Saying Goodbye to the UMaine School of Law Building

The Home of the University of Maine Law School is being demolished after 50 years of looming over Oakdale.

By Archer Thomas

Since 1972, the hulking concrete mass of the University of Maine School of Law Building has quite literally loomed over the otherwise low-rise and residential Oakdale neighborhood. There is nothing quite like it in Portland, or Maine for that matter. In a city whose historic character is well reflected in the restrained traditionalism of most of its architecture, the Law Building is audaciously modern and unapologetically controversial.

UMaine Law’s home building is being demolished after 50 years of looming over Oakdale.

Admittedly, the structure is hard to love. For one, the Law Building sticks out like a sore thumb, an eight-story behemoth in the last state where the tallest building is a church. Being one of Maine’s very few Brutalist or Brutalism-adjacent structures, its raw concrete siding matches the drab gray of an overcast sky. The turret-like form of its main tower, complete with quasi-medieval crenellation, emphasizes the lack of correspondence between the building and its surroundings. Adding these aesthetic issues on top of its function as a law school and connotations surrounding the world of litigation, one can begin to understand the weariness that Portlanders have generally expressed towards the structure.

The building was designed by Wadsworth, Boston, Dimick, Mercer, and Weatherill, a local architecture firm.

In 2017, Architectural Digest—one of the most popular architecture magazines in the country—published a list featuring “The 7 Ugliest University Buildings in America.” Lo and behold, the UMaine Law Building made the cut. Though the building escaped some of the harsher critiques levelled at the other unlucky finalists—including “prisonlike” (the Health Sciences Center at Louisiana State University) and “like a Disney villain’s lair” (Crosley Tower at the University of Cincinnati)—the listing caught the attention of local news outlets, who playfully reveled in the negative attention the structure was receiving. The Portland Press Herald noted that the building’s recognition as a “real stinker” was “surprising no one who works there,” including Associate Dean for Academic Affairs Dmitry Bam, for whom “there are days when he thinks it would be nice to have an office in a traditional brick building overlooking the water.”

Well, it appears that Bam and the rest of the Law Building’s critics are in luck—the University of Maine System announced this past spring that the concrete giant would be coming down. Temporarily, the School of Law will be relocating to an office building at 300 Fore Street in the Old Port. Ostensibly, the most pressing reason behind the decision is the continued deterioration of the structure. According to Dean Leigh Saufley, “What is wrong with the building is a four-hour conversation.”

The deterioration of concrete mid-century buildings (Brutalist or otherwise) is a rising concern in this country—look no further than the tragic collapse of a condo building in Surfside, Florida which claimed around 100 lives this summer. While concrete by itself is enormously resilient (the dome of the Pantheon in Rome, for instance, has lasted almost two millennia), the vast majority of concrete buildings erected in the past century are reinforced, meaning that rebar (steel bars) is embedded within the concrete. While this practice dramatically increases the tensile strength of concrete, both it and steel possess properties which threaten the integrity of the composite material as they weather. Concrete, although appearing extremely solid, can actually allow the infiltration of moisture after years of exposure. While moisture is not necessarily a threat to concrete on its own, steel can rust, gradually breaking down the rebar and leading to flaking and fracturing in the surrounding concrete, a process called spalling.

Moreover, once it begins, the degradation of reinforced concrete is extremely difficult and costly to stop. In order to preserve Frank Lloyd Wright’s Unity Temple in Oak Park, Illinois, for instance, most of the concrete had to be reapplied one side at a time so as to replace all the rusted rebar, requiring the structure to be held up by temporary supports. In effect, the restoration necessitated the piecemeal replacement of the almost the entire structure, a feat which cost a whopping $25 million for a single church.

A 1967 photograph of Unity Temple in Oak Park, Ill. from the Library of Congress

Though the challenges facing the Law Building could likely be addressed for less than that sum, the difficulties associated with concrete preservation will probably lead to the sacrifice of hundreds of aesthetically and historically significant modernist buildings in coming decades. Furthermore, the decision to demolish rather than rehabilitate aging Brutalist buildings is relatively common because until recently it was easy to forget that these concrete structures were once loved and seen as beautiful. According to an associate dean at the School of Law, the building’s architect was so pleased with his design that (allegedly) “he used to set up a folding chair out front and just stare at it some days.” Nevertheless, the Press Herald’s recent coverage of the building’s woes fails to include a single contemporary voice who values the structure as a piece of Portland’s modernist heritage.

