Architecture

William R. White Cottage // c.1892

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Another of the fantastic Summer cottages on Grindstone Neck in Winter Harbor, Maine is the William R. White cottage. The house was built around 1892 for William Robert White (1846-1914) who less than a decade prior, established the Robesonia Iron Company and made a fortune from his home in Philadelphia. His family joined many other Philadelphia-natives and assisted with the establishment of the Grindstone Neck colony in Winter Harbor, where upper-class city-dwellers could escape the hustle-and-bustle of urban living and experience clean air and nature (while still being around other “equals”). The original cottage was more rustic with strong Shingle-style and Craftsman elements, and was updated and enlarged sometime in the early 20th century to its present appearance. Now more stately, the “cottage” has a large hipped roof, an arched, sheltered front porch, and more Colonial influence.

Charles and Elizabeth Doremus Cottage // c.1892

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In 1889, the Gouldsboro Land Improvement Company, bought 300 acres of farmland to build a residential summer colony as an alternative to the busy Bar Harbor across the bay. They hired landscape architect Nathan Franklin Barrett to design the subdivision of 198 cottage lots of at least one acre and arranged them on roughly parallel roads, with a primary road (Grindstone Avenue) running the length of the peninsula’s spine through woodlands to dramatic ocean views at the tip. The summer colony has many great cottages and chapels tucked away on rocky outcroppings with towering spruce trees all around. This charming cottage was built for Charles Avery Doremus and his wife Elizabeth Ward Doremus around 1892. Charles was a scientist, the son of chemist and physician Robert Ogden Doremus. He graduated from the College of the City of New York in 1870. He became a professor in chemistry and became a leading specialist on toxicology, often called into court cases to help solve crimes. Elizabeth was a playwright from Kentucky and her father and his brother owned plantations in Mississippi before the American Civil War. The couple summered at this cottage on Grindstone Neck until Charles’ death in 1925. It is a great example of a rustic Shingle style summer cottage.

Egg Rock Lighthouse // 1875

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The Egg Rock Lighthouse sits in the middle of the Mt. Desert Narrows of Frenchman Bay between Bar Harbor and Winter Harbor. The lighthouse was constructed in 1875 to assist the already built Winter Harbor Lighthouse a short distance away, to provide guidance for the increased ferry traffic to Bar Harbor, which was quickly becoming a prominent summer colony. The architecturally unique lighthouse is comprised of a square tower projecting through the center of the square lighthouse keeper’s house, its unlike anything I have seen before. The station was automated by the United States Coast Guard in 1976, at which time its ancillary structures except the fog station were torn down. The light continues to be managed by the Coast Guard, and is not open to the public; the island and buildings are owned by the United States Fish and Wildlife Service.

Winter Harbor Lighthouse // 1856

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Built in 1857, Winter Harbor Light is one of Maine’s enchanting historic lighthouses dotting the rugged coastline. The lighthouse was built by the United States government to aid navigation for the local fishing fleet, an important piece of the local economy there. The light tower, built in 1856, is a round brick structure topped by an original octagonal lantern house with an iron walkway and railing around it. A brick single-story workroom projects from the tower. The keeper’s house is a two-story wood-frame structure, which was built in 1876 (along with the ell) to replace the original keeper’s house. The light was decommissioned in 1934 and sold into private hands, but in its seventy-six years of service, nine keepers and their families lived on the island. It remains a visual landmark on its small island in Mt. Desert Narrows on the drive along the Schoodic Peninsula in Acadia National Park (Winter Harbor side). What are your favorite lighthouses in Maine?

Channing Chapel – Winter Harbor Public Library // 1888

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At a time before women could vote or be admitted to the American Medical Association, Almena Guptill (1842-1914) left her small home on Harbor Road to graduate from Boston University of Medicine in 1876 and become a respected Boston physician. She married David Flint (1816-1903), a successful lumber dealer and philanthropist. Almena met David when treating his late wife in Boston. The two, both widowers, married in 1891. Being a staunch follower of William Ellery Channing and believing that there was sufficient interest in Unitarianism here, Flint felt that there was need for a meeting place in his summer town of Winter Harbor. He had this chapel built adjacent to his summer house in the winter of 1887-1888, having field stones brought to the site of the future chapel by people of the village sliding them over ice in the winter. I could not locate the name of the architect of the building. The chapel was deeded to the American Unitarian Association and was later gifted by the association to the Town of Winter Harbor in 1958, the town would sell the property that year. In 1993, a preservation group purchased the chapel and sold it in 1999 back to the town. It now houses the Winter Harbor Public Library. Talk about full-circle!

