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A Walking Tour Of Historic Main Street
This tour describes some of the historic buildings and sites along
a 1/2 mile section of Main Street, Saco. The tour may be begun
from the parking lot of the Dyer Library on the northern part of
Main Street, or from Saco Island on lower Main Street. After a
tour of Main Street, a return walk down Middle Street to the east
or Elm Street to the west will reveal more of the historic diversity
of Saco. Parking is available at the Dyer Library, 371 Main
Street, or at the City lot adjacent to the railroad tracks on Saco
Island. The tour was prepared for the City of Saco by Thomas
Hardiman, curator of the York Institute Museum.
1. James Fenderson House, 1914
384 Main Street
A jeweler and Saco mayor, James Fenderson purchased this
unusual California bungalow as a pre-cut kit from Sears Roebuck
& Co. It is listed in the Sears catalog as "Modern Home # 124."
This is the best documented kit house in Saco and a good
example of the bungalow style.
2. Solomon Coit House, c. 1785
380 Main Street
The Coit house is the best surviving example of a late Georgian
mansion in Saco. It is the work of masterbuilder William
Pepperrell Moody, and is notable for its slightly asymmetrical
facade and elaborate triangular pediments over the windows.
Historian George Folsom described Captain Coit as an "eminent
shipmaster," whose ships carried New England merchandise to
Europe and around the Horn to China.
3. York Institute Museum, 1926
375 Main Street
John Calvin Stevens of Portland designed this Colonial Revival
museum in 1926. The brick walls are laid in Flemish bond and
there is stone trim at the water table, window sills and arches, and
door surround. These textural details and the stepped exterior
chimneys give the building the appearance of a Southern Colonial
mansion. The Institute houses one of the oldest and most
interesting collections in Maine.
4. Elizabeth and Henry B.C. Green House, 1827
374 Main Street
The Green house exhibits many typical features of a Saco Valley
house of the Federal Period: the chimneys are built against the
end walls, the gable roof has no overhang at the eaves, and a
shallow molded cornice runs across the facade. The entrance has
a glazed transom and sidelights, and the Tuscan pilasters of the
surround have an exaggerated swell in the center known as
entasis.
5. Joseph G. Deering House, 1869
371 Main Street
Saco lumber baron Joseph Deering purchased a local brickyard to
supply the pressed brick for his new Italianate mansion. The
house features a 3-bay facade and an open gable in the roof.
There are limestone window and door frames, heavy wood
balustrades, and an intricate cornice with shaped dentils and
modillion blocks. This house is on the National Register of
Historic Places.
6. Jonas C. Tibbets House, 1860
365 Main Street
In contrast to the Deering house, this wood framed Italianate
house features a hipped roof with broadly projecting eaves
supported on paired scrolled brackets. Similar brackets adorn the
glazed belvedere in the center of the roof.
7. 1st Parish Congregational Church, 1862
12 Beach Street
The distinctive steeple of this Italianate and Romanesque church
has served as a marker for Saco's principal cross-roads for a
century and a half. The architect was John Stevens of Boston and
the contractor was Thomas Hill of Saco. The flush board siding,
corner buttresses and heavy window hoods imitate features of
masonry construction in less expensive Maine pine. This well-
preserved church is on the National Register of Historic Places.
8. York Manufacturing Company Agent's House, 1889
350 Main Street
This outstanding Colonial Revival house was built by the York
Manufacturing Co. to house Franklin Nourse, the first mill agent
to live outside the mill-yard. The architect, Horace Wadlin,
embellished his design with fluted pilaster cornerboards, molded
window caps, and roof dormers.
9. Emma Hall House, 1892
342 Main Street
The Hall house is the best example of a Queen Anne style
residence in the Historic District. It features an asymmetrical
plan and corner tower, a complex roofline, a multi-story porch
with decorative spindlework, and varied siding materials. Locally,
this house is associated with Ruth Olive Roberts, who taught
music to countless children in the grand double-parlor.
10. Thornton Hall, 1801
331 Main Street
This sleek, square, three-story hip roofed mansion demonstrates
the restrained elegance of the Adamesque style. The design is
attributed to builder/architect Bradbury Johnson, who came to
Saco in 1801 to present a handsome design for the town's new
meetinghouse. The owner, Joseph Leland, was a wealthy lumber
merchant who supplied much of the timber for the meetinghouse.
For many years this was the home of Sarah Fairfield Hamilton
(1831 - 1909), a leader in the women's suffrage movement and
other progressive social issues.
11. Dr. Jeremiah Mason House, 1856
319 Main Street
Built for dentist Jeremiah Mason, this is a good example of a brick
Greek Revival residence. It has a 3-bay facade with a side hall
plan and the principal entrance on the gable end. The heavy brick
entablature is similar to those on the mills being erected at the
same time.
12. James Curtis House, 1827
312 Main Street
Now adapted to commercial use, this 3-bay "half house" was
originally the residence of James Curtis, who ran a distillery on
the site. The house features flush roof eaves, a shallow wooden
cornice, tall end chimneys, and flared granite window caps. The
heavy Doric porch was added later in the 19th century.
13. Daniel Page House, c. 1800
311 Main Street
This 5-bay Federal Period cape is notable as being the first house
built on the east side of Main Street between Pepperell Square
and Beach Street. The property belonged to loyalist William
Pepperrell Sparhawk, whose holdings were seized by the State
during the Revolution. The Pepperrell lands were divided into
house lots and sold at auction in 1798-99.