The recognition that modernist buildings are valuable and warrant the same kind of attention and protection directed at other historic structures is growing. Over the past few decades, several international organizations have arisen to promote the preservation of the world’s modernist heritage. Activists have adeptly utilized the internet and social media to introduce Brutalism and other modernist subgenres to a new generation and rally the public around preservation. In 2015, the SOS Brutalism project was launched, including a global, publicly available database of Brutalist buildings. Maine only possesses one listing on SOS Brutalism—the Law Building—and soon it will have none.

Efforts to preserve modernist concrete buildings represent an ironic turning point in the preservation movement. In many cases, the structures currently under threat are the same ones which arose from the wholescale decimation of earlier historic sites in the mid-20th century, a process which kicked off the preservation movement in the first place. Scollay Square, a lively European-style city plaza located in downtown Boston, was bulldozed in the 1960s to make way for the Government Center complex including the new Boston City Hall. The decision was almost immediately upheld as an archetypical example of urban renewal’s harmful excesses. The Boston City Hall increasingly came to be seen as a regrettable mistake. In the 2000s, however, when the city considered selling the property to developers, preservation activists and members of the community stood in support of the concrete giant. Redevelopment gradually faded from the city’s agenda, and City Hall was saved.

Contrast Boston’s Scollay Square in the late 19th century (left) with this 1968 image of Government Center.

Similarly, the Law Building replaced a row of quaint Victorian single-family homes along Deering Avenue. If they had survived to the present day, it is very possible that they would be protected under a historic preservation ordinance. Nevertheless, this is not what occurred, and we find ourselves in a similar circumstance to the 1960s when the Law Building was first being conceived. In the rush to move on from our past, we are at risk of depriving our descendants of their architectural heritage. If any lesson should be taken from the urbanism of the mid-20th century, it is that tastes change. One person’s eyesore is another’s gem. If the Law Building is truly beyond saving, as it might well be, it is imperative that we as a public at least pay it the homage it deserves. Who knows? Maybe one day we will remember it like we remember Portland’s Union Station—a venerable victim of regrettably shortsighted times.

Archer Thomas is a recent graduate of Bowdoin College, having majored in history and minored in government and legal Studies. Growing up in Buxton, Archer has loved Portland and appreciated Greater Portland Landmarks’ work from a young age. Architectural history and urbanism have been passions of his for a long time, with his undergraduate thesis having focused on the historical and theoretical relationship between Brutalist and postmodern architecture. He is also a 2021 Thomas J. Watson Fellow and will embark on a year of learning about urban rail infrastructure around the world as soon as State Department travel advisories allow. Afterwards, he hopes to enroll in a graduate program in historical preservation, architectural history, or architecture.

The Summer Cottages of John Calvin Stevens

By Kate Burch

John Calvin Stevens

John Calvin Stevens (1855-1940) is one of our hometown heroes – he designed more than 1,000 buildings in Maine, many of them in greater Portland, and his grandson John Calvin Stevens II was one of the founders of Greater Portland Landmarks. JCS, as we call him, could fill several blog posts, but for our August Architect of the Month, we’re focusing on his iconic summer cottages in the Shingle style.

Stevens was born in Boston in 1855 and moved to Portland, Maine with his family at the age of 2. He wanted to study architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but couldn’t afford it, so he apprenticed in the Portland office of architect Francis Fassett instead. Stevens was a fast learner and a skilled draftsman, and in seven years rose from office boy to partner in the firm, which was renamed Fassett and Stevens. In 1884, he established his own office in Portland, with Fassett’s blessing.

The John Calvin Stevens House (1884) on Bowdoin Street

Shingle Style was coming to prominence around 1880, when JCS was working in Fassett’s short-lived Boston office. The firm worked in the same office building as William Randolph Emerson, who by then was working in his signature Shingle Style, and his work was very influential to JCS. In 1884, upon establishing his own office in Portland, Stevens built his own home at 52 Bowdoin Street in the Shingle Style. One of Portland’s earliest examples of the style, JCS often used it for promotion. The house received international notice after its construction.

