The Samuel Kidder Whiting House is a historic house at 214 Main Street (

United States Route 1 U.S. Route 1 or U.S. Highway 1 (US 1) is a major north–south United States Numbered Highway that serves the East Coast of the United States. It runs from Key West, Florida, north to Fort Kent, Maine, at the Canadian border, making i ...

) in

Ellsworth, Maine Ellsworth is a city in and the county seat of Hancock County, Maine, United States. The 2020 Census determined it had a population of 8,399. Named after United States Founding Father Oliver Ellsworth, it contains historic buildings and ...

. Built in 1871, it is one of the finest examples of the

Second Empire architecture Second Empire style, also known as the Napoleon III style, is a highly eclectic style of architecture and decorative arts, which uses elements of many different historical styles, and also made innovative use of modern materials, such as i ...

in Hancock County. Its design is attributed to

George W. Orff George W. Orff (1835-1908), was an American architect of Bangor, Maine and Minnesota.Deborah Thompson, ''Bangor, Maine, 1769-1914: An Architectural History'' (Orono: University of Maine Press, 1988) Life and career George W. Orff was born March ...

, an architect working out of Bangor. 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 1983. It now houses a financial services office.

Description and history

The Whiting House is prominently sited at the northwest corner of the junction of Main and High Streets, on the fringe of Ellsworth's central business district. This intersection is where

turns from Main Street (west of the junction) southward onto High Street, and Route 1A continues north onto Oak Street. The building is separated from the junction by Whiting Park, a small public park created early in this century on land formerly owned by Whiting. The house is a three-story wood-frame structure, with two full stories and a third under the

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 ...

. It is roughly square in shape, with a slightly projecting central

pavilion In architecture, ''pavilion'' has several meanings: * It may be a subsidiary building that is either positioned separately or as an attachment to a main building. Often it is associated with pleasure. In palaces and traditional mansions of Asia ...

in the front (south-facing) facade that is topped by a mansarded observatory. The entrance is sheltered by a flat-roof

portico A portico is a porch leading to the entrance of a building, or extended as a colonnade, with a roof structure over a walkway, supported by columns or enclosed by walls. This idea was widely used in ancient Greece and has influenced many cult ...

supported by clusters of columns, with low

balustrade A baluster is an upright support, often a vertical moulded shaft, square, or lathe-turned form found in stairways, parapets, and other architectural features. In furniture construction it is known as a spindle. Common materials used in its con ...

s to the sides. The building's corners are decorated with paneled

pilaster In classical architecture Classical architecture usually denotes architecture which is more or less consciously derived from the principles of Greek and Roman architecture of classical antiquity, or sometimes even more specifically, from the ...

s, and there is a projecting single-story bay to the east. All of the roof lines have

modillion A modillion is an ornate bracket, more horizontal in shape and less imposing than a corbel. They are often seen underneath a cornice which it helps to support. Modillions are more elaborate than dentils (literally translated as small teeth). All ...

ed eaves, and windows have decorative shallow hoods, except the first floor front windows, which have a

gable A gable is the generally triangular portion of a wall between the edges of intersecting roof pitches. The shape of the gable and how it is detailed depends on the structural system used, which reflects climate, material availability, and aesth ...

pediment Pediments are gables, usually of a triangular shape. Pediments are placed above the horizontal structure of the lintel, or entablature, if supported by columns. Pediments can contain an overdoor and are usually topped by hood moulds. A pedimen ...

above. A -story ell projects to the rear of the building. The interior of the main block retains original decorative elements, including lavish woodwork and decorative hardware. The house was commissioned by Samuel Kidder Whiting, a local dry goods merchant, in 1871, when he was just 18 years old, and it was his home until his death in 1917. Its design has been attributed to Bangor architect

; he was the only architect working in the area at the time, and the house bears some resemblance to other examples of Orff's work in Bangor. It is the largest known work of his outside Bangor. The building now houses a financial services firm.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Whiting, Samuel Kidder, House Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Second Empire architecture in Maine Houses completed in 1871 Houses in Hancock County, Maine Ellsworth, Maine National Register of Historic Places in Hancock County, Maine

Description and history

See also

References