USA > Maine > Cumberland County > Portland > Portland city guide > Part 26
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43. The Site of the Jefferson Theatre, at cor. of Oak and Free Sts., is now occupied by a filling station. Familiarly known throughout the theatrical world as the Old Jeff, Portland's famous theater was razed in 1933. The city's theatrical history, extending for over a century, was climaxed in 1897 when the Jefferson Theater was constructed after a long campaign in which $150,000 was raised by subscription (see Theater) . At its opening the first- night audience paid tribute to the honor guest, Joseph Jefferson, famous American star for whom the theater was named. From its stage during the more than a quarter-century of its existence were presented outstanding stars with supporting casts that read like a roster of American stage celeb- rities.
44. Frye Hall and Woman's Literary Union, 76-78 Spring St. Built in 1917, Frye Hall was presented to the Woman's Literary Union by George C. Frye. The Literary Union, organized in 1889, has been an active associa- tion in fostering literary appreciation in Portland (see Literature). The clubhouse, built about 1820 in the classic style, has an elliptical recessed doorway with side lights separated by colonettes. One of the club rooms has an original Sheraton mantle.
45. Young Women's Christian Association, 120 Free St. This organization occupies the so-called Brazier-Jellison Memorial, presented to the Y. W. C. A. by Charlotte Brazier Harward and Zachariah Jellison in memory of
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Georgia Brazier-Jellison. Burnham Gymnasium, entered from 34 Oak St., was built in 1908 from designs by the Portland architects, George Burnham and E. Leander Higgins; it is the only gymnasium for women in the city.
46. The Portland Chamber of Commerce, 142 Free St., a dignified two- story brick edifice with massive concrete columns of the Doric order, was re- modeled from a church structure in 1926 under the direction of John Calvin Stevens and John Howard Stevens. The building was erected for a theater in 1830, but six years later it was "purged as if by fire" (see Theater) to be- come the Free St. Baptist Church. On the second floor of the present building is the Cumberland County Audubon Society (open; adm. free) which maintains a small but noteworthy collection of mounted birds native to this region.
47. The Maine School for the Deaf, 75-91 Spring St., is a public school maintained by the State of Maine and is free to all of the State's deaf be- tween the ages of 5 and 21. The idea of a school for the deaf was instituted in 1876 by Dr. Thomas Hill (1818-91), former pastor of the First Parish Church, and Frederick Fox (1827-94), a Portland lawyer. The first school, located in a single room on Free Street, had an initial class of three under a single teacher; by 1880 the school's enrollment was 19 pupils. Twelve years later the school moved to its present Spring Street location once oc- cupied by the early Portland High School. In 1897 an act of the Maine Legislature made the school a State institution under the Department of Education. With a present faculty of six, the school trains deaf pupils from all parts of Maine, as well as students from other states. Instruction is given in academic work from kindergarten grades through high school; domestic science is stressed with girl pupils, and boys receive excellent training in all forms of woodworking.
Taylor Hall, purchased in 1901 and named for Elizabeth R. Taylor who served as superintendent of the school between 1894 and 1931, was form- erly the home of Thomas Brackett Reed (1839-1902), Maine's noted states- man (see Munjoy Section: No. 8). The house still contains Reed's splendid library; the spiral staircase, the stair-well of which is domed with glass, has been left unchanged.
48. L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Art Museum (see also Arts and Crafts) (open daily, except Monday, 10 a.m .- 4:30 p.m .; Sundays 2-4:30 p.m .; no admission charge), 111 High St. The museum was erected according to the terms of the will of Mrs. Margaret J. M. Sweat (1823-1908) as a memorial to her husband, Lorenzo de Medici Sweat (1818-97). The bequest was
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made to the Portland Society of Art and its conditions were formally ac- cepted by the Society February 24, 1911. The will expressly provided that the mansion and its contents be preserved intact.
At the right of the entrance hall is the Sweat Mansion (open same hours as museum) which fronts Spring Street. Built in 1800 for Hugh Mclellan from designs by Alexander Parris, a well-known Massachusetts architect, this three-story house of brick laid in Flemish bond is one of Portland's fine old Federal-style structures. The low hip roof is balustraded, and the roof cornice well designed and softened by a row of inverted cove brackets. The fenestration of the house is designed to make plain square walls in- teresting; white denticulated cornices accent the window heads. The most striking feature of the exterior is the semi-circular entrance porch on Spring Street. Two Ionic columns with pilasters support a curved entablature, consisting of a well-moulded architrave, a frieze decorated with triglyphs closely spaced, and a cornice of modillions. The soffit of the entablature is treated with an interlaced fret pattern. The porch roof has a balustrade, the newels of which are surmounted by urns. The paneled entrance door is framed by side lights with a delicate elliptical fan-lighted transom window. Immediately above the porch, and slightly narrower than the door, is a Palladian window.