Shingle-style architecture developed in the late 19th century as a departure from the lavish decoration of other Victorian styles. Inspired by the simplicity of materials and form of early New England architecture, these houses used natural colors and unembellished shingles on both walls and roof to form a uniform surface. The graying of the cedar shingles as they aged lent a sense of history and connection to New England’s past, and some architects even pre-aged the shakes before installation to achieve a weathered look. Shingle style houses borrow elements from other popular styles of the time, such as the wide porches of Queen Anne homes, the Palladian windows of the Colonial Revival, and the rusticated masonry of the Romanesque Revival.

Kragsyde (1883-1885, demolished 1929), designed by the Boston firm Peabody & Stearns

Though inspired by the rusticity of the local vernacular, these early Shingle Style buildings were far from simple. Shingle Style was popularized by large-scale commissions for seaside summer homes for the wealthy in places like Manchester-By-The-Sea, Massachusetts and Newport, Rhode Island. The style never really spread too far from the New England coast – it’s uncommon in vernacular housing. In Maine, it became the style of choice for grand summer homes and resorts that in the late 19th century were increasingly cropping up on Maine’s coast and islands.

C.A. Brown Cottage (1886-87) in Delano Park, Cape Elizabeth, designed by JCS.

Stevens’ Shingle style coastal homes were recognized not just for their style but for their relationship with the landscape. Large piazzas and picture windows, with interior space planned to take advantage of the scenery, made these buildings feel harmonious with their surroundings. It’s perhaps not surprising that Stevens was so good at designing buildings that felt connected to their landscape – he was also an accomplished landscape painter and a member of the Portland-based art group that called themselves the “Brushuns”, who went on weekend sketching expeditions along the Maine coast (Winslow Homer and Charles F. Kimball were also members). Of his design work, his grandson John Calvin Stevens II wrote “The ‘seeing of the site’ is to him ceremonial. Every contour, tree, rock, stream, spring is recorded on the drawing board in his brain. Orientation, vistas and outlooks, prevalent windows and neighborhood developments are studied.”

(If you’re interested in learning more about JCS’s paintings, our book The Paintings of John Calvin Stevens is currently on sale in our shop!)

“Delano Park, Cape Elizabeth” (1904) by JCS

JCS designed dozens of seaside summer homes, from grand estates to more modest cottages, all along the coast of Maine and on the islands. Here are just a few examples of Stevens’ summery projects:

The Homers on Prouts Neck

Prouts Neck in Scarborough was one of many Maine coastal areas that became a fashionable summer resort in the late 19th century. Painter Winslow Homer vacationed there with his brothers Arthur and Charles. All three brothers commissioned JCS to design homes for them on Prouts Neck, the most famous of which is the Winslow Homer Studio (1884), now owned by the Portland Museum of Art. Stevens, in partnership with Francis Fassett, also designed “The Ark”, a summer home for Charles S. Homer Jr. (1882). Later, the three brothers also had JCS design rental cottages for them. For Winslow Homer’s rental cottage, Stevens billed him asking for payment “Any production of Winslow Homer”, a request which delighted Homer, who sent Stevens the painting The Artist’s Studio in an Afternoon Fog.

Winslow Homer Studio ( 1884)

“The Artist’s Studio in Afternoon Fog” (1894), Winslow Homer

Delano Park

In 1885, a group of Portland businessmen created the Delano Park Association to establish a seaside summer colony in Cape Elizabeth. Four of the 25 original lot owners had JCS design Shingle style cottages for them around the turn of the 20th century. By then, Stevens had twenty years of experience working in the style and his projects in Delano Park ranged from the unique yet modest “Birds’ Nest” cottage designed for musician Harvey S. Murray, to the Frederick E. Gignoux Cottage, a large home with broad porches to take advantage of the elevated site with ocean views on three sides.

Harvey S. Murray Cottage (1902)

Frederick E. Gignoux Cottage (1905-6)

Cushing Island

The Ottawa House Hotel opened on Cushing Island in 1862 and the island became a summer resort destination. In 1883, the Cushing family, who owned the island, hired landscape architect Frederick Law Olmstead to create a plan for the island’s development, and JCS was commissioned to design the summer cottages. JCS also designed a grand home for the owner of the Ottawa House which was never built.

Sketch for M.S. Gibson House (1883)

Stevens made about 12 Shingle style cottages intended to be compatible with the island’s natural beauty, as well as a recently-restored gazebo. The largest cottage was the Charles M. Hays Cottage, designed for the then-president of the Grand Trunk Railroad, which Stevens created in partnership with his son John Howard Stevens. (Hays died 2 years after the house was built, as a passenger on the Titanic).

