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.
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.
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.
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.
The Derby Summer House sits on the Glen Magna Farms property in Danvers, Massachusetts, and is a rare and excellent example of a formal 18th century garden house in the Federal Style. The structure was built in 1793-94 by Samuel Mclntire, the noted craftsman-carpenter of Salem, on the country farm of Elias Hasket Derby in South Danvers. The Derby Farm was sold off by the family, but in 1901, Mrs. Ellen Peabody Endicott, a descendant of the original owners, bought the Derby Summer House and transported it to Glen Magna Farm, their own summer residence. A shopping center now occupies the original location of the Derby Farm. Inside the structure on the first floor, there are two small rooms which are divided by a central hall that extends through the structure. The steps and vestibule at this level are surfaced in white marble. The second floor, where tea was served, was decorated in an Oriental manner. A wood parquet floor, dating from the first decade of this century is still in place. The structure with its carved figures has been studied and replicated by architects and historians for decades, but nothing beats the original.
Glen Magna Farms is a historic estate located in Danvers, Massachusetts, and it is one of the lesser-known historic properties of this stature. During the War of 1812, Joseph Peabody, the wealthiest Salem shipping merchant of his day, bought a 20-acre Danvers farm with a dwelling house. The c.1790 house was likely updated at this time in a higher example of the Federal style, and used as a summer residence the family would escape to during the warmer months. Peabody purchased additional property and Glen Magna grew to over 130-acres. William Crowninshield Endicott, who served as Secretary of War during the Grover Cleveland administration, married Ellen Peabody, granddaughter of Joseph Peabody in 1859. The couple would inherit Glen Magna and later hire the firm of Little, Browne, and Moore in the 1890s to renovate the mansion and update the gardens. Ellen Peabody Endicott would also have the Derby Summer House added to the grounds by 1901. In 1963, the Danvers Historical Society purchased the house and eleven acres of surrounding gardens which they painstakingly restored to their early 20th century condition. Glen Magna can now be rented out for weddings and other events!
Built in 1925 as the cafeteria for St. John’s Prep School in Danvers, Massachusetts, this handsome brick building is sited across Summer Street from Porphyry and Xavier halls, both built decades earlier. The structure was designed by architect, Matthew Sullivan, a member of the notable firm, Maginnis, Walsh & Sullivan, who specialized in ecclesiastical design in the Boston area. The firm disbanded in 1907 with Sullivan creating his own practice, where he won the commission for this building years later. The cafeteria is Neo-Gothic in style with Gothic tracery, lancet arches, buttresses and pinnacles at the entrances. This is a really underrated and stunning structure. I am glad to see it so well-preserved 100 years later!
The Jacob E. Spring Mansion, also known as Porphyry Hall, is a high-style estate house located in Danvers, Massachusetts, that is one of the finest and most unique in the state! The house was built in 1880 for Jacob Evans Spring (1825-1905), who was born in Brownfield, Maine, and at the age of twenty, he went to Argentina and amassed a fortune in the wool business in Buenos Aires between 1845 and 1865, when he returned to the United States. Jacob and his wife, Sara Duffy, would purchase a large farm in Danvers and began planning for their family country home. Their residence was built on a high hill over two years and constructed of over 40 types of stones of irregular size and color with door and window sills of Nova Scotia freestone with arches of the doors and windows and corners of brick. The mansion was designed by architect George M. Harding of Boston, and built by several skilled masons over many months. Mr. Spring named his estate, “Porphyry Hall” with Porphyry meaning an igneous rock with large crystals in a fine-grained matrix; suitable for the walls of their mansion. The Spring’s lived lavishly at this home and spent nearly all of their fortune, selling the property after just ten years to the Xaverian Brothers, who opened it as Saint John’s Normal College. In 1907, the compound was re-organized as a Catholic boys prep school. In 1915, a chapel was added to the rear of the building, constructed from gray fieldstone to blend with the main house. Have you ever seen a building like this?
The General Israel Putnam Housein Danvers, Massachusetts, was built circa 1648 by Lieutenant Thomas Putnam on farmland that then consisted of 100 acres. In 1692, his youngest son, Joseph Putnam, lived here, inheriting the property over his half-brother, Thomas Putnam, Jr. (1652-1699), causing friction within the family. During the infamous witch trials and hysteria in Salem Village, Joseph Putnam was one of two people who took notes during the examinations of the first three to be accused of witchcraft in 1692 – Sarah Good, Sarah Osborne, and Tituba. From that point forward, he was one of the most outspoken opponents of the proceedings, which put him in direct conflict with most of the Putnam family, especially that of his half-brother Thomas. Fearing accusations against him by his half-brother, Joseph was said to have kept horses saddled at all times, ready to escape at a moment’s notice. He was never accused, though Thomas Putnam was responsible for the accusations of 43 people, and his daughter was responsible for 62. In 1718, Israel Putnam, the son of Joseph Putnam, and later Commander of the colonial troops at the Battle of Bunker Hill, was born in this house. It is the only extant structure with direct ties to Commander Putnam. During the Battle of Bunker Hill, Putnam is thought to have ordered William Prescott to tell his troops, “Don’t fire until you see the whites of their eyes.” This command has since become one of the American Revolution’s notable quotations. It was given to make the best use of the low ammunition stocks that the troops had. The Putnam House remained in the family into the 20th century, and due to highway and commercial expansion, the property now sits in the middle of a cloverleaf intersection of two highways. The house was given by the Putnam family to the Danvers Historical Society in 1991, but as of 2020, the Putnam family once again owns the property. The house is not holding up well and I could not locate plans for restoration or preservation of it online. This house deserves to be preserved.
Buildings of New England 