Outstanding within the building are the carved mouldings, wainscoting, and door and window panels; some of these decorations seem to have been added at a later date. The house furnishings are much as when the Sweat family resided there, and are typical of "genteel" homes of the Victorian era. Some of the silver bears the hallmark of early Sheffield (England) silversmiths; the French clock, with Sèvres china face, in the entrance hall, once belonged to Louis Phillippe of France; the three French ornaments on the mantle of the drawing room came from Malmaison, the home of Em- press Josephine after her divorce from Napoleon.
In the entrance hall of the museum is the life-size marble 'Pearl Diver,' the work of Maine's famous sculptor, Paul Akers, who executed it in Rome in 1858. This work was purchased and presented to the Portland Society of Art by a group of local citizens in 1888.
In the entrance to the rotunda are portraits of James P. Baxter and Neal Dow by Portland's Joseph B. Kahill. In the rotunda itself are two marbles by Hiram Powers, 'Mother' and 'Son,' fine examples of the work of this distinguished American sculptor, and various copies of classical sculpture. There is also a life size cast of Paul Wayland Bartlett's 'Michaelangelo,' the original of which is in the library of Congress at Washington, D. C.
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Some of the museum collections acquired by purchase, bequest, and gift are installed in Gallery A. Among these are the Perry Collection (gift of Curtis Perry) of Flemish tapestries (circa 1600), a collection of vestments and rare fabrics, many pieces of Mexican pottery, and some pieces of an- tique furniture. In the same gallery are two fine examples of the work of the late Winslow Homer, both loans to the museum. Above the entrance is a large allegorical mural 'The Working God and the Sower,' by the late Charles Lewis Fox. Here also is a representative group, the work of the late Walter Griffin, N. A., and single works by various contemporary painters.
The Baxter Collection of Indian Pottery (gift of the late J. P. Baxter) , and a collection of Japanese sword guards loaned by Francis O. Libby, are both of great interest.
In Gallery B is a group of portraits, among them Gilbert Stuart's 'General Dearborn,' and a self-portrait by Chester Harding, next to which is his portrait of his son. In this room is Douglas Volk's portrait of Lincoln, and under it a bronze replica of the cast made from Lincoln's hand by Leonard Volk, sculptor. Here also is Denis Bunker's portrait of Walter Griffin as a young man, and Claude W. Montgomery's portrait of John Calvin Stevens, for many years president of the Portland Society of Art. In the center of the gallery is Paul Wayland Bartlett's 'Lafayette,' the sketch model for the statue now in front of the Louvre in the Tuilleries Gardens of Paris, a gift of the school children of America to France.
The other three galleries, C, D, and E are used for current exhibitions of contemporary work in the field of painting, the graphic arts, and photog- raphy.
The lower rotunda gallery houses the Franklin Simmons Collection of Sculpture (bequest of the sculptor) among which is 'Medusa' (marble) , 'Galatea' (bronze), 'Hercules and Alcestes' (plaster), 'Marion,' 'Mother and Moses,' and various other works in stone and bronze.
The Print Gallery and Lecture Room has in its cases collections of prints and engravings, bequests of the late Charles Libby, Fritz Jordan, and others. These are shown on request.
49. School of Fine and Applied Art of the Portland Society of Art, 97. Spring St. This Greek Revival structure of face-brick painted putty-color was erected about 1833 by Portland's Charles Q. Clapp (1799-1868). Ionic fluted columns and pilasters adorn the exterior. The windows are small and elliptical in treatment; the blinds are recessed. The interior, somewhat
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altered for purposes of the school, has a well-designed stairway. The Port- land Society of Art (see Arts and Crafts) purchased the building in 1914 to house the school founded by the society three years before. The school, governed by a committee of the Board of Management and the Director of the L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Art Museum, is part of the community serv- ice of the Portland Society of Art and offers students a thorough technical training. The courses comprise drawing and painting, color and design, commercial art, industrial design, and art teacher training to conform with the requirements of the State Department of Education.