Charles M. Hays Cottage (1909-10)

Cushing Island gazebo restored by Taggart Construction

Munjoy Hill Local Historic District

Did you know that the protections of the historic district have been temporarily in effect since the Historic Preservation Board recommended the district move forward last year? Several projects have already been reviewed and approved by the Historic Preservation Board with these protections in place, demonstrating that adding new housing units, incorporating modern additions, and incorporating solar panels are all possible in a Historic District!

49 St. Lawrence Street

Architectural rendering of 49 St. Lawrence Street with new additions and rehabilitated front facade. Mark Mueller Architects

The current owner of the building is proposing to convert the 2 ½ story wood frame residence from three units to four units. The project is prompted by a number of goals, including a desire to increase the number of units within the building, convert the attic area into useful living space, improve the layout and functionality of each floor, and address the generally deteriorated condition of the house. The existing structure was built c. 1858 and is typical of the architecture that characterizes much of Munjoy Hill with its wood frame construction, simple mass and scale, and gable-end-to-the-street orientation. The building is a vernacular expression of the Greek Revival style with most of its architectural detail covered by the application of replacement siding in the late 20th century.

In working to meet the client’s goals, the project architects found that they needed to introduce a stair tower addition to comply with code requirements triggered by the project. The project includes: new cementitious clapboard siding, corner boards, new windows and window openings, new doors, refurbished entry stairs with new treads, risers and code-compliant railings, and a standing seam metal roof. New additions include the stair tower, shed dormers, and entry porch. A rear addition is proposed to replace existing rear decks, stairs and porch addition and will accommodate an elevator. Solar panels are to be installed on the roof. The project was approved by the Historic Preservation Board in early March.

9 Howard Street

9 Howard Street existing conditions.

The two ½ story, wood frame residential structure at 9 Howard Street represents a building type, form and style that dominates much of the Munjoy Hill neighborhood. The building was built in 1881 and exhibits the proportions and architectural details generally associated with the Italianate style, including prominent bays on the front and south elevations, an oriel window on the north elevation, tall windows, and a prominent projecting cornice with eave returns. Instead of a bracketed hood over the front entry, there is a flat-roofed portico supported by square columns and pilasters and featuring a wide frieze. It is likely that the front portico is a later alteration as the entry off the rear ell features a typical Italianate bracketed hood.

The project includes new dormers, windows, and the rehabilitation of the front entry. At the front entry, the single door and sidelight will be replaced with double-doors, consistent with original appearance and the existing porch railings will be replaced or reconfigured to extend to the bottom stair. New posts with turned ball finials (matching the documented design) will replace existing posts. The application was submitted on January 29th and approved on March 24, 2020.

Before and after design for the front entrance at 9 Howard Street. Blue Anchor Designs

24 St. Lawrence Street

This 1924 Portland Tax assessor image documents the early look of the dwelling. This photographic collection is a great resource for homeowners. You can search for your home!

This project includes a new garage and a multi-story rear addition. The project proposal also includes extensive exterior rehabilitation of the original 1851 Greek Revival side gable, two-family dwelling. A previous proposal to demolish the house and build a multi-unit condominium building was withdrawn following classification of the house as Preferably Preserved under the Munjoy Hill Neighborhood Conservation Overlay District ordinance, permitting issues, and neighborhood opposition.

Part of the early wave of development on the south side of Munjoy Hill after the founding of the Portland Company and the Atlantic & St. Lawrence Railroad, the dwelling is a contributing building in the proposed Munjoy Hill Historic District. The current owners purchased the property in July 2019. The project will demolish the existing one-story, hip-roofed, single-car detached garage and an existing deck and stair structure attached to the rear of the house, and construct a new garage. The new two-car garage will be connected to the rear of the house by a new deck and stairs. A new elevator will rise from the garage to a new third-floor dormer on the rear roof plane of the house and connect to the house by upper floor hallways. All of the proposed construction is on the rear of the house; the front of the building will be rehabilitated. The project was applied for in late January and approved less than two months later in March 2020.

The house at 24 St. Lawrence Street will remain largely as is, but a modern addition will be built at the rear, along with a new garage. Sheri Winter, architect.

