The McLellan House

For my final site visit I decided to go to the McLellan House that was connected to the Portland Museum of Art. The house was designed much like the Victoria Mansion. If you were to enter the house from the front door you would be facing a flight of stairs located in the middle of the room. The second floor circled the center of the house with rooms that shot off the circle, much like Victoria Mansion. Although not as big, at least I got that feeling, still very extravagant. The house also contained Winslow Homer’s studio. It was a bit confusing and I don’t know if it was directly in the house or if it was part of the addition they had added onto the museum to connect the house. Either way I enjoyed it. The house also looked like it was in great shape. Apparently in 2002 the house had undergone a restoration project to help it last for another century. The only thing that I though was strange was the floor when you first entered the house. It was squishy as if there was a layer of foam covered with a plastic finish. It was very odd. I only made it to the second floor. I’m not sure if the third was even open, if it was I missed it. Overall, a very interesting house that looked more modern than old given when it was built.

Historical Background:

The house was built in 1801 and was designed by John Kimball, Sr. costing roughly $20,000. Although 50 years earlier than the Victoria House, it was still a great sum of money for a house compared to the surrounding homes in the time period. The house was built for Major Hugh McLellan. I couldn’t find much information about Hugh McLellan other than that he served in the Revolutionary War, owned Maine’s largest shipping fleet, and founder of the first bank and the first insurance company in Maine. He seemed like a very successful man, at least for the time until 1807. Hugh’s wife had died that year, which was the same year his shipping business had failed. It was the start of the British shipping embargo which served as a crushing defeat of his company. They eventually had to sell the house. In 1817, the house was bought by Asa Clapp for only $4,050, a significantly low price, but then was given to his oldest son, Charles Quincy Clapp. The Clapp’s had owned and lived in the house until 1877. By 1880 the house was then sold to Margaret Jane Mussey Sweat who later helped serve the house as part of the Portland Society of Art, now the Portland Museum of Art. The house was supposed to resemble the wealthy homes of Boston during the time and one can see that and it’s important that the house stays intact for that reason. The house is serving purpose; architecturally significant. Much like the items in the museum, the McLellan house as a whole serves as a work of art in itself. It serves as a picture of how architecture changed in the coming of post-Revolutionary time and it’s crucial that historical buildings such as this house, receives frequent restorations so it can survive for years to come.  

Homer Winslow's studio

 Sources: http://www.portlandmuseum.org/about/facts/mclellan.shtml

The Portland Museum of Art

On the same day I visited the Victoria Mansion, I decided to stop at the Portland Museum of Art. I stopped in a building on High Street which were offices for the Maine Historical Society, or something similar to them, I can’t remember the name, but I went in and asked if anything else was open during the time that dealt with the history of Maine. They gave me a few handouts and told me a few places. My intentions were to visit some of the places on the Underground Railroad and anti-slavery walking tour, but I saw that the McLellan House was open right across the street and that would be my final site visit so I decided to do the museum then the house instead. Unfortunately, this was my second time being in the museum, the first being with the class. It’s a really great museum. I really enjoyed the sculptures that were on display on your way to the McLellan House, and were my main focus for the site visit. Many of the sculptures were influenced by Greek and Roman art and were sculpted by Maine artists. They really caught my eye and I enjoyed the section of that museum very much. I talked to one of the employees at the front desk and helped with a lot of information that I was looking for.

 

George Washington

Historical Background:

Before talking about the sculptures, I thought I’d get into the history of the museum briefly. The Portland Museum of Art was founded in 1882. The museum is actually Maine’s largest and oldest public art institution. The museum originally started out as the Portland Society of Art in a three story mansion, which is the McLellan House which I had visited after the museum, owned by Margaret Jane Mussey Sweat. As time went out, the exhibits had continuously expanded until what it is today. It contains many great painting, photographs, sculptures, etc . along with many of Winslow Homer’s paintings and his studio, which I thought was really cool.

