Architecture Blog

Rockport Union Hall // 1856

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Union Hall sits in the middle of the charming coastal village of Rockport, Maine. The Second Empire style building was built around 1856 as an original mixed-use structure with the first level containing retail spaces, the second level as a hall, and third level providing either office or living spaces. Rockport’s Union Hall was also once home of the town Post Office, a barrel factory, and a residence before it began to suffer from neglect and deferred maintenance at the end of the 20th century. In 2010, the owners underwent a massive restoration of Union Hall, which included: structural remediation to wood framing, a new elevator, slate roof repair, all new mechanical, electrical and plumbing systems, masonry repointing, restoration of windows and doors and more. These types of restorations are vital to small New England towns, providing jobs and the properties are often occupied by local small businesses, as is the case here!

Rockport Opera House // 1891

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Built in 1891, the historic Rockport Opera House is located in the heart of Rockport Village overlooking picturesque mid-coast Maine harbor. The Opera House here was actually first built as a multi-purpose Town Hall and library by a F. E. Gilkey, possibly a local builder. Over the years, the Colonial Revival style building has also served as a town meeting space, theater, concert hall, and Y.M.C.A., complete with a basketball court and bowling alley. In the 1970s, the building had deteriorated such that the Town considered selling it or tearing it down. The women of the Rockport Garden Club led the effort to save and restore the building. An outpouring of local support and a grant from the Maine Commission of the Arts and Humanities enabled the building to be revitalized as the Rockport Opera House. The significant structure continues to host the annual town meeting and regularly hosts town committee and other public meetings.  It is also the home venue of the Bay Chamber Concerts, as well as other musical events, theater performances, wedding receptions, conferences, and other private functions. Preservation at its finest!

Dillingham House // c.1845

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This perfect Greek Revival cape house sits on Pascal Avenue, the main street that cuts through the center of Rockport, Maine. The house dates to the 1840s or early 1850s and was owned by the Dillingham Family for a few generations. The original owner may have been Josiah Dillingham (1796-1861), a mariner and sea captain. Josiah died in 1861, and the property was inherited by his eldest son, Josiah Winslow Dillingham (1829-1895) who went by Winslow, seemingly to differentiate himself from his father of the same name and same profession. The Dillingham family home is a quintessential Greek Revival cape with central portico with Ionic columns and corner pilasters with full length entablature at the facade. In true Maine fashion, the side elevations are covered in weathered shingle siding.

Rockport Lime Kilns // c.1800

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During the 19th Century, Rockport, Maine, (then named Goose River as a village in Camden) was a major supplier of lime to East Coast markets. These kilns near the harbor converted limestone rock supplied by 15 local quarries into lime used to make mortar & finish plaster. The burned lime was packed into wooden casks and shipped by schooner to cities all down the coast. In 1817, three hundred casks of lime from Rockport were sent to Washington, D.C. for use in the rebuilding of the United States Capitol, which had been damaged by the British during the War of 1812. In 1852, the citizens of Goose River voted to change their village’s name to Rockport for its rocky terrain. In 1891, Rockport split off from Camden, taking its industry and lucrative harbor with it. A disastrous fire destroyed many of the lime kilns here in 1907, which occurred about the time that cement began to replace lime in building construction. After a few years the kilns were shuttered and remained here as fossils of industry ever since. Local residents in the 1970s gathered together and advocated for the preservation of these significant local structures and gathered funds to stabilize the kilns.

Henry S. Chase House // c.1882

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One of the many “hidden” gems of old houses in Brookline is this charmer on Francis Street, just west of the Longwood district. The residence was built by 1882, by Henry Savage Chase (1825-1885) who lived in a larger stone mansion across St. Paul Street (no longer extant). This house was rented out by Chase, possibly to friends and remained in the family for decades. This early Queen Anne style dwelling (and likely the main house) was designed by architect Edgar Allen Poe Newcomb, a relatively unknown architect of the period. The house has an irregular plan with varied siding and materials, with applied ornament that has survived intact for nearly 150 years.