50. The Libby Memorial Building, 10 Congress Square, designed in the Italian Renaissance style by the local architect, F. A. Tompson, was built in 1897 for the Young Men's Christian Association. When the Y. M. C. A. moved to new quarters the building passed into private ownership and was named in memory of Joseph Ralph Libby (1845-1917), a local merchant. This was once the site of the pretentious home of Mathew Cobb (1757- 1824), who, as joint owner of a fleet of Portland sailing vessels, was referred to by his contemporaries as King Cobb. Toward the middle of the 19th century J. B. Cahoon (1802-68), mayor of Portland in 1849, purchased the Cobb estate and during his occupancy the first illuminating gas in the city was installed in the house.
51. The Congress Square Hotel, 579 Congress St., and the Eastland Hotel, 157 High St., form Maine's largest single hotel-group. The $2,000,000 Eastland, a modern commercial type of building erected in 1927 from de- signs by the local architect, Herbert Rhodes, is the largest single structure in Portland. It adjoins and is connected with the Congress Square, built in 1866 on the site of the earlier City Hotel, rendezvous of country traders and farmers who could bed down their horses in the convenient stable at- tached to the hotel and proceed to sell their produce in the market place near by. Located on the seventh floor of the Congress Square Hotel is Radio Station WCSH, Maine's pioneer commercial broadcasting sta- tion (see Radio). From this station, on Sunday, are broadcast the non- sectarian services of the First Radio Parish Church of America (see Re- ligion) , formed in 1926 by the Reverend H. O. Hough.
52. The Immanuel Baptist Church, 156 High St., is often referred to as a "poem in stone." Designed after the English Perpendicular Gothic style by the local architect, E. Leander Higgins, it is a charming edifice of seam- faced granite quarried in Weymouth, Massachusetts, with sandstone trim. The church was erected in 1925-27 and is described by its architect: "Rela- tively confined on the lot its tower and cloister gives it commanding dignity.
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The warm seam-faced granite is beautifully laid with long flat stones of selected colorings ... the heavy slates on the roof are random widths mottled dark purple from Vermont. The church interior has a fine sense of space and graciousness. The result of the aisles being kept low is to give splendid height to the clerestory windows, to give the building scale, and to make possible a small yet monumental church. Low aisles are only one of a num- ber of features that produce this result - the simplicity of treatment (al- most the entire effect is gained by mass without excessive ornamentation), the deep East Entrance, and the low and beautifully treated narthex." The Great North Window, with the motif of the 'Risen Christ Surrounded by Divine Love,' and the Rose Window are the work of the Earl Sanborn Studios of Boston. The Immanuel Baptist Society emerged from the con- solidation of the congregations of the Free Street Baptist Church and the First Free Baptist Church, both of which had histories dating back nearly a century (see Religion) .
53. The Portland Public Library, 621 Congress St., was erected in 1889, a gift of James Phinney Baxter, Maine's historian. Designed in the Ro- manesque style by Francis Henry Fassett, a local architect, the structure is of red brick with a façade of Ohio sandstone and brown freestone from the famous Kibbi quarry in Connecticut. The library was originally incorpor- ated in April, 1867, as the Portland Institute and Public Library, its first president being William Willis, Portland's historian. As originally de- signed, this building was to accommodate the library, the Maine Historical Society, and the Maine Genealogical Society; later the Portland Public Library became sole occupant. Through a donation from the Joseph Walker estate in 1897, the five-story Snead stack (fireproof) was added, and in 1929 the interior of the library proper was extensively remodeled. The library contains more than 122,000 volumes.
Included in its collection are many of Thomas Bird Mosher's reprints (see Literature), as well as many of the publications of the Southworth-Anthoen- sen Press, two of the de luxe presses of the world. The collection of early Portland and Maine newspapers owned by the library is particularly valu- able.
In the Reference Room (L) is an interesting landscape of Great Diamond Island by Portland's pioneer painter, Charles Codman. Also in this room is J. B. Hudson's copy of the original portrait by Gilbert Stuart of William King, Maine's first Governor. Among other notable oil paintings in the Reference Room is 'Cymbria,' a painting by Frank Stanwood of a Russian ship interned at Bar Harbor by the British at the time of the Crimean War.
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The marble bust of James Phinney Baxter is the work of Franklin Sim- mons (see Arts and Crafts). In the Art Room (R) is Curtis Perry's 'Por- trait of a Mexican Girl.'
