Portland Historic Resources Inventory Property
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Portland Historic Resources Inventory Property Address: 15 Avon Street Inventory#: Assessor's C/B/L: · District: Congress Street Rating: Contributing Local Code: National Register: Date of Placement: . Local 4/15/09 National Architectural Description/Historic Significance: C. 1860s This building is a modest story-and-a-half wooden transitional Greek Revival/ltalianate . gable roofed single family residence. It appears, particularly in the 1924 photo before vinyl siding obscured parts of the trim, to be a quintessential gable-end-to-the-street Greek Revival style house showing transitional Italianate style in the profusion of brackets along the eaves, door hood, and box bay window on the fa<,ade (itself an Italianate feature). The slate roof is somewhat unusual for a relatively small and modest ( house. It remains in good condition. The. 1924 tax photo shows wide comer boards with recessed center panels, now hidden by vinyl siding. Since 1924, a dormer window has been added to the south face of the roof, above the first story window toward the rear. The sash in thtJ bay window and one second story window on the front facade have been replaced with vinyl windows which have Arts and Crafts style diamond paned sash and the remaining windows have vinyl replacement windows which follow the original lite pattern. This building is in generally intact condition with vinyl siding obscuring some of the trim detail. It retains its window trim, brackets, sofits and returns. It is likely that the wood clapboard siding and comer boards are under the vinyl siding. As a very modest single family home just off Congress Street (immediately behind the eight-story brick and terracotta Trelawney Building) it is an unusual survivor of the type of structure once typical in the vicinity. The 1924 photo shows it closely surrounded by structures of a similar style and scale, now replaced with surface parking lots. Portland Historic Resources Inventory Property Address: 7 Brown Street Inventory#: Assessor's C/B/L: District: Congress Street Rating: Contributing Local Code: National Register: Date of Placement: Local 4/15/09 National Architectural Description/Historic Significance: Eastman Building C. 1904 Four story brick late Victorian commercial building. The 1924 tax photo of this building is missing, but the upper floors do not show evidence of alterations and an early photo of the storefront in the Congress Street book shows the original treatment there. The restrained Classical elements of the fa,ade document the transition toward the Beaux Arts/Classical Revival style after the turn of the century. At the storefront level three brick piers with stone bases and caps frame two asymmetrical openings. The larger opening, on the left, contained two large display windows with transoms above flanking a recessed entrance. The opening to the right contained a single display window to the right of another recessed entrance. The display windows had low bulkheads. A small stone cornice topped the iron lintels carried by the brick piers. A sign band for "Eastman Brothers and Bancroft" covered the iron lintels. On the second story level rusticated brickwork is broken by three gently arched Chicago style windows. A stronger stone cornice than at the first floor level provides a base for the four brick pilasters of the third and fourth floors, which terminate in stone capitals. In each of the three bays between the pilasters there are two double hung windows with brick keystone lintels and stone sills at each floor. In the center bay, approximately 8" below the sills of the top floor windows is a stone plaque with "Eastman" carved into it. The upper floor pilasters are topped with a double belt course and plain frieze capped with a denticulated copper cornice. All of the cornices on the fa9ade and the rusticated brickwork of the second fl9or wrap around the corners a short distance. The sidewalls contain numerous window openings with arched brick lintels, some in-filled with brick, that contain double hung windows. A two-story one bay "annex" fa9ade to the left of the building is recessed slightly from the plane of 7 Brown Street but continues the stone cornice at the top of the second floor level, and repeats the Chicago style window opening on the second floor. This small building and 15 Brown Street, to its left, are listed and described as part of 490 Congress Street and provide entrance to the upper floor residential units at 490 Congress St. The storefront of7 Brown Street has been in-filled with brick and hand-made tile with three glazed arched openings. The arches and tile suit the theme of the Mexican restaurant occupying the building but are at odds with the restrained Classical style of the fa9ade. The recessed entrance on the right has a naturally finished wood paneled wall and aluminum framed glass door with an angled drop ceiling above. A modem fixed awning