Union Hall is the town hall of
Searsport, Maine
Searsport is an incorporated town and deep water seaport located at the confluence of the Penobscot River estuary and the Penobscot Bay immediately NW of Sears Island and Cape Jellison in Waldo County, Maine, United States. The population was 2, ...
. It is located at 3 Reservoir Street in the town center. Built in 1863, it is a remarkably sophisticated example of Italianate architecture for a relatively small town, and 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 1986 for its architecture.
Description and history
Union Hall is located in the village center of Searsport, on the east side of Reservoir Street a short way north of
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 ...
. It is a 2-1/2 story wood frame structure, with a gabled roof and clapboard siding. The ground floor is relatively low, housing town offices, while the upper level is tall, housing the auditorium space. The building has quoined corners, bracketed eaves, and entrances on the short ends that are flanked by pilasters. Ground floor windows are rectangular sash, while the upper floor windows are mainly very tall round-arch windows. On the ends there are paired segmented-arch windows in the gables. The building originally had a cupola. Its interior has modest but high quality woodwork, most of it original.
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two accompanying photos from 1985
The hall was designed by
Portland
Portland most commonly refers to:
* Portland, Oregon, the largest city in the state of Oregon, in the Pacific Northwest region of the United States
* Portland, Maine, the largest city in the state of Maine, in the New England region of the northeas ...
architect
George M. Harding
George Milford Harding (1827–1910) was an American architect who practiced in nineteenth-century Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Maine.
Life and career
Harding was born in 1827 in Chatham, Massachusetts. At the age of 17 he began his st ...
, and was built in 1863, at the height of the
American Civil War
The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
. It is one of Maine's more imposing small-town town halls. In addition to the loss of the cupola, other minor alterations include the loss of a balcony on one end, and the provision of a fire escape door on the western end.
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See also
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References
{{National Register of Historic Places
City and town halls on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
Italianate architecture in Maine
Buildings and structures completed in 1863
Searsport, Maine
Buildings and structures in Waldo County, Maine
Town halls in Maine
National Register of Historic Places in Waldo County, Maine