The Time and Temperature Building, originally known as the Chapman Building, and officially 477 Congress Street, is a 14-story office building in downtown

Portland, Maine Portland is the largest city in the U.S. state of Maine and the seat of Cumberland County. Portland's population was 68,408 in April 2020. The Greater Portland metropolitan area is home to over half a million people, the 104th-largest metropo ...

. The building is named after a large three-sided four-element eggcrate display screen on the roof that flashes the local

time and temperature A speaking clock or talking clock is a live or recorded human voice service, usually accessed by telephone, that gives the correct time. The first telephone speaking clock service was introduced in France, in association with the Paris Observ ...

. It was built in 1924 as a 12-story building, with Maine's first indoor shopping center on its ground floor. It sits next to the 10-story Fidelity Trust Building; until the 1970s, these buildings were Portland's only skyscrapers. The building, one of Portland's tallest, is visible from miles away, including from Peaks Island across the harbor, and it has become a landmark to Portlanders who depend on it for the sign's time and temperature, but also to find their way into Portland.

Time and temperature sign

The time-and-temperature sign was added to the building in 1964. In the 1970s, the Portland Savings Bank ran a summertime competition to guess when the sign would first register a temperature of . Maine law prohibits flashing messages on signs visible from state highways, but in 1991, the

Maine Legislature The Maine Legislature is the state legislature of the U.S. state of Maine. It is a bicameral body composed of the lower house Maine House of Representatives and the upper house Maine Senate. The Legislature convenes at the State House in Augus ...

passed a

grandfather clause A grandfather clause, also known as grandfather policy, grandfathering, or grandfathered in, is a provision in which an old rule continues to apply to some existing situations while a new rule will apply to all future cases. Those exempt from t ...

exemption to allow the Time and Temperature building to use advertising to cover operating costs. A new sign was installed in 1999, which as well as the time and temperature, broadcasts messages consisting of two lines, each with four characters. Advertising messages have included "WMTW NEWS", from television station WMTW-TV, whose studios were located in the building from 1999 until 2015, and "CALL JOE", from advertising lawyer Joe Bornstein. When a snowstorm is severe enough to result in a

snow emergency A snow emergency is the active response plan when a snow storm severely impacts a city, county or town in the United States or Canada. Schools, universities, government offices, airports and public buildings may close during a snow emergency to pre ...

, the sign flashes the words "PARK BAN", to remind people not to park on the street. In 2010, when a malfunction resulted in the sign going dark, around 60 concerned people contacted the building's owners to let them know.

History

The Chapman Building was designed by local architect Herbert W. Rhodes, who also designed the nearby hotel The Eastland. In 1964, Casco Bank, the owner of the building, added two stories, and installed a flashing time-and-temperature sign on the roof. The addition was incongruent with the original style of the building, but a major renovation in the 1980s more naturally integrated it into the lower floors. In 1995, millionaire philanthropist Elizabeth Noyce's

Libra Foundation The Libra Foundation is among the largest charitable organizations in the state of Maine. Major projects include Pineland Farms, the Maine Winter Sports Center, and The MaineHealth Raising Readers program. The October Corporation is an affiliate ...

purchased the building. Renovations were completed in 1996, and a new time-and-temperature sign was installed on the roof in 1999. In 2003, the Libra Foundation sold the building to 477 Congress LLC, a subsidiary of Kalmon Dolgin Affiliates. By 2016, occupancy had dropped to 60%, as lack of maintenance had caused tenants to vacate the building. The building was taken into foreclosure by

Wells Fargo Wells Fargo & Company is an American multinational financial services company with corporate headquarters in San Francisco, California; operational headquarters in Manhattan; and managerial offices throughout the United States and intern ...

on May 11, 2016. Building ownership passed to CW Capital Asset Management, a loan servicing company. An inspection in November 2017 by the Portland Fire Department found 19 fire-safety violations. The building was sold at auction for $9.3 million in October 2018 to TT Maine Venture. In 2023, a planned conversion of the building into a hotel was put on hold due to labor shortages.

References

{{reflist Office buildings completed in 1924 Office buildings in Portland, Maine Skyscraper office buildings in Maine 1924 establishments in Maine