Ulysses S. Grant

The section that I enjoyed was located before you enter the McLellan House which contained many marble sculptures from the 19^th century. The sculptures that I enjoyed were crafted by Franklin B. Simmons. Simmons was from Portland and was a beloved figure in the city, especially for his work. Many of his sculptors were influenced by different marble art in Rome, which I really enjoyed. He had actually spent a lot of time studying and working in Italy to learn traditional carving techniques and other skills regarding sculpting but always stayed true to the city of Portland despite his love for Rome. In fact, Simmons had donated his sculptor of Ulysses S. Grant to the U.S. Capitol Building which was then donated to the Museum. Having sculptors of heroic figures was a way to show tribute to the ancient democracies of Greece and Rome. Americans viewed that ancient period as “a pinnacle of political and artistic human achievement”.  Another example of this is Simmons’s bronze statue of George Washington. Although Washington is not posed in a heroic stance, he is still one of the most historically significant figures in American history and it is import for the Museum to display this, just like every other museum. Although the Portland Museum of Art is not strictly limited to Maine art it is still an important society as it helps preserve historical items for us to learn and study.

 

 

Sculptures by Franklin B. Simmons

 Sources: Museum employee & brochure

Victoria Mansion

 I found out in class that Victoria Mansion was open for the holidays. I thought it was a perfect opportunity to go and get some of my site visits done. I went over there on December 2 in the morning, just when the site said they started doing their tours. When I arrived and went in, I noticed that they do not do the traditional tours of the mansion where you have to follow a tour guide around for a few hours. In fact, they had a tour guide set up in almost every room at the house. There are roughly 10 rooms from what I have seen. So when you wanted to move to a different room, you were free to do so and if you wanted more information about that particular room the tour guide was there to inform you. Honestly, I really liked that set up. A lot of the guides were very interesting and knowledgeable about the mansion. I was the youngest by at least 40 years, including the people visiting, which was pretty entertaining. When I went to the second floor and walked into the Turkish Smoking Room, an elderly guide was sitting there waiting to talk. I asked him a few things about the room and then the house. I asked what was on the third floor and wondered why no one was allowed. I assumed correct and in fact it was unsafe and did not meet fire safety rules in regards to public tours. I asked him where the water supply came from during the time the house was built because they had running hot and cold water, which was very rare, and he said they had a tank that collected water on the roof. Wrong question to ask. This man went on for at least 10 minutes about how he wish had that when he was growing up and how we take technology for granted nowadays, which is true, but I thought it was amusing.   

The house was amazing, to be honest. I wish I could have seen it without all the Christmas decorations. My favorite room was the library room. Very cool mansion and the tours guides were very brief but very helpful and informative, which I liked.

Historical Background:

The mansion was built between 1858 and 1860 for Ruggles Sylvester Morse. Morse was a native to central Maine but had made his money in New Orleans as a proprietor of hotels. According to one of the tour guides at the mansion, Morse had left New Orleans to move back to Maine to avoid the yellow fever. However, the information I found online was that he had moved back after an unsuccessful trip to California during the Gold Rush. I’m not too sure which is true, maybe they both are. What I found interesting was that Morse had a picture of Robert E. Lee in his library. Working down in New Orleans he must have been a southern sympathizer. I wonder, however, how he got away with having the picture of Lee up in his study. Maybe because he was rich? In fact, the house was estimated to be worth $70,00 - $100,000 during the time whereas most of the other houses around Portland were only roughly valued at $5,000. We can get a sense about how rich Morse actually was.

Library/Study

Morse died in 1893 and his widow had sold the mansion to J.R. Libby. The family had preserved the mansion all the way up to 1940 when it was threatened to be demolished and replaced with a gas station. Dr. William H. Holmes had bought the property and had saved it from destruction. Currently, the Victoria Mansion, INC., a non-profit, owns the building and maintains it. In 1970, it was considered a National Historic Landmark and rightfully so. The time period it was built, it was considered one of the most extraordinary buildings in Maine for the interior design and the exterior architecture, and today arguably. It is a very amazing mansion that preserves the vision of a luxurious life during the 19^th century and what money could buy during that time. Many things that we take for granted and many that we use today; running hot and cold water.

 Sources: Brochure & tour guides

The Abyssinian Church

On the same day that I had went over to see Bug Light, I decided to take a ride over to see the Abyssinian Church on Newbury Street. I understood that it was still in the midst of a restoration project but I thought it would still be interesting to actually see the building in person. The building stood between two apartment/house complexes and right across the street you could smell the beer that was being brewed at the Shipyard Brewing Company. It did indeed smell pretty good. The Abyssinian Church itself was in pretty bad shape. Again, I knew it was being restored but I had no idea it was that bad. The sides of the building were being completely redone and the front looked odd. There were painted black windows in the front to give it the effect that it actually had windows. Apparently, there are four phases to the restoration project and the first has yet to be completed fully. I’m glad I went to see it because I know how important this building was during the anti-slavery movement in Maine.