covers the transom area. Exposed conduit connects under-scaled lantern style lighting fixtures which are placed awkwardly high on the brick piers. The Chicago style windows on the second floor retain their cast iron mullion piers but the central sash and flanking double hung windows have been replaced with aluminum framed fixed glazing. The remainder of the windows have 1/1 aluminum double hung windows. ( ( Portland Historic Resources Inventory Property Address: 11 Brown Street (490 Congress Street) Inventory #: Assessor's C/B/L: District: Congress Street Rating: Contributing Local Code: National Register: Date of Placement: Local 4/15/09 National Architectural Description/Historic Significance: C. 1904 This is a two-story one bay "annex" fa9ade to 7 Brown Street on the right. It is recessed slightly from the plane of7 Brown Street but continues the stone cornice at the top of the second floor level, and repeats the Chicago style window opening on the second floor. This building and 15 Brown Street, to its left, are owned with 490 Congress Street/Kimball Court and provides entrance to the upper floor residential units at 490 Congress St. The Chicago style window of the two story "annex" fa9ade has recently (2006) been filled with two wide aluminum double hung windows with an awkwardly wide panel of aluminum parring between them. The three first floor openings are tall and narrow with brick lintels. It appears that originally there was a door with transom above in the left opening and high windows in the other two openings. Projecting brick formed decorative panels below the windows. A door has been cut in below the window on the right. Doors and windows are recent. The building has recently had its parapet extended above the original copper cap The 1924 tax information shows half of this building owned with 7 Brown Street and half owned with 15 Brown Street. ( Portland Historic Resources Inventory Property Address: 15 Brown Street (490 Congress Street) Inventory#: \ Assessor's C/B/L: District: Congress Street Rating: Contributing Local Code: National Register: Date of Placement: Local 4/15/09 National Architectural Description/Historic Significance: C. )880 This building and 11 Brown Street, to its right, are owned with 490 Congress Street and provides entrance to the upper floor residential units at 490 Congress St. The 1924 photo is not available for this three story brick Victorian commercial structure. The full length iron lintel above the first floor on the fa<;ade suggests a typical storefront treatment with recessed entrance and display windows at some point in the past. The two brick piers dividing the space below the lintel are probably later additions, as are the window and door openings as they currently appear. The iron lintels on the second floor window openings appear to have been inserted to make the windows taller. The sawtooth patterning below the windows and dentil detail between the windows suggests they were originally identical to the third floor windows, with brick lintels. The brick soldier row frieze and corbelled cornice appear to be as built. The paired aluminum 2/2 double hung windows in the third floor window openings may be similar to the lost original fenestration pattern. The paired 2/2 double hung windows with a single transom above in the extended openings of the second floor windows seem unlikely to be following an earlier design. The highly reflective low-E glazing in all of the windows is at odds with the historic character of the building. The building has recently had its parapet extended above the original copper cap. ( Portland Historic Resources Inventory Property Address: 15 Casco Street (Maine Savings Building) Inventory #: Assessor's C/B/L: District: Congress Street Rating: Contributing Local Code: National Register: Date of Placement: Local 4/15/09 National Architectural Description/Historic Significance: Maine Savings Bank Building 1949 (Second floor addition 1964) This site previously had several earlier structures on it. In 1934 a one-story frame building was demolished to make way for a prefabricated metal diner. In 1941 Maine Savings Bank received permits to remove Lester Keating' s diner to outside the city limits and to demolish a 28' x 50' building on the site. The red brick and white marble Colonial Revival bank building was designed by Thomas M. James Company, Architects of Boston, MA. Along with the W.T. Grant Co. store just around the comer on Congress Street, this is one of the few Colonial Revival buildings built in downtown during the post-war period. A tall center block is flanked by lower wings which project slightly. The later second floor addition (by the same architectural firm) blends successfully with the original structure, creating the appearance of a large boxy two-story rear building enlivened at the street by the tripartite block and wings which are off-set from center on the two story block, with a slight two-story projection of the larger block on the right.