Cape Arundel

Kennebunk River Clubhouse // 1889

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A canoe club formed by John B. McMaster, Prosper L. Senat and Henry E. Woods in the early 1880’s grew to a large “Lobster Club” by 1888. In 1889, the club decided to build this Shingle style boat house and the organization changed their name to the ‘Kennebunk River Club’ and hired Lowell, Massachusetts architect, Frederick W. Stickney to design a new boathouse. It opened in August 1890. The club grew quickly as Kennebunkport continued to become a premier summer destination with wealthy residents building summer “cottages” in town. In the building, canoes were built and hired out to club members by members of the Penobscot tribe who came to Kennebunkport from Old Town each summer working here. The clubhouse is one of the finest Shingle style recreational buildings in New England.

Point O’ View Cottage // 1892

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The Point O’ View Cottage in Kennebunkport sits on a large lawn on the rugged Maine coast, with sweeping views of the Atlantic Ocean. Built in 1892 by Burleigh S. Thompson as a rental property (he rented it for $1,500 for the summer) the nine-bedroom “cottage” was designed in a Tudoresque version of the Queen Anne architectural style and originally named Fort Bradford. The cottage (like others built for Mr. Thompson) was designed by Henry Paston Clark, THE architect for the Cape Arundel Summer Colony in the 1890s, who also designed St. Ann’s Episcopal Church and other cottages nearby. The cottage was renovated more in keeping with the Shingle style and was entirely clad in cedar shingles, but it retains its perfect, rustic stone foundation and rounded porch. It is now known as Point O’ View Cottage. What a view it has!

Pine Haven Cottage // 1902

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Pine Haven Cottage sits on a rise overlooking the Atlantic Ocean in the Cape Arundel summer colony in Kennebunkport, Maine. Built in 1902 for Thomas Brodhead Van Buren, Jr., a silk importer in Manhattan as a summer home, the cottage was designed by Henry Paston Clark and his partner, John W. Russell in an eclectic example of the Shingle style with gable roofs, vergeboards, stone foundation, and a prominent porch that has since been enclosed.

Chester Guild Cottage // 1902

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One of the many stunning summer “cottages” built in the Cape Arundel summer colony of Kennebunkport, Maine, is this turn-of-the-century Shingle style dwelling built for Chester Guild of Boston. Chester Guild III was born into the wealthy Guild Family of Roxbury with his father being a successful leather dealer. Chester Guild spent summers with his family in Kennebunkport beginning in the 1890s, eventually had this cottage built in 1902. The Shingle style dwelling remained in the family for five generations and is very well-preserved, showcasing the hallmark elements of the ubiquitous coastal Maine architectural style.

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.

“The Dory” Cottage // 1888

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Before Miss Gerrard purchased the Glen Cottage (last post) in 1900 in Kennebunkport, Maine, she had already summered in her own summer cottage nextdoor for over a decade. In 1888, she hired an architect from New Jersey to furnish plans for this charming shingle and stone cottage as her summer retreat. The cottage features a prominent brick and rubble stone chimney facing the street with a gambrel roof. The entrance is tucked away under a recessed porch and looks to be the original dutch-door. I can’t imagine how amazing summers in this house would be!

Nesmith-Kent Cottage // 1891

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One of the most iconic summer “cottages” in Kennebunkport’s late 19th-early 20th century summer colony is the Nesmith-Kent Cottage, located next door to the often photographed St. Ann’s-by-the-Sea summer chapel. The cottage was built for Julia and Mary Nesmith, the daughters of John Nesmith a wealthy industrialist and textile manufacturer from Lowell MA. The sisters named the cottage “The Pebbles”, and spent their first night there on July 24, 1891. The half-timbered shingled house stood at the edge of the ocean near a former War of 1812 fortification. The sisters sold the property in 1910 to Arthur Atwater Kent, prominent radio manufacturer based in Philadelphia, who invented the modern form of the automobile ignition coil. Kent renovated the cottage extensively, increasing its size, and renamed “The Pebbles”, “At Water’s Edge” in a cheeky play on his last name. In 1919, he expanded again, purchasing a lot adjacent to his mansion which was the old fort constructed to protect the ships moored in the harbor during the War of 1812. In early 1919, workmen uncovered a few bones of what was calculated to be a seven-foot-tall man and two skulls of white men that had clearly met their end at the hands of Native people; one pierced by an arrow and the other scalped. The Kennebunkport Historical Society has one of these skulls in their collections. Today, the Nesmith-Kent Cottage is owned by the St. Ann’s-by-the-Sea congregation as their rectory.

Bayberry Cove Cottage // 1915

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Perched atop a seaside cliff on a neck jutting into the Atlantic ocean, this large summer cottage exhibits the rugged, yet enchanting character of the Maine coast. The house is part of the Cape Arundel Summer Colony and is one of the last built as part of the original period of development. The home was designed by Henry Paston Clark, a Boston architect who previously built a home on Cape Arundel and had summered there for years. His most notable design here is St. Ann’s Church, built for the summer residents of the area. The Bayberry Cove Cottage was built in 1915 for James Harrison and his wife and employed the use of cedar shingles, stone, and slate, to blend in with the rugged plot of land.

Inglesea Cottage // 1889

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One of the larger Shingle style homes in Kennebunkport, Inglesea Cottage, was designed in 1889, possibly by Henry Paston Clark, who designed or worked on many homes and buildings in the summer colony. The original owner, Dr. George Frederick Brooks, a doctor based out of New York, who spent his childhood on the coast of Maine, and decided to spend his elderly summers there. By 1903, the home was purchased by Ms. Lucy Fay (1864-1937) of Fitchburg, MA, who hired Henry P. Clark, to add the cross gambrel addition to enlarge the home. Lucy Fay was the daughter of the the wealthy industrialist George Flagg Fay and his wife, Emily Upton, and upon their deaths, inherited their fortune (her sister died at just seven years old, making her an only child). The home remains in impeccable shape and is a head-turner everytime I drive down the coast.

Talbot Cottage // ca.1890

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One of the more unique summer cottages in Kennebunkport is the Talbot Cottage, a ca.1890 eclectic Shingle style home. The home features curvilinear Flemish gables crowned with ball finials, diamond paned windows, gabled dormers with finials and pendants, and a wrap-around Colonial Revival porch with fluted columns. The stunning home was built for Julian Talbot, of the Talbot Family who ran a mill in Lowell, MA. The home was soon after sold to George Hubbard Clapp, a Pittsburgh pioneer in the American aluminum industry, who summered in Kennebunkport.

St. Ann’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church // 1892

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Saint Ann’s by-the-Sea Episcopal Church in Kennebunkport is possibly my favorite building in the seaside town. As the Cape Arundel summer colony of Kennebunkport was rapidly developing in the 1880s, summer residents needed a place to worship and sought an appropriate location close to their mansions. Boston architect Henry Paston Clark sketched up some conceptual drawings for a stone chapel pro-bono as he already had active commissions in the town and summered there himself. Funds were raised and the current site was donated by the Kennebunkport Seashore Company, who developed the neighborhood. The cornerstone was laid on August 22, 1887. Five years later construction was completed, and the church was debt-free. The large sea-washed stones were hoisted and dragged to the church site during the winter of 1886-1887, and work on the building began May 27, 1887. The same sea-washed stones that grace the building’s exterior were also used for the interior of the church and sacristy. The roof over the central part of the church (the nave) is framed with hard pine hammer beam trusses and the floor is cleft slate.