The Riggs-Zorach House is a historic house in the Robinhood area of
Georgetown, Maine
Georgetown is a town in Sagadahoc County, Maine, United States. The population was 1,058 at the 2020 census. Home to Reid State Park, the town is part of the Portland– South Portland–Biddeford, Maine Metropolitan Statistical Area. Lo ...
. Built in the early 19th century for a local state legislator, it is a good local example of Federal/Greek Revival period architecture. It is most prominent as the home of artists
Marguerite Thompson Zorach and
William Zorach
William Zorach (February 28, 1889 – November 15, 1966) was an American sculptor, painter, printmaker, and writer. He won the Logan Medal of the arts. He is notable for being at the forefront of American artists embracing cubism, as well as for ...
in the mid-20th century. 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 1988.
Description and history
The Riggs-Zorach House stands near the end of Stone Bridge Lane in Robinhood, a hamlet in northeastern Georgetown on the banks of the
Sasanoa River
The Sasanoa River is an U.S. Geological Survey. National Hydrography Dataset high-resolution flowline dataThe National Map accessed June 22, 2011 tidal channel in the Midcoast region of Maine, connecting the Kennebec River with the Sheepscot Rive ...
. The house is set on and oriented with a view toward the water. It consists of a -story main block, to which a series of additional structures (ell, carriage barn, and barn) are connected, giving the entire structure a W shape. The main block has a combination of Federal and Greek Revival features, with narrow Federal period molding around its windows, and a Greek Revival entrance surround. The building is covered by gabled roofs, with clapboard siding and a granite foundation. The interior has Federal period wood paneling and detailing on its main staircase.
The house was built sometime in the first three decades of the 19th century by James Riggs, the son of Benjamin Riggs, who came to the area in the 1770s. The younger Riggs was a merchant who also served one term as a state legislator. The house remained in the Riggs family roughly through the end of the 19th century, and was abandoned for about 20 years. In 1923 it was purchased by
William
William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...
and
Marguerite Zorach
Marguerite Zorach (née Thompson; September 25, 1887 – June 27, 1968) was an American Fauvist painter, textile artist, and graphic designer, and was an early exponent of modernism in America. She won the 1920 Logan Medal of the Arts.
Early lif ...
. William was a
Lithuanian immigrant and sculptor, whose works, as well as those of his wife, a prominent Fauve and post-modernist painter and textiles artist, have been displayed in major American museums. The house served as the Zorachs' summer studio until his death in 1966.
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See also
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References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
National Register of Historic Places in Sagadahoc County, Maine
Federal architecture in Maine
Houses in Sagadahoc County, Maine
Georgetown, Maine