Downstairs in the Periodical Room (L) is John Wood's 'Forest Scene'; and hanging in the Children's Room (Rear) is 'Marine Scene' by Thomas O'Neill. Other paintings in the library by Portland artists are 'Landscape' by Charles Frederick Kimball and 'Marine' by John Calvin Stevens. From the School Room 175,000 books are annually sent out to the various schools of the city.
Through the co-operation of the Portland Park Department and the Long- fellow Club, a terraced garden spot adjoining the Children's Room is main- tained for summer library activities for children.
54. The Congress Building, 142 High St., is a strictly utilitarian, six-story office structure, erected in 1929 from the designs of the local architect, Herbert W. Rhodes.
55. The Columbia Hotel, 645A Congress St., built in 1895 and probably named in honor of the World's Columbian Exposition, is the home of Station WGAN (see Radio). In the Hawaiian Room is Anton Skillin's mural, 'Great Diamond Head.'
56. The Lafayette Hotel, 638 Congress St., so named in honor of the famous French general who visited Portland in 1825, was put up in 1903 on the site of the Mussey Boarding House in which Lafayette is said to have remained overnight. In the Lafayette Lounge is a mural 'Cornwallis' Sur- render at Yorktown,' the work of William H. Riseman, of New York.
57. St. Stephen's Episcopal Church, 669 Congress St., so impressed Matthew Arnold, English poet, critic, and essayist, who visited Portland around the middle of the 19th century, that he exclaimed: "This is the only edifice of its kind I have seen in all my travels in America." In later years Boston's distinguished architectural firm, Cram and Ferguson, highly praised the fidelity of the structure's early English Gothic style. Built of native slate in 1854-55, the church was designed by Charles A. Alexander, a New York architect. A marble plaque on the outer wall near the entrance door, states that the church is a memorial to the Reverend George Burgess, first bishop of the Episcopal Diocese of Maine. The altar of Haitian wal- nut, which was presented to the church prior to 1866, is hand carved.
The parish of St. Stephen's dates from 1763 when a group of Episcopal- minded members of the First Parish Congregational Church formed a new
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society (see Religion). In 1791 the society was incorporated under the laws of Massachusetts with the name of St. Paul's and in 1838 was re-organized under the name it now bears. The first Episcopal church edifice in Port- land was erected in 1764, with John Wiswall pastor, and was razed in 1775 during Mowat's bombardment of "The Neck.'
58. The Steven's Memorial Fountain, nearly opposite junction of Park Ave. and High Sts., honors Lillian Marion Norton Stevens (1844-1914), national president of the Women's Christian Temperance Union from 1878 until her death. The fountain is a replica of one erected in Chicago in memory of Frances E. Willard, noted temperance advocate. The bronze figure of a child is the work of the London sculptor, George E. Wade; the base of the fountain was designed by the local architect, Frederick A. Tomp- son. Originally placed in Congress Square, the fountain was removed to its present location in 1928.
59. The Spanish War Veterans' Monument, on the greensward near the State Street entrance in Deering Oaks, honors the Portland men who served in the Spanish-American War (1898), the Cuban Pacification (1898-1902), the Philippine Insurrection and Pacification (1899-1901), and the Boxer Uprising in China (1900). The cast bronze monument of a soldier in Spanish War uniform, similar to other memorials throughout the country, was dedicated in March, 1924.
60. The U. S. Post Office, 125 Forest Ave., a red-brick, Georgian structure erected in 1933-34 from designs by the local architect, John Calvin Stevens, exemplifies the growing tendency toward simplicity in Federal-owned buildings. On each side of the entrance door of the main delivery room are murals of Maine scenes by Henry Elias Mattson, of Woodstock, New York. Mail was brought intermittently to 'The Neck' a few years after its reset- tlement, but regular postal service did not develop until 1760. Four years later the first local post office was established, with Thomas Child as post- master; this early office was located on the corner of India and Middle streets. During 1783 only 57 letters were sent from the local office, but two years later the number had increased until several hundred were mailed an- nually. Prior to 1787 the mail was carried by post rider from Portsmouth, New Hampshire, to 'The Neck,' but in that year the mails were first car- ried in coaches. Portland is the central accounting office for the State.
