Falmouth Hotel | |
---|---|
![]() The hotel, around 1875, looking southeast from Temple Street | |
![]() | |
General information | |
Status | Demolished |
Type | Hotel |
Address | Middle Street, Portland, Maine, U.S. |
Coordinates | 43°39′26″N70°15′18″W / 43.657273°N 70.254999°W |
Completed | 1868 |
Closed | 1958 |
Demolished | 1963 |
Cost | $300,000 |
Technical details | |
Floor count | 6 |
Design and construction | |
Architect(s) | Charles Alexander |
Other information | |
Number of rooms | 240 |
The Falmouth Hotel was a six-story, 240-room hotel in Portland, Maine. [1] [2] [3] It stood on Middle Street, between a now-demolished Plum Street and the extant Union Street, from 1868 to 1963, when it was torn down for being a fire hazard. Presidents Ulysses S. Grant, William McKinley, Theodore Roosevelt, William Howard Taft and Warren G. Harding all stayed at the hotel, while United States Army General William Sherman visited the hotel in 1898. [4] Due to its regular hosting of functions, the hotel became known as the "hotel of a million banquets." [5] Plum Street connected Fore Street and Middle Street between Exchange Street and Union Street. [6]
The hotel, which was the largest in Maine at the time of its completion, [7] was built by John Bundy Brown, at a cost of $300,000, as a symbol of Portland's resurgence after its great fire of 1866. Designed by New York's Charles Alexander, [5] the hotel featured a granite facade, a black walnut interior and marble fireplaces. [8] One of its early proprietors was L. Stevens. [3] He was followed by E. A. Gilson, formerly of the St. Nicholas Hotel in New York City, who was in the role after the hotel's first renovation, completed in 1882. [7] Maurice, Baker & Co. pharmacists had a store on the hotel's ground floor in 1888. [9] The ground floor also became the home of the headquarters of the Maine Automobile Association [10] and the Maine Republican Party. [11]
After another renovation, it reopened as the New Falmouth Hotel in August 1898, when F. H. Nunns was its proprietor. [12] [13] In 1902, Nunns stated to The Hotel Monthly that the hotel was the first to use a card register. The process had a slow uptake because certain states were required by law to maintain a book of guests' names "for police or other regulation." [14]
In the early 20th century, National Liberty Insurance Company of America had on office on the hotel's ground floor. Its agent was Frank R. Kugler (1877–1959). [15] In 1913, the hotel's proprietor was J. J. Pooler, [16] while in 1928 it was Harry Bridges. [10]
In 1920, Carleton Glidden (1874–1924) [17] purchased the hotel. He had been the manager of the nearby Congress Square Hotel. [18]
By the late 1950s, the hotel's popularity had waned. It closed in early November 1958, [19] and was purchased by the City of Portland in 1963, shortly after which it was demolished. [8] It was replaced by today's Canal Bank Plaza in 1971. [8]
The Tichnor Brothers printed a postcard of the hotel around 1938. [20]
Christopher Hyde mentions the hotel's cocktail lounge in his 2005 book The House of Special Purpose. [21]
Falmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 12,444 at the 2020 census. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine metropolitan statistical area.
Windham is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States. The population was 18,434 at the 2020 census. It includes the villages of South Windham and North Windham. It is part of the Portland–South Portland–Biddeford, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area.
The Langham, London, is a 5-star hotel in London, England. It is situated in the district of Marylebone on Langham Place and faces up Portland Place towards Regent's Park.
Haymarket Square is the historic name of a former town square in Boston, located between the North End, Government Center, the Bulfinch Triangle, and the West End. The square was a well-known feature of Boston from the mid-19th century to the mid-20th century, when the buildings around it were demolished to make way for the Central Artery and Government Center. The Haymarket produce market continues to operate at a location near the historic site of the square. The Haymarket MBTA station extends under the former site of the square.
John Calvin Stevens was an American architect who worked in the Shingle Style, in which he was a major innovator, and the Colonial Revival style. He designed more than 1,000 buildings in the state of Maine.
The French Arms Tavern was a structure in Trenton, New Jersey, that served as the capitol of the United States and meeting place of the Congress of the Confederation from November 1, 1784, to December 24, 1784. The building was located at the southwest corner of King and Second Streets from 1730 until 1837 when it was torn down.