14. Old Dyer Library, 1893
308 Main Street
The former home of the Dyer Library was designed by Boston
architect Horace G. Wadlin, and features Colonial Revival
elements such as broken scroll pedimented dormers and banks of
arch-topped windows. Horace Wadlin was a cousin of Saco
philanthropist Cornelius Sweetser, whose generous bequests to
public institutions like Thornton Academy, Pepperell Park, Laurel
Hill cemetery, and Dyer Library resulted in a boon for Wadlin's
architectural practice. Wadlin later became the librarian at
Boston Public Library.
15. Saco City Hall, 1855
300 Main Street
Saco Town Hall was erected in 1855 despite public outcry over
the expense of its construction. It was designed by local builder
Thomas Hill in an eclectic expression of the Greek Revival,
Italianate, and Gothic Revival styles. The ground floor housed
offices and fire barns, while the main floor contained a large
public hall. In 1880, an elegant clock tower designed by Francis
Fassett of Portland replaced the original central cupola. Interior
renovations of the first floor were carried out in 1989 and the
upper floors were renovated in 1995. A series of patriotic
portraits painted by Saco artist Charles Henry Granger in the
1860's adorn the walls of the auditorium, which is open to the
public. City Hall is on the National Register of Historic Places.
16. Mutual Theatre, 1927
268 Main Street
This is a rare example of an early modern commercial block in
Saco. Designed as a combination insurance office and motion
picture theater, the Mutual block has the horizontal, rectilinear
massing and geometrical ornament of the Arts and Crafts Style. It
is an interesting attraction in the melange of architectural styles
on Main Street, complimented by the new Most Holy Trinity
Church across Main Street.
17. Cyrus King House, 1807
255 Main Street
Perched atop a fully articulated basement story, this Federal
Period mansion is unusual for being sited so far back on its lot
and facing away from the street. Built for Congressman Cyrus
King, this refined Adamesque house was remodelled in the late
19th century for industrialist and inventor Horace Woodman.
Since 1916 it has been the rectory for Most Holy Trinity Church.
18. Masonic Block, 1907
252 Main Street
This gargantuan Renaissance Revival block dominates the
commercial center of Saco. The block features multi-story
windows with arched tops and trefoil tracery as well as decorative
metal roof cresting. This is the only commercial block in Saco
which actually covers the whole width of a city block. It was
designed by Penn Varney of Lynn, MA. It is notable for retaining
two of its original occupants: Saco and Biddeford Savings
Institution and the Masonic Lodge.
19. Tristram Hooper Store, 1824
237 Main Street
The Hooper store is one of three Federal Period commercial
buildings in this section of Main Street, along with the Abel
Hersey shop (c.1814, 228 Main St.) and the Manufacturer's Bank
(1825, 224 Main St.). The Hooper store is notable for having a
brick facade with flared granite lintels, while the main body of the
building is stone rubble. A date stone in the gable end reads
"Built 1824."
20. Saco House, 1837
209 Main Street
Originally built as a hotel and stage coach terminal, the Saco
House is one of the few early Greek Revival hotels to survive in
the state. The old hostelry was gutted by fire in 1912, but the
unique facade, with its giant Ionic pilasters spanning the top two
floors and floating over the curved ends of the ground floor, was
saved. It has been home to Atkinson's Furniture for more than 75
years.
21. Central Hall Block, 1828
206 Main Street
Central Hall is one of the earliest Greek Revival blocks in Maine,
built of brick with an elegant post and lintel facade of dressed
granite. The rhythm of the two-story granite facade is continued
onto the neighboring Deering block (190 Main St., c. 1845).
Together, these two blocks give a good impression of the style and
sophistication of Saco's commercial district 150 years ago.
22. William Pike Block, 1869
199 Main Street
This large Victorian commercial block was originally two stories
tall with a mansard roof, like the wooden block next door. In
1896, the Odd Fellows hired John Calvin Stevens to remodel the
block as their lodge hall. The intricate diaper patter brick work
and terra cotta panels were added by Stevens.
23. York National Bank, 1896
180 Main Street
Built on the site of an 18th century stockade, Brown's Garrison,
the York Bank block has been used as a site for banking since
1833. The northern three bays of this block contain part of the
original 1833 York Bank. In 1896, it was remodelled by John
Calvin Stevens in the Colonial Revival style with buff brick and
terra cotta Ionic pilasters on the second story. In the 1920s the
block was greatly enlarged by repeating the original design to the
south.
24. Pepperell Square
Originally known as the Haymarket, Pepperell Square has been
the commercial heart of Saco since the 18th century. Ideally
located between the mills above the falls and the wharves below
the falls, the square was the site of the Customs House when Saco
was a thriving seaport. Two well-preserved commercial blocks,
Deering & Lowell's block (1857, 6-10 Pepperell Square, and
Gilpatrick's block (1846, Common St.) give some idea of the
appearance of the square in its heyday.
25. William Deering Block, 1894
163 Main Street
A symbol of the prosperity of the 1890's, the William Deering
block exhibits a variety of patterns and textures in its three stories
of pressed brick. The top floor features Romanesque arches over
the windows and a diaper pattern frieze picked out in yellow
brick.
26. Berry Block, 1869
152 Main Street
Originally a Greek Revival block of stores, Berry's block was built
by local contractors Augustus Scamman and David Bacon Hill in
typical fashion, with plain brick walls and horizontal granite
lintels. In the 1890s the roof was raised, arched windows put in
the third floor, and cast iron columns added to the shopfronts.
The Italianate Sweetser block (1874) next door also shows the
type of substantial Victorian commercial blocks which linked
downtown Saco with the mill district's industrial, commercial, and
residential complex on Saco Island.
27. Saco Island, Biddeford/Saco Mill District
Saco Island was the heart of Saco's industrial development in the
nineteenth and early twentieth centuries. For a more detailed
history of industry in Saco see
Factory Island Mill District
elsewhere on this site.
