Moses Webster House | |
Location | 14 Atlantic Ave., 0.05 mi. E of jct. of Main St. and Atlantic Ave., Vinalhaven, Maine |
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Coordinates | 44°2′50.5″N68°49′52″W / 44.047361°N 68.83111°W Coordinates: 44°2′50.5″N68°49′52″W / 44.047361°N 68.83111°W |
Area | less than one acre |
Built | 1873 |
Architectural style | Second Empire |
NRHP reference No. | 98000309 [1] |
Added to NRHP | April 1, 1998 |
The Moses Webster House is a historic house at 14 Atlantic Avenue in Vinalhaven, Maine. It was built in 1873 for Moses Webster, owner of one of Vinalhaven's granite quarries, and is one of the community's finest examples of Second Empire architecture. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1998. [1]
The Moses Webster House stands on the east side of Vinalhaven's downtown area, at the northeast corner of Atlantic Avenue and Frog Hollow Road. It is a large 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a mansard roof, clapboarded walls, and a granite foundation. Its front facade is six bays wide, with a projecting two-bay section on the left side, capped by a three-story mansarded tower. The leftmost bay has a two-story polygonal window bay with a gabled top and bracketed cornices, while a single-story porch extends across the right four bays and wraps around to the right side. It is supported by chamfered square posts and has a low balustrade. Second-floor windows rise through the lower portion of the mansard roof as wall dormers, and are topped by bracketed and pedimented gables. [2]
The house was built in 1873 for Moses Webster, who was, along with Joseph R. Bodwell, a leading figure in Vinalhaven's highly successful late 19th-century granite industry. The two men, both New Hampshire natives, came to Vinalhaven in 1851, and began the expansion of its previously small-scale granite quarries, eventually providing stone for major buildings along the Atlantic coast. The Bodwell Granite Company, of which Webster was president and co-owner, dominated the island's economy into the early 20th century. [2] The house served as a bed and breakfast inn in the early 2010s, and was listed for sale in 2016.
Vinalhaven is a town on the larger of the two Fox Islands in Knox County, Maine, United States. Vinalhaven is also used to refer to the island itself. The population was 1,279 at the 2020 census. It is home to a thriving lobster fishery and hosts a summer colony. Since there is no bridge to the island, Vinalhaven is primarily accessible from Rockland via an approximately 75-minute state ferry ride across West Penobscot Bay, or by air taxi from Knox County Regional Airport.
Goose Rocks Light is a sparkplug lighthouse located near North Haven, Maine in Penobscot Bay. It stands at the eastern entrance to the Fox Islands Thoroughfare, a busy mile-wide passage separating North Haven from Vinalhaven. Built in 1890, it was added to the National Register of Historic Places as Goose Rocks Light Station on January 21, 1988. The structure is now privately owned by a preservation group, and remains an active aid to navigation.
The Barker Mill is an historic mill at 143 Mill Street in Auburn, Maine. Built in 1873, this five-story brick mill building is one a relatively few in the state that has a mansard roof, and has a higher degree of decorative styling than other period mill buildings. It was the first major mill on the Auburn side of the Androscoggin River. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979, and is now residential housing. It was built in the Second Empire architectural style.
The Captain Holland House is an historic house in Lewiston, Maine. Built in 1872, this three-story brick building is a fine local example of the Second Empire style. It was built by Daniel Holland, one of the city's leading industrialists. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985.
The Charles A. Jordan House is a historic house at 63 Academy Street in Auburn, Maine. Built c. 1880, it is one of the finest examples of Second Empire style in the state. Charles Jordan was a local master builder, who built this house as a residence and as a showcase of his work. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1974.
The Joseph Temple House is a historic house in Reading, Massachusetts. The Second Empire wood-frame house was built in 1872 by Joseph Temple, owner of locally prominent necktie manufacturer. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Heron Neck Light is a lighthouse on Green's Island in Vinalhaven, Maine at the south end of Penobscot Bay. It was established in 1854 as an aid to navigation for Vinalhaven's main port, and for the Hurricane Channel extending northwest from Heron's Neck. The light was automated in 1984. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places as Heron Neck Light Station on January 21, 1988.
