Concerned that a number of historic properties in the Portland area are in danger of being irreparably altered or destroyed, we announced our 4th list of Places in Peril, to call attention to the threats facing character-defining, historically-significant properties in greater Portland. This year, Landmarks has identified seven buildings or areas that are at critical points where they could be permanently lost or diminished.

Executive Director, Hilary Bassett said, these properties help define greater Portland. In every case, the properties we’ve identified are prominently visible or have such historic significance that we must advocate for their protection and preservation. Landmarks is listing these properties to:

1. Build community awareness about the importance of these properties and focus public attention on their significance in state and local history;

2. Advocate for the preservation, protection, and in some cases, adaptive reuse of these properties so that they can continue to play a vital role in this area’s defining architectural landscape;

3. Provide advice, convene people, and identify resources to preserve, protect and rehabilitate these properties.

Portland Motor Sales

Currently the home of U-Haul Moving and Storage, 411 Marginal Way was formerly the home of Portland Motor Sales. The ultra-modern building was a showpiece for Maine’s then largest Ford dealer when it opened in 1963. Now more than 50 years later, it is one of Portland’s most well-known Mid-Century Modern buildings with its iconic folded roof as a character defining feature of its style. Read more.

Hay & Peabody's Seth Thomas Clock

In 1925 the Hay and Peabody Funeral Home purchased the Mellen E. Bolster House and opened their first funeral home on Portland’s peninsula. To commemorate the occasion and twenty-five years of business for the company, they erected this four-dial street clock. The clock is one of eighty street clocks produced by Seth Thomas Clock Company, however only a few were made that have a combination mechanical clockwork and electric motor like this one. The electric motor was used to raise the weight, which was then dropped by gravity to power the clock movement and pendulum in the cast iron post base. Read More

Mahoney Middle School

The Mahoney Middle School is located on a 15-acre lot at 240 Ocean Street in South Portland, Maine. It was constructed in 1923-24 and was originally the South Portland High School. It became the city’s Junior High School in the 1950s and later, the Mahoney Middle School. Named after Daniel J. Mahoney, a long-time principal at South Portland High, the Mahoney Middle School is a brick, three-story, 94,000 square foot U-shaped building expressed in the Beaux Arts Style. Some of the character-defining features of the Mahoney Middle School are its symmetrical window pattern, quarter height belt course, simple entablature openings, Doric pilasters, and flat roof with detailed parapet. Read More.

Peaks Island Amusement District

Peaks Island in the late 19th century was famous for its summer entertainment and earned the nickname “Coney Island of Maine.” Entertainment on Peaks Island has a long history, beginning with a picnic grove that visitors accessed by rowboat during the 1850s. In the 1880s, the Brackett family transformed a portion of the Peaks Island shoreline into an amusement park, later known as Greenwood Gardens, that featured an open-air roller rink later converted to a playhouse and later a dance hall, merry-go-round, bandstand, beerhaus, Ferris wheel, midway, and observation tower. Just outside Greenwood Gardens’ entrance was a bowling alley and a shooting gallery. Read More.

Dunn Memorial Church

The Dunn Memorial Church, later renamed Central Square Baptist Church, honors the Rev. A. T. Dunn, D.D. who helped to organize the congregation just before his death in 1904. Now known as the Deering Center Community Church, it is one of several religious and educational buildings along Stevens Avenue in Portland. One of the few buildings in Portland designed by noted Bangor architect Victor Hodgins, the church features pink granite stonework on the façade, a decorative bell tower, and a Monson slate roof. The cornerstone of the church was laid in 1905 and the church was completed in 1907. Read More

19ht Century African American Resources on Portland's Penninsula

African-American citizens were a small but thriving community in 19th century Portland. Surviving historic resources and buildings tell the story of the African American citizens that contributed to Portland’s robust history. Three areas on the City’s peninsula were historically home to Portland’s black residents: Newbury Street near the Abyssinian Meeting House, Lafayette Street on Munjoy Hill near Mansfield’s Livery Stable and in the St. John-Valley Street neighborhood in close proximity to Union Station, a major employer to many of the neighborhood’s African American families. Read More

Bowery Beach School

The Bowery Beach School, located at the intersection of Wheeler and Ocean House Roads (formerly Maxwell Road) was built in 1855 to accommodate students for the newly-developed Cape Elizabeth 9th School District. The building remained the Bowery Beach School until 1930, when dwindling attendance made the transportation of remaining rural students to a larger school necessary. Once the school closed, Cape Elizabeth sold the school to the Ladies Union which renamed the building Crescent Lodge. In 1983, the Ladies Union sold the building to the current owner, Cape Elizabeth Lions Club. Read More.