Great Fire of 1911 Historic District
Encyclopedia
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Bangor, Maine
Bangor is a city in and the county seat of Penobscot County, Maine, United States, and the major commercial and cultural center for eastern and northern Maine...
, and has been listed on the National Register of Historic Places
National Register of Historic Places
The National Register of Historic Places is the United States government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures, and objects deemed worthy of preservation...
since 1984. It preserves Maine's most significant collection of early 20th century public and commercial buildings, and commemorates an urban re-building campaign matched only by Portland's following its own destruction by fire in 1866. The Great Fire of 1911
Great Fire of 1911
The Great Fire of 1911 took place in Bangor, Maine. A small fire that started in a Downtown shed went out of control and destroyed hundreds of commercial and residential buildings.-History:It started in the afternoon of April 30, 1911 on Broad Street...
was Maine's (and one of the nation's) last large-scale urban conflagrations, but resulted in the creation of an early 20th century urban space relatively unique in Maine or northern New England.
The district comprises 48 buildings (and three parks), most of them constructed between 1911 and 1915 in the burned area, which accounted for half of Bangor's commercial core. Stylistically, the rebuilding was mainly a showcase for the Renaissance Revival, but with elements of the Romanesque Revival, Chicago School
Chicago school (architecture)
Chicago's architecture is famous throughout the world and one style is referred to as the Chicago School. The style is also known as Commercial style. In the history of architecture, the Chicago School was a school of architects active in Chicago at the turn of the 20th century...
, Prairie Style, Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
, Classical Revival, and Colonial Revival. The designs were contributed by a number of nationally-prominent architectural firms, including Peabody and Stearns
Peabody and Stearns
Peabody & Stearns was a premier architectural firm in the Eastern United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the firm consisted of Robert Swain Peabody and John Goddard Stearns, Jr...
; Carrere and Hastings
Carrère and Hastings
Carrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère and Thomas Hastings , located in New York City, was one of the outstanding Beaux-Arts architecture firms in the United States. The partnership operated from 1885 until 1911, when Carrère was killed in an automobile accident...
; and Jardine, Kent, and Murdoch
David and John Jardine
The brothers David , John E. and George Elliott Jardine were architects of Scottish nationality, sons of a Scottish architect-builder of Whithorn, Wigtownshire; they took up American citizenship and practiced in New York City, forming "one of the more prominent, prolific and versatile...
; as well as U.S. government architect Oscar Wenderoth
Oscar Wenderoth
Oscar Wenderoth served as director of the Office of the Supervising Architect during 1913-1914. As such, his name is credited with many buildings, including many listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places....
, and local architects C. Parker Crowell, Wilfred E. Mansur
Wilfred E. Mansur
Wilfred E. Mansur was the most prominent architect in late 19th and early 20th Century Bangor, Maine. He designed many private and municipal buildings, including the Penobscot County Courthouse and at least seven schools...
, Victor Hodgins, and Frederick A. Patterson. Every building except one is of brick, though some are steel-framed, two are faced with terra-cotta, and two are completely sheathed in granite. The coloration and patterning of the brickwork is extremely varied.
Architecturally significant buildings within the Great Fire District include the:
- Bangor Public LibraryBangor Public LibraryThe Bangor Public Library is the public library serving Bangor, Maine. The library was first founded in 1830 as the Bangor Mechanic Association's private library. In 1873, several other associations' libraries combined with it to form the Bangor Mechanic Association Public Library. In 1883, former...
, 1912, Peabody and StearnsPeabody and StearnsPeabody & Stearns was a premier architectural firm in the Eastern United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the firm consisted of Robert Swain Peabody and John Goddard Stearns, Jr... - Bangor High School (now apartments), 1912, Peabody and StearnsPeabody and StearnsPeabody & Stearns was a premier architectural firm in the Eastern United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the firm consisted of Robert Swain Peabody and John Goddard Stearns, Jr...
- Morse Building (now University of MaineUniversity of MaineThe University of Maine is a public research university located in Orono, Maine, United States. The university was established in 1865 as a land grant college and is referred to as the flagship university of the University of Maine System...
art gallery), 1914–1915, Victor Hodgins - First National Bank - Bangor Hydro Electric Building, 1915, Wilfred E. MansurWilfred E. MansurWilfred E. Mansur was the most prominent architect in late 19th and early 20th Century Bangor, Maine. He designed many private and municipal buildings, including the Penobscot County Courthouse and at least seven schools...