Hammond Hall // 1903

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Winter Harbor, Maine, may just be my new favorite place in the state! The town is located just east of Mount Desert Island, south of Gouldsboro (of which it was a village within the town). In 1895, after the Grindstone Neck summer colony was developed, the town’s increased finances and outlook led them to incorporate as a separate town. And what does any new town need? A town hall! Construction of the hall was proposed in 1902 by Edward J. Hammond, owner of a local lumber business who made his fortune shipping and selling the Maine lumber in Boston. Hammond donated the building materials and building lot after a fire swept through Winter Harbor village. The town offices moved out of the building in 1958, and the main hall continued to be used as a school gymnasium until 1987. The town then sold the building to the Winter Harbor Historical Society. Lack of funding by the turn of the present century resulted in the building’s decline, and it was slated for demolition in 2002. It was rescued by Schoodic Arts For All, a cultural organization that brings a variety of events to the space, which now holds a long-term lease on the property. The building looks great today!

West Gouldsboro Village Library // 1907

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One of the few libraries in Maine built in the Tudor Revival style can be found in the quaint coastal town of Gouldsboro. This library was built in 1907 from plans by Maine architect Frederick L. Savage after members of town sought a community space where they could meet and check out books. The small one-story building sits upon a tall fieldstone foundation and with a stuccoed exterior above. The entrance consists of a single door flanked by sidelight windows topped by an elliptical hood, above which sits within the half-timbered gable front. The small library was in operation until 1956. It reopened briefly in 1990, but closed again. It is owned by the West Gouldsboro Village Improvement Association. Historic library buildings are the best!

West Gouldsboro Union Church // 1888

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In 1888, the West Gouldsboro Union Church Society had enough funds to build this Queen Anne style church, built completely from member donations. By November 1888, the exterior was completed, but so much money was spent on the detailing on the exterior, no funds were available for the exterior painting and interior spaces. In 1891, the new church was finally dedicated. The West Gouldsboro Union Church is a stunning example of a church in the Queen Anne style with varied siding forms, asymmetrical plan, and square tower capped by a pyramidal roof. My favorite part about this building is its historically appropriate paint colors. For a long time, the church was fully painted a bright white, but now its details really shine!

Gouldsboro Townhouse // 1884

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Welcome to Gouldsboro, Maine! The town is a charming community made up of many small fishing villages and neighborhoods dotting the rugged Maine coastline. Land in what was then part of Massachusetts, was given to Colonel Nathan Jones, Francis Shaw and Robert Gould in 1764 by the General Court of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts. Francis Shaw and Robert Gould were both merchants from Boston. Francis Shaw had worked hard to develop Gouldsboro, and reportedly died broke because of it, and his son Robert Gould Shaw returned to his parents’ native Boston. Development in the area was slow and never really took-off due to the distance from Boston, but fishing, mills, and villages were built and remain to this day. Now, much of the area is home to summer residents flocking to the area from urban areas. This building was Gouldsboro’s second townhouse. It was constructed in 1884, soon after the first townhouse burned a year prior. The structure was used for town meetings and elections until 1983. It is now owned by the Gouldsboro Historical Society. It is a late, vernacular example of a Greek Revival townhouse.

Former South Britain Public Library // 1904

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Historic library buildings might just be my favorite building type in New England. This charming example is the former South Britain Public Library in Southbury, Connecticut. The library was constructed in 1904 and blends Shingle and Arts & Crafts styles with the shingled walls atop a raised rubblestone foundation with a pyramidal roof with broad overhanging eaves with exposed rafter ends. The library was outgrown and rather than add onto the small building on its lot, a new library was built in 1969. The former library is now maintained by the Southbury Historic Buildings Commission and is operated by the Southbury Historical Society as a local history and genealogy research center.