Libby's Colonial Tea Room
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Libby's Colonial Tea Room is a historic commercial building at 2713 Post Road ( United States Route 1) in
Wells, Maine Wells is a resort town in York County, Maine, United States. Founded in 1643, it is the third-oldest town in Maine. The population was 11,314 at the 2020 census. Wells Beach is a popular summer destination. History The Abenaki Indians calle ...
. Built in 1922 as a restaurant, the building is now home to the Johnson Hall Museum, a privately run museum of Americana. The building, a rare survivor in the area of automobile-related tourist accommodations from the 1920s, 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 2001.


Description and history

The Johnson Hall Museum is located on the east side of US Route 1 in northeastern Wells, opposite Harrisecket Road. A semi-circular drive provides access to the low-slung single-story building. It has a broad low-pitch roof with a cross-gable configuration, which extends over a wraparound porch supported by Tuscan columns. A porte-cochere with gable roof projects from the front. The gables of the roof have deep eaves, with large Craftsman-style brackets. The main entrance is at the center of the front facade, flanked by columns and topped by a fanlight and bracketed cornice. The interior is divided into a waiting room with offices and bathrooms to the sides, and a large dining room. Elsie Klingman Libby operated a restaurant of some sort, probably out of a 19th-century house, at this site until it was destroyed by fire in 1922. She quickly rebuilt, constructing this building to house her establishment. She operated the tea room until 1942, when declining tourism due to
World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
brought about its demise. Its guests notably included
Franklin Delano Roosevelt Franklin Delano Roosevelt (; ; January 30, 1882April 12, 1945), often referred to by his initials FDR, was an American politician and attorney who served as the 32nd president of the United States from 1933 until his death in 1945. As the ...
, who visited in 1932 while campaigning for president. The building now houses the Johnson Hall Museum but its future is uncertain. The museum's founder, William “Bill” Johnson, died in 2014, and most of the museum's contents were auctioned off in 2015.


See also

*
National Register of Historic Places listings in York County, Maine This is a list of the National Register of Historic Places listings in York County, Maine. This is intended to be a complete list of the properties and districts on the National Register of Historic Places in York County, Maine, United States. ...
The building was constructed in 1923 by Reginald J. Grant: The Howard Johnson like cupola is not original to the building and distracts from the buildings 1920's character and needs to removed. SEE: Kennebunk Star, March 30, 1923, Kennebunk and Vicinity, First Column, 8 down, for verification.


References


External links


Johnson Hall Museum web site
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