The Wheelwright Block is a historic commercial building at 34 Hammond Street in
Bangor, Maine
Bangor ( ) is a city in the U.S. state of Maine and the county seat of Penobscot County. The city proper has a population of 31,753, making it the state's 3rd-largest settlement, behind Portland (68,408) and Lewiston (37,121).
Modern Bangor ...
. Built in 1859, it occupies a central position in the city's West Market Square at the junction of Main, Broad, and Hammond Streets. It was the state's first commercial Second Empire building, and notably survived both Bangor's devastating 1911 fire, and its major urban renewal programs of the late 1960s. 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 v ...
in 1974.
Description and history
The Wheelwright Block stands at the northern end of
West Market Square, at the southeast corner of the junction of Main Street (
United States Route 202) and Hammond Street (
United States Route 2
U.S. Route 2 or U.S. Highway 2 (US 2) is an east–west U.S. Highway spanning across the northern continental United States. US 2 consists of two segments connected by various roadways in southern Canada. Unlike some routes, whi ...
). It is four-story brick building, which is roughly L-shaped due to the angled corner lot, with a flared metal mansard roof with no dormers except for a single one facing the square. The floors are set off from one another by bands of projecting brickwork, and each have slightly different window treatment, although the number and arrangement of windows is consistent on the upper floors. The ground floor had mid-20th-century plate glass store fronts at the time of the building's listing on the National Register; this treatment has since been altered to have a reconstruction of the buildings original cast iron arched window frames. The window hoods on the upper floors are all original Italianate cast iron elements, with those on the third floor particularly elaborate.
The building was designed by
Benjamin S. Deane
Benjamin S. Deane (1790–1867) was an American master builder and architect in practice in Bangor, Maine from circa 1832 to 1867.Deborah Thompson, ''Bangor, Maine, 1769-1914: An Architectural History'' (Orono: University of Maine Press, 1988)
...
, one of a handful of architects working in Maine in the first half of the 19th century, and was completed in 1859. It is believed to be the first commercial Second Empire building in the state, predating such buildings in the larger cities of
Lewiston and
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 ...
. It was built for Wheelwright & Clark, a local clothing business. The block survived Bangor's 1911 fire, which destroyed a large number of commercial buildings, and its 1968 urban renewal program, which also resulted in the demolition of a great many 19th-century commercial buildings.
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See also
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References
{{National Register of Historic Places
Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
Second Empire architecture in Maine
Buildings and structures completed in 1859
Buildings and structures in Bangor, Maine
National Register of Historic Places in Bangor, Maine
Historic district contributing properties in Maine
1859 establishments in Maine