maine architecture

Dr. Benjamin L. Noyes House and Vault // 1903

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Benjamin Lake Noyes (1870-1945) was born in Lisbon Falls, Maine, but grew up on Grand Manan, New Brunswick, Canada. He worked at his father’s hardware store before entering Bowdoin Medical College. After graduating, he moved to Stonington, Maine, to work as a physician. Here, he met his wife, Linnie Howard, and they married in 1899. In 1903, the couple had a large Queen Anne style house built on a bluff, overlooking the Stonington Harbor. Dr. Noyes was a physician, surgeon, occultist, inventor, surveyor and antiquarian, who took interest in genealogy and local history in his spare time. By the time of his death Dr. Noyes had completed 100 volumes of material on island history and genealogies of its people. To house his massive collection, he constructed a fire-proof vault of local granite at the base of his home opened his record collection to the public known as the Penobscot Bay Archives. After his death in 1945, much of the collection was sent to the local historical society for preservation. A fire in 1981 destroyed much of the house except the first floor and the granite, fire-proof building, and the upper floors of the Noyes house were rebuilt.

Stonington Opera House // 1912

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The Stonington Opera House in Stonington, Maine, is a historic early 20th century community center and theater in a vernacular style. The theater was built in 1912, on the site of an earlier hall built in 1886, that seated more than 1,000 people and hosted national touring shows that arrive via steamboat from Rockland. The original theater was destroyed by fire in 1910 and was soon-after rebuilt. It continued the practice of the earlier facility, hosting theatrical productions, lectures, and community events. Its floor was covered with removable folding chairs, so that the space could be used for dances and other social events. It was fitted for screening films around 1918, which came to dominate its uses in the mid-20th century. Unlike other early theaters, which were generally incorporated into municipal buildings, this one was specifically built as a profit-making venture, and was designed to accommodate elaborate theatrical productions, and is probably the oldest of this type in the state. After being vacated for much of the later half of the 20th century, the Stonington Opera House was restored and reopened by Opera House Arts, a local nonprofit, in 2000, and is once again used primarily for film screenings and theatrical productions.

Oceanview House // 1883

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At the tail-end of the 19th century, the active fishing town of Stonington, Maine, like many other coastal communities Down East, began to see growing seasonal tourism and summer residents escaping the woes of city life for the cool sea breezes. Although there were neighborhoods of summer cottages built and occupied in the 1890s on Deer Isle, no summer colonies formed in Stonington in the late 19th century, likely due to its industrial nature with fishermen and quarry-workers living in the village. There were however, visitors, and the 1883 Oceanview House was built to house “people from away” every summer. The Oceanview House property also included its own water tank and windmill along with a meeting room for local groups. The late Italianate style building has been lovingly maintained by later owners and most recently, housed an antique store!

Thurlow Building – Stonington Public Library // 1897

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This historic building on Main Street in the working harbor village of Stonington, Maine, was built in 1897 as a commercial block for Mr. Thurlow. John Leman Thurlow (1842-1928) was born on Deer Isle and was engaged in business in town. Mr. Thurlow had this commercial building constructed to house a local grocery store with residences above. Just before its completion, the Deer Isle Gazette wrote, “J. L. Thurlow’s new store is up and the side finish is being put on. It will be a fine commodious two story and a half building, an ornament to the place.” The building later was occupied as a millinery shop, a dress shop, and was purchased in 1959 by a newly established library association. The all-volunteer operation to establish a library in town began in 1955, and a collection of donated books was eventually housed in a rented space until this building was purchased as the home of the village library.

Central Hall // c.1885

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Located next door to the former High School (now the Town Hall) of Stonington, this mansard-roofed commercial building on Main Street is a prototypical example of late 19th century mixed-use architecture seen all over Maine. This building was constructed in the 1880s and known as Central Hall. The building contained retail spaces at the ground floor and tenement housing in the upper floors for workers at local granite quarries. The building is well-preserved and an important contributing building to the working village of Stonington.

Stonington Town Hall // 1885

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Overlooking an archipelago of over sixty islands, the working port town of Stonington, Maine, is one of the more vibrant and active ports in the Pine Tree State. With a population of just over 1,000 residents, the town is consistently ranked among the top lobster ports in the country and is the largest lobster port in Maine. In 2011, 14,854,989 pounds of lobster were landed by Stonington fishermen! The town was originally a part of Deer Isle, with the main village known as Green’s Landing, until 1897 when it incorporated as its own municipality in 1897, choosing the name Stonington after the area’s granite quarries. This handsome mansard building was constructed in 1885 as the village’s school. Named Rockbound School, the building features an intact belltower at the rear. The school would eventually close in the second half of the 20th century, and became the Town Hall of Stonington after a fire destroyed the previous building in the 1970s.

Israel Snow House // c.1850

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The Israel Snow House stands at 9 Water Street in the South End of Rockland, Maine, and it is one of the region’s finest examples of late Greek Revival architecture. The residence was built for Captain Israel Snow (1801-1875), a mariner and captain of several vessels, including the schooner Maria (1829), the brig Snow (1835-36), the brig Lucy Ann (1842), and the Barque Star (1848). In 1850, he and his wife Lucy moved from Thomaston to Rockland, and he would build this stately mansion where they raised seven children. Some records put the construction of this house at 1861, but that seems very late for such an example of this style. In 1863, he founded Snow’s Point Shipyard on Mechanic Street in the South End. Rockland was the fourth largest seaport in the United States in terms of production and commerce at the time, and Snow’s shipyard was a large part of that production. This residence is now offices to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service’s Maine Coastal Islands National Wildlife Refuge Complex.