34-36 North Street

This project features a second floor addition to an existing one-story bay to add more light to the owners’ living space. This two-family, wood-framed residence is a fairly simple transitional Queen Anne designed by John Calvin Stevens and built in 1882. It closely resembles 38 North Street next door, also designed by Stevens. 34-36 North Street is classified as a contributing structure in the proposed Munjoy Hill Historic District, while 38 North is listed as noncontributing because of numerous alterations to the original fabric. Nevertheless, the strong resemblance between the two houses is still evident, and the still extant original two-story bay at 38 North Street provided valuable design clues for the proposed project. The owners applied for the project on January 7, 2020 and it was approved by the Historic Preservation Board with conditions a few weeks later on January 30th.

Before and after drawings of the proposed exterior changes. Dextrous Creative

Designing for Health in the 19th Century

By Kate Burch

This year’s coronavirus pandemic has transformed our lives and caused us all to reexamine our environments from a hygienic perspective. As we spend more time in our homes and immediate neighborhoods, and try to make our indoor spaces safer, some of the solutions utilized by 19th century architects, landscape architects, engineers and planners that can be seen in Portland are still relevant today.

“Deering’s Woods” in 1878. Photograph by Henry Wadsworth Longfellow.

Portland’s large public parks – Deering Oaks, Lincoln Park, the Western and Eastern Promenades – were all built in the 19th century and continue to serve as significant green space in the city. In a time when we are encouraged to stay close to home due to coronavirus, the same value they had in the 19th century has become apparent. 

The public park movement began in the 1830s to improve the living conditions for workers in crowded industrial towns and cities. Through the 19th century, parks were seen as increasingly important for both hygienic and humanitarian reasons. Parks were referred to as the “lungs of the city” to help against poor air quality and the spread of infectious disease. They were also places where people who lived in crowded conditions and did not have access to travel away from the city could have access to outdoor space for leisure and recreation.

The crowded living conditions of the working class in cities also led to efforts to improve hygiene in housing, which, in the 19th century, focused on improved airflow and increased light. Lower income people in cities often lived in uncomfortable and unsafe conditions such as cellars or large tenements with windowless rooms and shared facilities that led to the fast spread of infectious diseases.

Side Sectional View of Tenement House, 38 Cherry Street, New York City, 1865

In the late 19th and early 20th century, reformers led the push for better housing and tenement reform. In New England, the triple-decker house originated as a more livable alternative to tenements or row houses. Triple-deckers offered light and airflow on all sides of a building while still economic to build, and often feature porches for each apartment. In larger apartment buildings, changes in design developed to improve ventilation and hygiene, such as air shafts and increased windows. One popular design was the “h” plan, which can be seen in the Stateway Apartments at 59 State Street in Portland, built by the architectural firm Miller & Mayo in 1913. The shape of the building allows for more outward-facing windows, cross-ventilation, and fresh air for all residents.

59 State Street in 1924

82 Vesper Street in 1924

Portland’s 19th century hospitals also reflect this emphasis on sunlight, good airflow, and ventilation. The Maine General Hospital building at 22 Bramhall Street (1874, now Maine Medical Center) was designed by architect Francis Fassett to have 4 pavilions around a central wing. This design, coupled with the building’s location atop Bramhall Hill, allowed for free circulation of fresh air to prevent disease, as well as scenic views of the White Mountains and the ocean to improve patients’ spirits.

Sketch of Francis Fassett’s original proposal for Maine General Hospital, c1872

Portland Marine Hospital (now Martin’s Point), 2012. Photo by Corey Templeton.

The Portland Marine Hospital (1855, now Martin’s Point Healthcare) was designed by architect Ammi B. Young in an “h” plan to allow for maximum sunlight and ventilation. Its location – similar to Maine General, on a hill atop a peninsula by the ocean – improves airflow and corresponds to 19th century thinking that sea air was good for health.

These 19th century design values for health and well-being have proven to be lasting. Fresh air, good ventilation, and exposure to UV rays in sunlight are some of our key weapons to fight the coronavirus pandemic. As people are confined to their homes or encouraged to travel only locally, features like windows, porches, and public parks are still crucial to our 21st century lives.

Architect of the Week: Ellen Louise Payson

By Alessa Wylie

Ellen Louise Payson (1894-1977) known to family, friends and clients as Louise, is considered a pioneer of American landscape architecture. She gained widespread recognition during the 1920s and '30s as an accomplished landscape architect “for the soundness with which she applies to her gardens the principles of landscaping and architecture … and for the sympathetic feeling for varying material which her work always shows.”

