The John D. Clifford House is a historic house in

Lewiston, Maine Lewiston (; ; officially the City of Lewiston, Maine) is List of cities in Maine, the second largest city in Maine and the most central city in Androscoggin County, Maine, Androscoggin County. The city lies halfway between Augusta, Maine, August ...

. Built in 1926, it is one of a modest number of examples statewide of Mediterranean Revival, and the only one known to have been built as a year-round residence. The building features an eclectic mix of styles, and has a builtin garage, also a rarity for the period. The house 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 1987.

Description and history

The Clifford House is set on the north side of Ware Street, in a small residential area between Main Street ( United States Route 202) and the Bates College campus, north of downtown Lewiston. It is a -story, constructed of Italian tile blocks and finished on the exterior in stucco. Its massing and broad hipped roof are suggestive of the

Prairie School Prairie School is a late 19th- and early 20th-century architectural style, most common in the Midwestern United States. The style is usually marked by horizontal lines, flat or hipped roofs with broad overhanging eaves, windows grouped in ...

, but it has French wrought iron railings across the second-floor porch, arched window openings reminiscent of the

Art Deco Art Deco, short for the French ''Arts Décoratifs'', and sometimes just called Deco, is a style of visual arts, architecture, and product design, that first appeared in France in the 1910s (just before World War I), and flourished in the Unite ...

style, and modern steel casement windows. Its front door is set in a projecting vestibule section, and the door itself has a round-arch top in which is set a circular window. The house is set on a sloping lot with an exposed basement, which houses a garage (original to the design). The house was designed by the local firm of Gibbs & Pulsifer, and was built in 1926. It is the only known example in the state of a Mediterranean Revival house built for year-round occupancy; all of the others were built along the state's coast for summer residents, and most were designed by out-of-state architects. John D. Clifford, Jr., for whom it was built, was an attorney who served briefly in the state legislature and as United States District Attorney, and was active in organizing the state's Democratic Party. He was judge of the Federal District Court for the District of Maine from 1947 until his death in 1956.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Houses in Lewiston, Maine Houses completed in 1926 National Register of Historic Places in Lewiston, Maine