William H. Glover House // 1873

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William Hurd Glover (1834-1910) was a prominent lumber dealer and builder in Rockland, Maine, and would built this house as his residence on Talbot Avenue. Mr. Glover hired architect Charles F. Douglas, to furnish the plans for the Second Empire style mansion. While covered in vinyl siding, the handsome residence features a slate mansard roof, central tower, delicate projecting portico over the entrance, and decorative window hoods and brackets. The house is one of the best examples of the style in Maine, even with the later siding.

Strand Theater // 1923

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The Strand Theater on Main Street in Rockland, Maine, is a great example of the inter-war theaters that sprouted up in towns all across the country following WWI. The theater was built in 1922-23, on the site of a building destroyed in a 1922 fire that swept through the southern part of Rockland’s downtown. The steel-framed theater, with its terracotta tile walls and ornamental brick facade is fairly unadorned, besides the blade sign marquee reading “STRAND”. Two storefronts, a cigar store and a flower shop, were also incorporated into the theater, framing the entrance. The theater stayed open until the early 2000s when the local multiplex bought it and closed it. In February, 2004, the theatre was purchased by a long-time summer resident who restored the building and opened it back up. The Strand remains a vital economic and cultural center for the town, and its preservation is an important piece of Rockland’s charming Main Street.

Rockland Public Library // 1903

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The Rockland Public Library in Rockland, Maine, is an architecturally significant civic building that showcases the coastal town’s prosperity at the turn of the 20th century. The library was built in 1903–04, and was funded in part by a $20,000 grant from Andrew Carnegie. It is the city’s only major example of Beaux Arts architecture, a style that is also uncommon in the state. The library was designed by Maine native George Clough, who used granite quarried from nearby Vinalhaven in its construction. The building was later expanded by an addition at the rear, but from the street, the handsome Beaux Arts library looks near-identical as to when it was built over 120 years ago!

Rockland Security Trust Building // 1912

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The Rockland Security Trust Building is a significant Colonial Revival style bank structure located on Main Street in Downtown Rockland, Maine. Built in 1912 from plans by Boston architect Richard Clipston Sturgis, the brick building is trimmed in marble, to provide a visual representation to the financial wealth and stability the bank could provide its clients. The bank closed and the building is presently occupied by an art gallery. Sadly, the rooftop deck railing takes away so much from the building’s presence.

Custom House Block // 1853

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This stately commercial block is found on Main Street in Rockland, Maine. The block originally housed the local custom house (before a larger, purpose-built custom house was erected nearby in 1873) with other retail and commercial spaces at the ground floor with offices and meeting space above. The block is a great example of the Italianate style with an intricate brick corbeled cornice and cast iron and marble storefronts. The commercial space occupied by the First National Bank also exhibits a stone medallion with deer set within a wreath over the entrance. The detail that stood out to me most was the cast iron lintels over the windows, with the second floor lintels including a man’s face! The building is well preserved and is today occupied by local businesses.

Rockland Custom House & Post Office // 1873-1969

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Photo included in HABS documentation

It saddens me to see photos and learn about some of the amazing buildings demolished in the name of “progress”; it is even more disappointing when said building is replaced by a surface parking lot (over 50 years later)! This great stone building was built in Rockland, Maine, in 1876 as the town’s post office and custom house by the Federal government. Relatively unknown architect Alfred B. Mullett is credited with the design as he served from 1866 to 1874 as Supervising Architect of the United States Treasury Department. The building can be classified as Italianate-Second Empire in style and is constructed of massive, rough-faced granite block walls with a shallow mansard roof above. The building was offered for sale by the U.S. Government in 1967, likely due to the upkeep costs and a shrinking local population with the dependency on maritime trade diminished. The building was ultimately razed in late 1969, with a new, uninspiring, post office built next door to this site.

Rockland Harbor Breakwater Light // 1902

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The Rockland Harbor Breakwater and Lighthouse is arguably the most iconic structure in the coastal town of Rockland, Maine. As Rockland was a major port and harbor, relying on the transportation of lime and shipbuilding for its economy, protecting the harbor was of paramount importance. Major storms in the 1850s highlighted the need for improved harbor protection, but federal appropriations for a breakwater were not approved until 1880. Between 1880 and 1900 the United States Army Corps of Engineers, under a series of Congressional appropriations, built the breakwater, a 4,364 foot long wall in the harbor built of locally quarried blocks of granite. It is truly a feat of engineering! The lighthouse standing at its end was added in 1902. The iconic breakwater is accessible by those who brave the crashing waves and distance to the end of the nearly mile-long walk out to the lighthouse. The structure is today maintained by volunteers and the City of Rockland.

Knox County Courthouse // 1874

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The Knox County Courthouse stands in Downtown Rockland, Maine, and is a landmark example of a Civic building constructed in the Italianate style. Knox County was separated from adjacent Lincoln County in 1860, with the coastal city of Rockland established as its county seat. For its first fifteen years, county offices were dispersed amongst buildings until in 1874 when the county retained Boston architect Gridley James Fox Bryant to design the present building. The building was constructed at a cost of $83,000, well over the anticipated $50,000 cost, and opened in 1875. The first floor accommodated all the county offices, with fireproof storage areas for records. The second floor was be taken up by the courtroom, and at either end were rooms for judges, jury and counsel.