Louise Payson was born in Portland, Maine, the daughter of Edgar Robinson Payson and Harriet Estabrook Payson of the prominent Payson family. She was four years old when her mother died of typhoid fever and her father’s sister Jeannette came to live with the family. Aunt Jeannette and her close friend and companion, Annie Oakes Huntington would play an important role in Louise’s life. Aunt Jeannette loved to travel and Annie Oakes Huntington was a well-known botany expert whose 1902 book Studies of Trees in Winter was so successful it was reprinted three times and used as a textbook at the Yale School of Forestry. These two women greatly influenced Louise throughout the years.

Cover of a 1920s brochure for the Lowthorpe School

Payson attended the Lowthrope School of Landscape Architecture, Gardening and Horticulture for Women in Groton, Massachusetts. It was the only landscape architecture program available for women in the United States at the time. Students studied architecture and landscape history, drawing, drafting, surveying and site engineering, principles of construction, along with plant material, forestry, botany, and entomology. The school was located on a 17-acre estate that included a fruit orchard, flower and vegetable gardens, meadow and pastureland and a small arboretum of trees and shrubs that provided a place for plenty of practical, hands-on experience.

Louise Payson graduated from the Lowthrope School in 1916 and went to work for landscape architect Ellen Shipman. Shipman had started her business in New Hampshire in 1912 and eventually expanded to open an office in New York City. She only employed women and provided professional opportunities that allowed many of them to set up successful practices of their own like Louise Payson did in 1927. Shipman wrote “Louise Payson came fresh from Lowthorpe, so young and full of ability, and after twelve years with me, started out brilliantly for herself.”

In the beginning of Louise’s career, she created landscape plans for family members in Portland’s Western Prom neighborhood and in Falmouth Foreside. The earliest known surviving drawing is a design for her father at 83 Carroll Street in 1917. The house was a semi-detached residence designed by local architect George Burnham (the subject of last week’s architect spotlight.) The Payson’s lived in the eastern half on the corner of Carroll and Chadwick Streets. To create the gardens Louise used a variety of small-scale shrubbery showing not only her knowledge of plants but also her understanding of the size of the yard.

Planting plan for E.R. Payson, Portland

That same year Louise also designed a 33 by 70-foot perennial garden for her Uncle Charles in Falmouth Foreside choosing plants that she would continue to use throughout her career. Additionally, many of Louise’s drawings include maintenance information. “Very important for the success of the garden is the careful staking. The plants much not be tied to the stakes, but the stakes placed around the plant or group of plants of the same variety, and raffia tied to the stakes leaving the plants free in the center.”

Enclosed perennial garden for Charles Payson, Falmouth Foreside

Cumberland Foreside heart-shaped garden

Louise Payson left Ellen Shipman’s office in 1927 and started her own practice in New York City, where she followed Shipman’s practice of hiring only women. She maintained her office from 1927 through 1941 and completed over seventy commissions, designing the grounds of several large estates in Connecticut and New York, including the estate of her cousin Charles S. Payson. Her smaller projects included a hidden, heart-shaped garden for her cousin in Cumberland Foreside as well as other gardens in New England, New York, New Jersey, Pennsylvania and as far west as Missouri.

Although there was a great range in the scale of her projects, there was a consistency and symmetry in her designs that also reflected her extensive knowledge of plant material and her engineering ability. In addition, she designed fences, buildings, and trellises with a sensitivity to the architectural style of the residence.

In 1931 Payson joined the American Society of Landscape Architects (ASLA) and her design for the John P. Kane Estate in Locust Valley, NY was included in the 1934 Yearbook of Members Work and several other of her projects from this period  were published in House Beautiful, House and Garden and Home and Field.

Judith B. Oliver (seated) in her Ogunquit garden designed by Lousie Payson

House and Garden also selected a Louise Payson-designed landscape in their 1933 “Little House” competition. The idea was to inspire readers of the possibilities for their own dream house with an imagined site that was a corner suburban lot, 60 by 150 feet. Architects designed a small Georgian house with French influences and Louise’s design divided the lot into five areas to utilize all the available space.

Despite the Great Depression, Louise continued to receive commissions throughout the Northeast. They varied tremendously in scale and type from large estates to roof-top gardens in Manhattan. She closed her office in June 1941 and as U.S. involvement in World War II intensified, she worked at Eastern Aircraft in Pennsylvania to support the war effort. In 1944 she sailed to Portugal to volunteer in Lisbon as a relief worker.