Historical Background:

The Abyssinian Church was built in 1829 when Reuben Ruby had purchased the land for the church to be built. He, however, was not solely the one responsible for funding the church himself. Much of the funds came from the black community of Maine. As a result, it became the first black congregation in Maine. Reuben Ruby was a hackman and an activist who would help form the Maine Anti-Slavery Society in 1834. By 1841, the anti-slavery movement in Maine had become more effective with the arrival of Reverend Amos N. Freeman who became the first full-time minister of the Abyssinian Church. During the height of the anti-slavery movement, the Abyssinian Church became the center for many Undergound Railroad and anti-slavery activities and served as a meeting place to discuss their role in what to do in these movements. It was one of the most important buildings for the Undergound Railroad and for other ant-slavery movements in Portland.

During the Great Fire of 1866 much of Portland had been burnt. The Abyssinian Church, however, was among the few buildings to survive the fire. Apparently, William Wilberforce Ruby, who was the son of Reuben Ruby, had wet down the building to insure that building would in fact survive the fire. Currently, the church is undergoing a multimillion dollar restoration project by the nonprofit organization, Committee to Restore to preserve the historical building. It is important that they do this because it is historical significant to Portland and it helps shed light on why Portland was such a pivotal city for the Underground Railroad and other anti-slavery movements in the city. Portland was a major hub for shipping activity and one of the most northern cities closest to Canada where many slaves could flee, so the activities of the anti-slavery leaders and the slaves themselves were very high. Now, the Abyssinian Church is part of the Maine Freedom Trails tour where people can see and learn about the routes many slaves took to freedom. Thanks to the Abyssinian Church and the people involved, it had helped save the lives of many of the slaves and it is crucial that this piece of history is to survive as it serves to be an important artifact of not only Maine’s historical past but our nation’s as well.

Sources: Brochure & http://www.mainehistory.org/

Portland Bug Light

On November 11, 2011 I decided to hit up the Portland Head Light lighthouse. I was already in Portland so I thought I would get in a site visit. I had never been to this particular lighthouse but I’ve heard about it and seen pictures of it. Surprisingly for me, it was actually smaller than I imagined, even after seeing the pictures. I always pictured it being a little bigger. Either way, it was pretty cool. Not many people were there, as a matter of fact, no one was at the lighthouse but only a few people walking around in the park. This visit was fairly short, given that I could not go inside the lighthouse. I’m not sure if you can go in it, even during lighthouse week. It would be pretty neat to see the inside of it.

Historical Background:

Choragic Monument of Lysicrates

I had a brochure that I had picked up when I was at the Portland Head Light that gave some information about the Portland Breakwater Light, or Bug Light, but it wasn’t a lot. I did some research and what I found out about the lighthouse wasn’t too surprising. It served its purpose much like any other lighthouse, as a beacon but I managed to find some very interesting information, for me at least. On November 1831, Portland Harbor had been hit hard from a devastating storm destroying the wharves and buildings of the surrounding area. A plan to construct a breakwater ensued and with that came a lighthouse. The first one was built in 1855 but by the early 1870s the breakwater had been extended and the first lighthouse was obsolete and had been relocated. In June 1874, Bug Light was constructed for roughly $6,000. What I found interesting was that Bug Light was modeled after the Choragic Monument of Lysicrates which was a structure built in ancient Greece (4^th century B.C.) near the Acropolis of Athens to commemorate the leader of a chorus in competitive choral dances. Bug Light stands at 24-feet tall, again, much smaller than I had anticipated and does in fact resemble the Choragic Monument very much. 

Much like the Portland Head Light, Bug Light served to illuminate the breakwater in Portland Harbor so ships could safely navigate. It was important given that Portland had highly active waters due to the shipping industries in the area. In 1985, Bug Light was donated to the Maine Historical Preservation Commission by Al Glickman when it had received $26,000 from the Lighthouse Bicentennial Fund and the South Portland and Cape Elizabeth rotary club.  Currently, it seems as though the city owns but, from what I’ve gathered, but a lot of the restoration money comes directly from this rotary along with Spring Point Ledge Light Trust as well as the U.S. Coast Guard who had installed a 250mm optic.  As South Portland Mayor William Dale had said, "This harbor is alive and well, and this lighthouse is representative of it." And this is very true. Maine has always had, and still has, a highly active shipping industry.

Sources: http://www.lighthouse.cc/portlandbreakwater