Mid-Coast Maine

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.

Farnsworth Homestead // 1850

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The Farnsworth Homestead is located on Elm Street in Downtown Rockland, Maine, and is an excellent example of a mid-19th century residence in the Greek Revival style. The home was built in 1850 for Rockland businessman William Alden Farnsworth, who gained his income from lime-rock quarries and the Rockland Water Company. Mr. Farnsworth was a leading businessman who helped establish Rockland as the number four port in the United States, largely exporting lime for masonry construction all down the east coast. After William died in 1873, the property was inherited by his heirs, the last of which, Lucy Farnsworth, lived here until her own death in 1935. The 96-year-old Lucy Farnsworth died in the home and in her will, bequeathed the family property and ample funds to establish the Farnsworth Art Museum, and included preservation of the family homestead as a mid-19th century house museum, which it remains to this day. The Greek Revival style house with its flushboard siding and bold pilasters, was recently restored by the museum, along with the carriage house which stands to its east.

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.

William and Kathleen Fuller House // 1905

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This handsome Tudor residence was built around 1905 for William Oliver Fuller (1856-1941) and his wife, Kathleen Stephens Fuller (1869-1948), and can be found at the corner of Beech and Lincoln streets in the finest neighborhood in Rockland, Maine. Although an architect could not be established at this time, the high-style residence features half-timbered gables, an inset front porch framed by stone pillars, and an absolutely perfect color palette. William Fuller was a newspaper publisher, who created his first newspaper, the Rockland Enterprise when he was 18 years old and in high school. He would go on to become the editor and publisher of the Courier-Gazette, the region’s main newspaper. Kathleen Fuller frequented the newspaper herself through her published poetry and columns and would later become an associate editor and co-owner of the paper.

Bird-Crane House // c.1891

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The Bird-Crane House is located at 19 Beech Street in the charming coastal community of Rockland, Maine. The house was built c.1891 for  Maynard Sumner Bird (1869-1960) and his wife, Mary Hawkins Bird, who married that year. Mr. Bird was a businessman who originally worked in insurance before joining Bond & Goodwin. Inc., which dealt in investment securities with offices in Boston and New York. The couple would move to Florida, and the house was later owned by Kennedy Crane Jr., who operated the local Senter-Crane’s Department store in downtown Rockland. The house is a great example of the Shingle style of architecture with continuous shingled siding, rounded corner tower with curved sash windows, and shingled flared lintel over the window in the gable. What a great house!

Charles Berry House // 1899

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Photo courtesy of Berry Manor Inn

The Charles Berry House is located at 81 Talbot Avenue in Rockland, Maine, and it is one of the town’s finest examples of a residence built in the Colonial Revival style. The house was built for Charles Howard Berry (1849-1909), a businessman who operated a stage route, livery stables, and later entered the hotel business. He would hire Portland-based architect, Austin Pease, to furnish the plans for the house and adjacent carriage house. The residence features a symmetrical façade with front porch and porte-cochere, Palladian window over the entrance, bowed front, and ornate dormers at the roof. The entire property is lovingly maintained and preserved and is now home to the Berry Manor Inn, an up-scale bed & breakfast that maintains the old charm of Rockland, while providing high-class finishes.

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.

Rankin Block // 1853

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The Rankin Block is a significant early commercial building in Rockland, Maine. The brick block was built in 1853 by Samuel Rankin, a descendant of one of the area’s first European settlers. Its location was near the center of the city’s shipbuilding industries, and replaced an earlier commercial building destroyed by fire. Its early tenants included a ship chandlery, shipping offices, and a sail loft. The vernacular Greek Revival style building is constructed of brick and granite, showcasing the no-frill architecture that working Maine sailors preferred. The building is now occupied by a senior living facility. Talk about a great adaptive reuse!

Rockland Railroad Station // 1917

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Welcome to Rockland, Maine! Originally called Catawamteak by the Abenaki, meaning “great landing place”, Rockland was first settled by European settlers in In 1769 as a camp to produce oak staves and pine lumber. In 1777, when Thomaston was incorporated, present-day Rockland became a district called Shore village. In 1848, it was set off as the town of East Thomaston and renamed Rockland in 1850. The coastal community grew quickly as a shipbuilding and lime production center, with upwards of 300 vessels to transport the mineral to various ports in the country for the building of communities all down the coast. The opening of the Knox and Lincoln Railroad in 1871 brought an influx of tourists and businesses, creating a development boom for the community. The line was leased to the Maine Central Railroad in 1891, which took over ownership in 1901. The Rockland Railroad Station, seen here, was built in 1917, just before the government took over the railroads during World War I. Architects Coolidge and Shattuck designed the station in the Romanesque Revival style with the oversized arched openings at the windows and main entrance. The rise of the automobile industry would further harm rail service and usage, and the Rockland Branch officially closed in 1959. The old Rockland branch station operated as the Rockland Town Hall for decades and is now occupied by a local restaurant, Trackside Station.

Boothbay Harbor Bridge House // 1902

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In 1901, a footbridge was built in Boothbay Harbor, Maine, connecting the downtown area with the Mt. Pisgah and Spruce Point areas, which both developed as summer colonies. Within a year, this bridge house was built and occupied by William Foster, the bridge-tender who likely operated some sort of swing to allow vessels to pass by until the footbridge was largely replaced after the Great Freeze of 1918, without a swing or draw. When Mr. Foster operated the footbridge, others in town suspected some wrongdoing. A local selectman began investigating and as the story goes, Mr. Foster had been smuggling liquor into town via ships to this bridge house through a trap-door in the floor of the building. Maine was a dry state, and William would have been able to bring in illegal alcohol to the town. Later uses of the building included a candy shop, gift shop, and the bridge house is now a private residence, with thousands passing by every summer.