James W. Clapp House // c.1869

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In 1868, James Wilkinson Clapp (1847-1931) married Eliza Tuckerman and they soon after moved into this large Victorian-era house on St. Paul Street in Brookline. James was the second son of Otis Clapp, a politician, publisher, and promoter of homeopathy. Otis Clapp operated a large homeopathic pharmacy, Otis Clapp & Son, which continued as a business after his death, evolving to encompass different areas of medical technology. It was one of the oldest-operating pharmaceutical manufacturers in the United States by the time it was acquired by Medique in 2008. The business allowed James, at about 22 years old, to build this stately home for him and his new wife to move into. The residence is Second Empire in style with Stick style ornamentation, and while mostly obscured by vegetation all year, it commands the heavily trafficked corner of Brookline.

Richmond Court // 1898

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Believe it or not, but this apartment building on Beacon Street in Brookline, Massachusetts is one of the most significant buildings of the type in the Boston area! This is Richmond Court, which is one of the oldest (if not the first) apartment house built in the northeastern United States that resembled an English Tudor manor house. The apartment building was constructed in 1898 from plans by architect Ralph Adams Cram, one of the best American architects of the late 19th and 20th centuries. Cram even moved into the building briefly before moving into a townhouse in the Back Bay neighborhood of Boston. The building set the tone architecturally for later apartment buildings in the Boston area, with many architects attempting (largely not as effectively) to design Tudor-influenced apartment buildings regionally. The development is also significant in that at a time when most Boston-area developers were building apartment houses that maximized the buildable square footage, as they do to this day, Richmond Court included a landscaped courtyard to provide residents with more light and air circulation. The development also included two separate town houses on either side of the apartment block.

Kaffenburgh House – Bertram Inn // c.1910

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Across the street from the C. D. Hammer House on Sewall Avenue in Brookline, Massachusetts, this later take on the Queen Anne style with Tudor Revival elements is about to go through quite a transformation!

A little history before I share the proposal for the site… This house was built around 1910 for Bessie V. and Carl J. Kaffenburgh, a tobacco dealer with a store in Downtown Boston. The house was  from plans by architect Harry E. Davidson, who had previously designed stucco houses with Tudor influences for both the Vorenberg and Kaffenburgh family including 20 Amory Street in the nearby Cottage Farm neighborhood. By 1940 the house was owned by Hazen Blood and his wife. The Bloods had rented out rooms in the house totalling 13 lodgers here as a rooming house in the 1940 directory. In 1987, owner, Bryan Austin purchased the property restored it, and opened it as the Bertram Inn.

In recent years, the adjoining lots were eyed for redevelopment and demolition was proposed for this property. Neighborhood opposition and the demolition delay process allowed for review of the plans, which now includes the “restoration” of the main house with a six-story boxy addition on the rear containing condominium units. While the proposed addition is not contextual to the historic Tudor Revival house, it does save the original building and provides much-needed housing for others, so I guess this is a win! What do you think?

C. D. Hammer House // 1893

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This lovely Queen Anne style residence near the Longwood section of Brookline was built in 1893 for C. D. Hammer, the General Agent for the Provident Life and Trust Company of Philadelphia. The stately suburban dwelling was designed by architect Julius A. Schweinfurth, a noted architect who designed many buildings in the region. While some of the stickwork and applied ornament has been covered by vinyl siding, much of the original detailing and some windows remain. The dropped pendants in the gables with flared bargeboard and highly ornamental corbels are a great touch and remain to this day. I bet all of the original details are still under that vinyl, just waiting to be shown again!

Potter-Leland House // c.1888

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Francis Street in Brookline, Massachusetts, has some of the finest Queen Anne Victorian residences in the Boston area. This is the Potter-Leland House, built by 1888 by William Potter, a wealthy shoe manufacturer and businessman who developed rental housing in the neighborhood not far from his house on Kent Street. He built this just before the larger Queen Anne duplex was built nextdoor from plans by Rand & Taylor, architects, and it was rented out as a single-family income-producing property. Various exterior wall textures, irregular massing, and turned supports on the front porch contribute to the Queen Anne character of this house, but the real showstopper is the rounded bay projection with three, 25-over-1 (yes you heard that right) curved sash windows! The property was later purchased by Herbert M. Leland, a broker.