The A. B. Butler House is an historic house at 4 Walker Street in
Portland, Maine,
United States. Built in 1868, it is a remarkably little-altered high-quality example of
Second Empire architecture, and one of two surviving designs in the city of architect
Matthew Stead
Matthew may refer to:
* Matthew (given name)
* Matthew (surname)
* ''Matthew'' (ship), the replica of the ship sailed by John Cabot in 1497
* ''Matthew'' (album), a 2000 album by rapper Kool Keith
* Matthew (elm cultivar), a cultivar of the C ...
. It was listed on the
National Register of Historic Places on May 8, 1974.
Description and history
The house is set in Portland's
West End neighborhood, just south of
Congress Street on the east side of Walker Street. It is a -story wood-framed structure, with a
mansard roof
A mansard or mansard roof (also called a French roof or curb roof) is a four-sided gambrel-style hip roof characterised by two slopes on each of its sides, with the lower slope, punctured by dormer windows, at a steeper angle than the upper. The ...
providing a full second story. The roof is finished with diamond-cut slate shingles, in bands colored beige and red. The building is finished in wooden clapboards, with corner
pilasters, and a
dentillated and paneled
entablature
An entablature (; nativization of Italian , from "in" and "table") is the superstructure of moldings and bands which lies horizontally above columns, resting on their capitals. Entablatures are major elements of classical architecture, and ...
with paired brackets below the roofline. The front facade is symmetrical, with projecting polygonal bays on either side of the entrance, and gabled dormers in the roof line with decorate scrollwork in the gable peaks. The main entrance is sheltered by a bracketed hood. A rear
ell
An ell (from Proto-Germanic *''alinō'', cognate with Latin ''ulna'') is a northwestern European unit of measurement, originally understood as a cubit (the combined length of the forearm and extended hand). The word literally means "arm", and ...
, built with sympathetic styling, houses modern amenities, while the main house interior retains original woodwork and finishes, including a remarkable set of ''
trompe-l'œil'' frescos in its central hall and stairwell.
It was built in 1868 for Albert Berry Butler, a prominent local dry goods merchant. It was designed by Matthew Stead, an architect from
New Brunswick who produced many designs in the wake of Portland's devastating
1866 fire. This house is one of only two of his local designs to survive; the other is the commercial Merchant's Exchange building.
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]
See also
* Gilmore House, another Stead design
* National Register of Historic Places listings in Portland, Maine
References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
Houses in Portland, Maine
National Register of Historic Places in Portland, Maine
Houses completed in 1868