The Isabel and Chester Greenwood House is an historic house at 112 Hill Street in

Farmington, Maine Farmington is a town in and the county seat of Franklin County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population was 7,592. Farmington is home to the University of Maine at Farmington, Nordica Memorial Auditorium, the Nordica Homestea ...

. Built in 1896, it is an architecturally distinctive sophisticated Queen Anne Victorian. It is also notable as the home of

Chester Greenwood Chester Greenwood (4 December 1858 – 5 July 1937) was an American engineer and inventor, known for inventing the earmuffs in 1873. He reportedly came up with the idea while ice skating and he asked his grandmother to sew tufts of fur between lo ...

, who invented the

earmuff Earmuffs are clothing accessories or personal protective equipment designed to cover a person's ears for hearing protection or warmth. They consist of a thermoplastic or metal head-band that fits over the top or back of the head, and a cushion o ...

. It was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the United States federal government's official list of districts, sites, buildings, structures and objects deemed worthy of preservation for their historical significance or "great artistic v ...

in 1978.

Description and history

The Greenwood House is a -story wood-frame structure, set on a wooded knoll between

Maine State Route 27 State Route 27 (abbreviated SR 27) is part of Maine's system of numbered state highways, running from the village of Newagen in Southport at SR 238 to the Coburn Gore-Woburn Border Crossing, where it continues into Quebec as Route 161. SR ...

and the Sandy River, south of downtown Farmington. The house as asymmetrical massing typical of the Queen Anne period, its most prominent feature being a three-story octagonal tower topped by a bellcast pyramidal roof. The lower levels of the tower have rectangular sash windows, while the third level has arched windows, a detail repeated in a large half-story gable project from the hip roof to the left of the tower. A single-story porch wraps around to the right of the tower, supported by turned posts. There is delicate sawn woodwork in a frieze band below the main roof, and in the front-facing gable. The interior of the building also features ornate woodwork characteristic of the period.

(1858-1937), is locally famous as the inventor of the

, which were manufactured at a local factory and shipped across the colder parts of North America. Greenwood invented the earmuff at age 15, obtained a patent for it in 1877. He engaged in many other business endeavours in Farmingtion, including establishing its first telephone exchange (with equipment he manufactured), a bicycle factory, and a machine shop. His factory building still stands in Farmington on Front Street, as does the Greenwood Block in Main Street.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Greenwood, Chester, House Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Houses in Franklin County, Maine Houses completed in 1896 Farmington, Maine National Register of Historic Places in Franklin County, Maine Queen Anne architecture in Maine

Description and history

See also

References