- Exchange Building, 1913, Peabody and StearnsPeabody and StearnsPeabody & Stearns was a premier architectural firm in the Eastern United States in the late 19th century and early 20th century. Based in Boston, Massachusetts, the firm consisted of Robert Swain Peabody and John Goddard Stearns, Jr...
- Bangor Savings Bank Building, 1912, Carrere and HastingsCarrère and HastingsCarrère and Hastings, the firm of John Merven Carrère and Thomas Hastings , located in New York City, was one of the outstanding Beaux-Arts architecture firms in the United States. The partnership operated from 1885 until 1911, when Carrère was killed in an automobile accident...
- Eastern Trust Building, 1912, C. Parker Crowell
- Graham Building, 1911, Wilfred E. MansurWilfred E. MansurWilfred E. Mansur was the most prominent architect in late 19th and early 20th Century Bangor, Maine. He designed many private and municipal buildings, including the Penobscot County Courthouse and at least seven schools...
. One of the first and largest buildings constructed, commissioned by John R. Graham, President of the Bangor Hydro Electric Company, and a prime mover in the rebuilding. - Stearns Block, 1911, Wilfred E. MansurWilfred E. MansurWilfred E. Mansur was the most prominent architect in late 19th and early 20th Century Bangor, Maine. He designed many private and municipal buildings, including the Penobscot County Courthouse and at least seven schools...
- Stetson BlockCharles StetsonCharles Stetson was a United States Representative from Maine, and the eldest member of a powerful Bangor political family. He was born in New Ipswich, New Hampshire on November 2, 1801, but moved with his parents to Hampden, Maine in 1802. His father Simeon Stetson kept a store and a sawmill,...
, 1911, Wilfred E. MansurWilfred E. MansurWilfred E. Mansur was the most prominent architect in late 19th and early 20th Century Bangor, Maine. He designed many private and municipal buildings, including the Penobscot County Courthouse and at least seven schools... - Bangor Post Office (now City Hall), 1914–1915, Oscar WenderothOscar WenderothOscar Wenderoth served as director of the Office of the Supervising Architect during 1913-1914. As such, his name is credited with many buildings, including many listed on the U.S. National Register of Historic Places....
Three of the district's architecturally-significant buildings were constructed somewhat later, in the 1920s and 1930s, most prominently the Bangor Telephone Exchange (1931), designed in Art Deco
Art Deco
Art deco , or deco, is an eclectic artistic and design style that began in Paris in the 1920s and flourished internationally throughout the 1930s, into the World War II era. The style influenced all areas of design, including architecture and interior design, industrial design, fashion and...
style in 1931 by the Boston architectural firm of Densmore, LeClear, and Robbins
Densmore and LeClear
Densmore and LeClear was an architecture firm based in Boston, active from 1897 through 1942.The founding principals were Edward Dana Densmore and Gifford LeClear in 1897, organizing as an engineering firm. Both were engineering graduates of Harvard University, and LeClear returned to Harvard as...
, and the most prominent example of that style in Maine. A few other important buildings within the district actually pre-date the fire, including the Tarratine Club (1907) by Parker, Thomas, and Rice
J. Harleston Parker
J. Harleston Parker was an American architect active in Boston, Massachusetts.Parker was born in Boston, graduated from Harvard University in 1893, then studied architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and, after a further four years at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, took his...
of Boston, and the Nichols Block
Nichols Block
The Nichols Block is a prominent Romanesque Revival style commercial building in downtown Bangor, Maine. Designed by local architect Wilfred E. Mansur, it is listed on the National Register of Historic Places as part of the Great Fire of 1911 Historic District. The building is one of few in the...
(1892) by Wilfred Mansur of Bangor.
The district also includes three parks:
- Norumbega Mall (laid out 1933, on site of the burned Norumbega HallNorumbegaNorumbega was a legendary settlement in northeastern North America, inextricably connected with attempts to demonstrate Viking incursions in New England...
- Kenduskeag Mall (1912), Warren H. ManningWarren H. ManningWarren Henry Manning was an influential American landscape designer and promoter of the informal and naturalistic “wild garden” approach to garden design...
, which includes a bronze statue of Hannibal HamlinHannibal HamlinHannibal Hamlin was the 15th Vice President of the United States , serving under President Abraham Lincoln during the American Civil War... - Pierce Park (1912), which includes a bronze statue of river drivers