The Portland Railway, Light and Power Company (PRL&P) was a railway company and electric power utility in Portland, Oregon, United States, from 1906 until 1924.
Monument Square is a town square in downtown Portland, Maine, about halfway between the East Bayside and Old Port neighborhoods. The Time and Temperature Building, Fidelity Trust Building, and the main branch of the Portland Public Library are on Congress Street, across from the square, while One Monument Square and One City Center are among the buildings on the square itself.
Yarmouth is a town in Cumberland County, Maine, United States, twelve miles north of the state's largest city, Portland. When originally settled in 1636, as North Yarmouth, it was part of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and remained part of its subsequent incarnations for 213 years. In 1849, twenty-nine years after Maine's admittance to the Union as the twenty-third state, it was incorporated as the Town of Yarmouth.
The Pabst Hotel occupied the north side of 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City, between 7th Avenue and Broadway, in Longacre Square, from 1899 to 1902. It was demolished to make room for the new headquarters of The New York Times, for which Longacre Square was renamed Times Square.
Bluehour was a Mediterranean restaurant and bar located in the Pearl District of Portland, Oregon, United States. The business began operating in September 2000. Bruce Carey and Joe Rogers co-owned the business with Kenny Giambalvo, who also served as an executive chef until 2011.
The State of Maine Armory is an historic building in Portland, Maine's Old Port District. The brick building spans from its entrance at 20 Milk Street to Fore Street at its rear and parallels Market Street and Silver Street on its west and east sides. The historic Boothby Square is located on Fore Street behind the hotel.
The Central Fire Station is an historic fire station in Portland, Maine. Built between 1924 and 1925, it is home to the Portland Fire Department. In 2019, Greater Portland Landmarks listed it alongside Portland's other fire stations as "places in peril," though this designation was disputed by a city spokesperson. Adjacent to the building is The Fireman Statue, which was designed and created in 1898 from North Jay granite and located on the property in 1987. Nearby landmarks include Lincoln Park, Portland City Hall, the Press Herald Building, and the Edward T. Gignoux United States Courthouse.
Pleasant Street is a historic street in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. It was formerly part of the Atlantic Highway, a precursor to U.S. Route 1. It connects to Lafayette Street, part of today's Maine State Route 88, at Pleasant Street’s southern and northern ends. It has existed since at least 1761, which is when a milestone was placed on the street, on the order of Benjamin Franklin, due to its being on the King's Highway, to denote its distance from Boston, Massachusetts. As part of his duties, Franklin conducted inspections of the roads that were used for delivering mail. One method of charging for mail service was by mileage, so Franklin invented an odometer to measure mileage more accurately. The King's Highway, as a result, morphed into the Post Road.
Jameson Tavern is an historic building on Main Street in Freeport, Maine, United States. It was completed in 1779, as a home for local physician Dr. John Anglier Hyde, a decade before the town was incorporated and when it was part of North Yarmouth, then in Massachusetts. It stands across the side street Justin's Way from L.L.Bean's flagship store.
Elm Street is a prominent street in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. It runs for about 2.7 miles (4.3 km) from North Road in the north to Portland Street in the south. The street's addresses are split between "West Elm Street" and "East Elm Street", the transition occurring at Main Street in the Upper Village. Several of its buildings are homes dating to the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Portland Street is a historic street in Yarmouth, Maine, United States. It runs for about 1.25 miles (2.01 km) from the town's Main Street, State Route 115, in the north to its merge with Middle Road in the south. It is so named because it leads to Portland, the state's largest city, after linking up with State Route 9 in Falmouth, Maine.
George Munjoy was an early settler in what was Falmouth, Province of Maine. Munjoy Hill, in today's Portland, Maine, is named for him, as was Peaks Island for a period.
The Lafayette Hotel now Lafayette Apartments is an historic building in Portland, Maine, United States. Completed in 1903, the building was designed to be a luxury hotel and many of Maine's political and economic elites maintained year-round residences in the hotel. In the 1960s, the building was converted to an apartment building.
The United States Hotel was a hotel in Portland, Maine. At the time of its closure, in 1900, it was one of the oldest hotels in the city, having been in business for 97 years. The hotel stood on Federal Street, behind Market House, in what was then known as Haymarket Square. Built in 1803 as the Washington Hall Hotel, it was later renamed the Cumberland Hotel. It was renamed again, around 1829, to the Portland House, then the Cumberland House in 1835.