61. The triangle-shaped Edwards Park, Park and Forest Aves. and High St., was laid out in June, 1937, as a memorial to Major General Clarence
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R. Edwards (1860-1931), commander of the 26th Division during the World War. The granite shaft, supporting the bronze memorial plaque, was erected by the local YD club, the emblem of which is worked into the ornamental flower circle on the High Street angle of the park.
62. The Advent Christian Church, 28 Park Ave., a stone and concrete structure, was erected in 1909.
63. The Young Men's Christian Association, 68 Forest Ave., is said to be the fifth oldest "Y" in the country, having been organized when a group of churchmen gathered in the vestry of the Federal Street Baptist Church in October, 1853, to lay plans to increase religious education through Bible classes. The association moved from the Libby Building, its earlier home, to the present brick structure in August, 1927. Complete with gymnasiums, swimming pool, game and lounge rooms, and dormitory, the five-story building in the Georgian style was designed by the local architect, John P. Thomas.
64. The Portland Stove Foundry (open to visitors), 25-67 Kennebec St., founded in 1877 and incorporated three years later, manufactures a well- known kitchen range and other stove products. The foundry has been a Portland institution since it moved into its present location in 1882. The melting process is particularly interesting.
65. The Scandinavian Bethlehem Church, 58 Wilmot St., was organized in 1896 when 17 Scandinavian immigrants held their first local religious meeting (see Religion). The present church building was erected in 1914. For many years services were conducted in Norwegian, but this has been discontinued.
66. The First Baptist Church, 355 Congress St., a freestone-fronted edi- fice dominating the north side of Lincoln Park, was completed in 1869 (see Religion) .
67. The Cathedral of the Immaculate Conception, 190 Cumberland Ave., follows the florid French Gothic style. This huge brick pile was designed by P. C. Keeley, of Brooklyn, New York. The cornerstone was laid in May, 1866, but three months later the 'Great Fire' razed the portion of the build- ing that had been erected. By September, 1869, the rebuilding of the structure was completed, and a month later it was dedicated (see Religion) . The interior is particularly impressive, all architectural lines emphasizing the loftiness of the structure. A distinctive architectural feature is the am- bulatory around the sanctuary, formed by seven columns which are a con-
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tinuation of those in the nave. The cathedral is enriched by the prudent choice of delicate ornamentation so placed as to accentuate the lines of its columns and arches. Emphasis is placed upon the groinings of all of the arches by the use of a rich, gold background upon which is placed a lightly- tinted scrollwork.
The cathedral is particularly rich in marble work, the splendid Gothic high altar of white marble being especially impressive, the work of Italian sculp- tors. The communion rail of white Carrara marble with panels of Verona red and a top layer of very light coral shade, together with cast bronze gates in old gold finish, were designed by the Luisi Company, of Pietrasanta, Italy. The pulpit, placed behind the communion rail and on the Epistle side of the sanctuary, although massive in appearance, conforms to the Gothic style of the cathedral; it also was designed by the Luisi Company. The bishop's throne, consisting of seats for the bishop and two assistants, is sheltered by a canopy supported by four round columns of violet Brescia marble and capped by a cluster of graceful finials. Other noteworthy parts of the cathedral are the side altars, the Sacred Heart Shrine, and the Sta- tions of the Cross executed in Venetian glass mosaic. The cathedral has fine stained glass windows, notably that immediately behind the High Altar and just above the Shrine of the Sacred Heart which depicts the 'Immaculate Conception.' This window was the gift in 1904 of William Cardinal O'Connell, then Bishop of Portland.
The Cathedral Chapel, originally completed in 1856 but razed by the fire which destroyed a large portion of the city ten years later, was rebuilt in December, 1866. This Gothic chapel is noteworthy for its fine open roof- trussing. In addition to several beautiful marble altars, the chapel con- tains a baptistry with sculptured marble and bronze baptismal font, the work of Italian sculptors. The statue of Christ surmounting the baptistry is a copy of that by Michaelangelo in the Church of Santa Maria sopra Minerva in Rome.
68. St. Paul's Episcopal Church, 9 Locust St. Ivy-covered, its columned porch connecting it with the adjoining rectory, this edifice was erected in 1868, the same year the St. Paul's Episcopal Society was formed. It is named for the Reverend John Wiswall's church, the first Episcopal church in Portland (see Religion). Although described as "composite Norman- Gothic-Saxon" architecture, it will be observed that the Congress and Lo- cust street façades are built of stone, the opposite end of wood, and the fourth side of brick. The hand-carved oak lectern is the work of J. C. Hansen, of Portland.
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