The Union Church of Vinalhaven is a historic church on East Main Street in the center of Vinalhaven, Maine. Built in 1899, it is a high quality example of Shingle style architecture, designed by one of its major promoters, John Calvin Stevens. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
Edgewood, aka Cordts Mansion is a historic home located at Kingston in Ulster County, New York. It is an impressive, three story Second Empire style residence built in 1873 for a prominent brick merchant and a manufacturer, John A. Cordts. It features a centered tower, slate sloping concave mansard roof with headed dormer windows, iron roof cresting, a columned front porch verandah, and a bay window. Hutton Brickyards
The former Masonic Temple is a historic commercial and social building at Main and High Streets in downtown Belfast, Maine. Built in 1877, it is one of the city's most elaborately decorated buildings, featuring Masonic symbols. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1973. While there are active Masonic organizations in Belfast, they now meet in a modern facility on Wight Street.
The Pleasant River Grange No. 492 is a historic Grange hall on Round the Island Road in Vinalhaven, Maine. Built as worker housing for a granite quarry, it was moved in 1909 to its present local for use by the local Grange chapter. It continues to be used by that organization as a community resource. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1999.
The Peyton Randolph Bishop House is a historic house at 135 Washington Avenue in Bridgeport, Connecticut. Built in 1839 by a local building contractor and later given Second Empire features, it is a rare surviving example of Greek Revival architecture in Bridgeport's urban core. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
The H. Hudson Law Office is a historic commercial building on Hudson Avenue in the center of Guilford, Maine. Built c. 1867, it is an architecturally distinctive small Italianate/Second Empire structure, which was used by two generations of lawyers in the Hudson family as a law office. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1979.
The J.L. Prescott House is a historic house on High Street in North Berwick, Maine. Built in 1865 for a prominent local businessman, it is one of the largest and most elaborate Italianate houses in southern Maine. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1985. It has been converted into a multiunit apartment house.
The Theodore Jellison House, also known locally as the Stone House, is a historic house on River Road in eastern Calais, Maine. Built in 1825, it is one of the oldest surviving residences in the town, and an impressive local example of granite construction. Theodore Jellison, its builder, was a local owner of granite quarries. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1984.
The McGlashan-Nickerson House is a historic house on St. Croix Drive in the village of Red Beach, part of Calais, Maine. Built about 1883, it is a fine example of Italianate architecture, built for one of the principals of the Maine Red Granite Quarry Company. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1990. It is now owned by the National Park Service, housing facilities that support operation of the adjacent St. Croix Island International Historic Site.
Church House, also known as the Barrow House, is a historic mansion in Columbia, Tennessee. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978. Nominated for the National Register on 10/19/78, The Barrow House, which was built in ca. 1873, is one of the best examples the Second Empire style of architecture in Columbia and one of the grandest late-nineteenth-century houses in the city. Its decidedly three-dimensional massing, profuse ornamentation, and the combination of attached and semi-detached dependencies are distinctive. The façade porch, with its effusive decorative elements, and the bay windows in the east and south elevations emphasize the horizontal lines of the building and in part balance the predominant verticality of the tower and mansard roof. Three blocks west of the court square, the Barrow House is located in a formerly prestigious neighbourhood, an area which still contains a number of large late-nineteenth century houses. The wealthy and prominent of Columbia reside here.
The Murch Family House is a historic house on Calderwood Neck in Vinalhaven, Maine. Built in 1855, it is the only granite house in a community long known for its granite quarries, and one of a relatively small number of documented stone houses in the state. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1993.
The Star of Hope Lodge is a historic former commercial and fraternal society building on Main Street in downtown Vinalhaven, Maine. Built in 1885, this large Second Empire building is one of a few commercial buildings to survive in the island community. It was restored in the 1980s by artist Robert Indiana for use as an art gallery and studio space. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1982.
The Vinalhaven Public Library is the public library serving the island community of Vinalhaven, Maine. It is located at 6 Carver Street in downtown Vinalhaven, in a small architecturally distinguished Prairie School building built in 1906 with financial support from Andrew Carnegie. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1989.