building exhibits flush siding which is scored to resemble ashlar/stone construction, overhanging eaves with a hipped roof which was common in the Italianate style, and a full-length one-story portico supported by square posts with applied Ionic detailing. That’s something I’ve never seen before! Upon a little more digging, I found a historic image of the building titled, “Riverside Hall”. The photograph shows a Second Empire style building with a mansard roof and cupola. The unique portico is shown as well. The local library lists the Riverside Hall as a community hall where events and gatherings were held. A fire destroyed the roof and much of the interior, but it was renovated and converted into a single-family home.

First Baptist Church of Sedgwick // 1837

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Sedgwick, Maine is a coastal town overlooking the Penobscot Bay separating it from the better-known Deer Isle. The town was originally inhabited by the Wabanaki people. In the 18th century, land here was granted by the Commonwealth of Massachusetts in 1761 to David Marsh and 359 others, and settlers began arriving and building homes here shortly after. In 1789, the town was incorporated as Sedgwick, named after Major Robert Sedgwick, who in 1654, captured nearby Fort Pentagouet from the French. The land in Sedgwick was very rocky and was thus better suited for grazing than cultivation. Because of the geology, for decades Sedgwick had operating many granite quarries, which shifted southward toward Stonington in later decades. The town then became a hub of seafaring professions, from ship-building to trading, to fishing and clam-digging. The town’s Baptist population established a congregation in 1794 as a Congregationalist organization which underwent a large-scale conversion to Baptistry in 1805. This congregation retained Bangor architect Benjamin S. Deane to design its church, which was built in 1837 in the Greek Revival style. Deane’s design is based on a drawing publisher by Asher Benjamin in his Practice of Architecture. The church had seen a dwindling congregation for decades until it was disbanded in 2008. The church was acquired by the Sedgwick-Brooklin Historical Society, who have recently restored the historic building.

The Billows Cottage // 1895

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The Billows Cottage in Kennebunkport, Maine was built in 1895 for a B.S. Thompson, a wealthy coffee and tea merchant. The house was originally designed by Henry Paston Clark, a Boston architect who was very busy furnishing designs of some of the summer colony’s most iconic buildings and cottages. For this cottage, he designed it in a blending of Shingle and Colonial Revival styles with a side-gabled roof punctuated by dormers and sweeping verandas with rubblestone foundation. By 1904, the cottage was purchased by Robert C. Ogden of Philadelphia, who helped establish Wanamaker’s Department Store. Under Ogden’s ownership, the house was remodeled and expanded numerous times, but still retains its charm!

Edwin Packard Cottage // 1899

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Yet another of the large summer “cottages” in the Cape Arundel Summer Colony of Kennebunkport is this stunning eclectic home, built in 1899 for Edwin Packard of New York. As a young man, Edwin married Julia Hutchinson and would soon amass an ample fortune. He became European buyer for A.T. Stewart & Co. In 1889 he came President of the Franklin Trust Company, resigning in 1892 to become President of the New York Guaranty and Indemnity Company. He was a Director of the Franklin Safe Deposit Company, the American Writing Paper Company, the Fajardo Sugar Company and the Brooklyn YMCA, and a member of the New York Chamber of Commerce. Busy man! From his wealth, he sought solitude and relaxation in Kennebunkport, hiring Maine architect John Calvin Stevens to design this cottage for his family to retreat to for summers away from the city. The Shingle style and Colonial Revival style house features a prominent gambrel roof, Palladian windows, and bay windows, all covering a sweeping front porch.

Juniper Ledge Cottage // 1889

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Ellen Kemble (Bartol) Brazier was born in New York City in 1844, the eldest of four children of Barnabas and Emma Bartol. Her father had many business interests in sugar refining and the family was able to travel the world from his wealth and success. The family spent most of their time in Philadelphia, but like many of the city’s wealthy residents, they often summered elsewhere. Ellen Bartol married Joseph Harrison Brazier in 1866 and they had two children. When her father Barnabas died, Ellen inherited some of his remaining fortune and as a part of high society, she had a summer cottage in Kennebunkport built. Working with Maine architect John Calvin Stevens, she oversaw the designs of Juniper Ledge, this gorgeous, eclectic shingled residence in the Cape Arundel summer colony. Ellen would summer at the cottage until her death in 1925, but before she died, she joined her daughter in the 1910s and 1920s at Women’s Suffrage events and fundraisers, helping to pass the 19th Amendment, allowing women the right to vote in the United States. Ellen is buried in the West Laurel Hill Cemetery in Philadelphia next to her husband, not far from her parents.

Grayling Cottage // c.1900

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John Bach McMaster (1852 –1932) was born in Brooklyn, New York to a rich plantation owning father and mother who ran operations in New Orleans until the outbreak of the Civil War. After this, John graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1872, worked as a civil engineer in 1873–1877. Falling in love with the field of American History, he switched careers and in 1883, became professor of American history in the University of Pennsylvania. McMaster is best known for his History of the People of the United States from the Revolution to the Civil War (1883), a valuable supplement to the more purely political writings of earlier years. The book was a huge success and John was able to purchase house lots in the newly established Cape Arundel Summer Colony in Kennebunkport, Maine, a colony populated by many wealthy Philadelphians for summer homes. He first appears to have built “The Kedge”, a chunky, but beautiful cottage on a cliff. McMaster would also have this larger cottage built by the turn of the 20th century, which in design, appears to be a more eclectic Shingle style dwelling. Just a stone’s throw from the Atlantic, the house features continuous cedar shingle siding, sweeping porches to provide views of the ocean, a prominent chimney, and Colonial-inspired fanlight motifs.

Spouting Rock Cottage // 1887

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Another of the earlier summer cottages built in Kennebunkport’s Cape Arundel summer colony is this charming dwelling perched on a stone outcropping overlooking the rocky coast of Maine. Spouting Rock Cottage was built in 1887 as a transitional Shingle style and Queen Anne summer home for author John Townsend Trowbridge of Arlington, Massachusetts. Trowbridge spent many summers in Kennebunkport and was engaged in local cultural affairs, he even named Spouting Rock and Blowing Cave, natural features in the town. For his summer cottage, Trowbridge hired Arlington-based architect J. Merrill Brown, who provided a rustic, timeless design without all the unnecessary frills and details for the rugged coastline. That is to say that the cottage is anything but boring, with its sweeping porches, complex form with rounded stair-tower, and dormer with curved shingle returns. Perfection.

Gable and Tower Cottages // 1889

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These two similar houses in the Cape Arundel Summer Colony in Kennebunkport, Maine, were built in 1889 for Prosper Louis Senat (1852–1925) and his wife Clementine. Prosper was a well-known artist from Philadelphia, who would summer in Kennebunkport and traveled the world with Clementine, painting landscapes and seascapes. Senat and his wife lived in one cottage and likely rented the other to family and friends when visiting town. His studio was built on a nearby street and is extant. Tower cottage (greenish-grey) was renamed Shady Oak Cottage in the 20th century. Both cottages were built by George Gooch, a local contractor from plans by an unknown architect and feature bay windows, short towers, smaller windows, and continuous shingle siding.