The Ward Hinckley House is a historic house in

Blue Hill, Maine Blue Hill is a town in Hancock County, Maine, United States. The population was 2,792 at the 2020 census. It is home to the Blue Hill Public Library, Blue Hill Memorial Hospital, George Stevens Academy, the Blue Hill Harbor School, The Bay Sch ...

. Built in 1916 for Otis Ward Hinckley, a

Chicago (''City in a Garden''); I Will , image_map = , map_caption = Interactive Map of Chicago , coordinates = , coordinates_footnotes = , subdivision_type = Country , subdivision_name ...

businessman with roots in Blue Hill, it is one of only two documented examples of the Prairie School of architecture in the state of

Maine Maine () is a state in the New England and Northeastern regions of the United States. It borders New Hampshire to the west, the Gulf of Maine to the southeast, and the Canadian provinces of New Brunswick and Quebec to the northeast and ...

. It 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 ...

in 1974.

Description and history

The Hinckley House is set on the coast of Blue Hill Harbor, an inlet of the Mount Desert Narrows, the body of water separating Blue Hill from

Mount Desert Island Mount Desert Island (MDI; french: Île des Monts Déserts) in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of it is the 52nd-largest island in the United States, the sixth-largest island in the contiguous ...

. It is a two-story building with a hip roof that has extended eaves, and a long single-story projecting section on one side. It has groups of diamond-paned windows and a stuccoed exterior. The house was built in 1916 for Otis Ward Hinckley, a Chicago businessman who was part owner of the Hinckley & Schmitt bottling company, and whose ancestors included Blue Hill native Rev. Jonathan Fisher. Hinckley was said to be aware of

Frank Lloyd Wright Frank Lloyd Wright (June 8, 1867 – April 9, 1959) was an American architect, designer, writer, and educator. He designed more than 1,000 structures over a creative period of 70 years. Wright played a key role in the architectural movements o ...

's design work, and sought his services to design the house, but balked at Wright's price. Instead he hired his nephew Wallace Hinckley, who created this design based on Wright's

Willits House The Ward W. Willits House is a building designed by architect Frank Lloyd Wright. Designed in 1901, the Willits house is considered one of the first of the great Prairie School houses. Built in the Chicago suburb of Highland Park, Illinois, th ...

in Highland Park, Illinois. The house remains in private ownership.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hinckley, Ward, House Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Prairie School architecture in Maine Houses completed in 1916 Houses in Hancock County, Maine National Register of Historic Places in Hancock County, Maine

Description and history

See also

References