When she returned 17 months later, she didn’t open an office but she did continue to design gardens mostly for family and friends. She also didn’t charge them, instead she asked that a donation be made to one of her favorite organizations including the National Society of Colonial Dames of America in the State of Maine, The Victoria Society of Maine, The Longfellow Garden Club, and the Maine Audubon Society.

In 1951 she purchased a farm in Windham and planted extensive gardens, dividing her time between the farm and her Portland home. She remained active in various organizations and traveled extensively. She died unexpectedly in 1977 at the age of 82 while on a Mediterranean cruise.

As a woman practicing in what historically had been a male-dominated field, Louise Payson helped redefine the character and qualities that established the distinctiveness of American gardens and estates during what is know as the “Golden Era of American Landscape Architecture.”

Shortly after her death family members discovered a sizable collection of original plans, drawings and other works stored in a large chest at a family home in Portland and in 1999 donated the collection to the University of Maine.

The collection contains about 525 architectural drawings including landscape architecture plans, contour drawings, planting diagrams and blueprints. The index to the collection can be found at https://digitalcommons.library.umaine.edu/findingaids/299. The Special Collections, Raymond H. Fogler Library, University of Maine, "Payson (Ellen Louise) Collection of Landscape Architectural Drawings, 1913-1941" (2016). Finding Aids. Number 299.

Architect of the Week: George Burnham

By Alessa Wylie

Perez Burnham House

Somerset Apartments

One of Maine’s most accomplished architects of the early 20th century was George Burnham (1875 – 1931) of Portland. Born in Portland, he received his professional training from Massachusetts Institute of Technology. He briefly worked in Boston before moving to New York City to become a partner in the firm of Tryon, Brown & Burnham. He designed a number of houses on Long Island before developing typhoid and pneumonia and moving back to Portland in 1902. Back in Portland, he designed a house for his father Perez Burnham on the Western Prom, and the Somerset Apartments on Congress Street for Henry Rines.

In 1904 Burnham beat out eight other architects from Portland and Massachusetts, including John Calvin Stevens, Frederick Tompson, and Francis Fassett, to win the competition to design the Cumberland County Courthouse. The deciding factor for him to be chosen over these other established architects seems to have been the fact that his design achieved the right balance of architectural grandeur at a reasonable cost. According to newspaper accounts at the time, other designs were favored but would have been more expensive. The courthouse construction kept Burnham busy from 1905 until its completion in 1909. He did, however, work on smaller projects including design of the B.H. Bartol Library in Freeport in 1905. In 1910 he designed the Stanley Pullen Memorial Horse Trough just down from the Courthouse on Federal Street.

Cumberland County Courthouse

Pullen Fountain

In 1909 Burnham took on E. Leander Higgins, a fellow M.I.T. graduate, who became a partner in 1912. Together they designed plans for houses and factories. The houses they designed were large, spacious and comfortably laid out.  In 1912 he built a semi-detached double house at the corner of Carroll and Chadwick Streets, and lived in one of the houses for two years before designing a house and one for his mother next door in Falmouth Foreside.

Carroll Street House

In 1913 Burham and Higgins designed two large factories in two quite different settings. The Burnham & Morrill Plant, with its highly visible location, highlighted the more ornamental aspects of the building by contrasting the concrete, brick and glass of the exterior. The building immediately became a local landmark and remains one today.

Burnham & Morrill Factory

The Portland Shoe Manufacturing Company, on the other hand, was located on Pearl Street in a dense urban setting. The building was tall and narrow following the latest architectural trend of simplicity of design. In both buildings the architects chose to emphasize the building materials used in their structures rather than applied decorations.

Portland Shoe Factory

By 1917, Burnham & Higgins was one of the leading architectural firms in Maine designing for individuals and businesses, but when the U.S. entered World War I, George Burnham enrolled in the Army’s Officer’s Candidate School where he thought his engineering skills could be put to good use. While in training in Kentucky he became seriously ill and had to take a medical discharge. By 1919 he retired to his home in Falmouth Foreside. His final work in the 1920s was a remodel of a friend’s house in Yarmouth. In his final years Burnham experienced severe mental depression and took his own life in April, 1931.

George Burnham and his partner, E. Leander Higgins, designed both residential and commercial buildings and created several exceptional examples of early 20th century architecture in the Portland area that remain local landmarks today.

Source: Maine Historic Preservation Commission’s Biographical Dictionary of Architects in Maine.