The Charles A. Jordan House is a historic house at 63 Academy Street in

Auburn, Maine Auburn is a city in south-central Maine within the United States. The city serves as the county seat of Androscoggin County. The population was 24,061 at the 2020 census. Auburn and its sister city Lewiston are known locally as the Twin Cities ...

. Built c. 1880, it is one of the finest examples of

Second Empire style 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 the state. Charles Jordan was a local master builder, who built this house as a residence and as a showcase of his work. 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 ...

in 1974.

Description and history

The Jordan House is set on the southern fringe of what has long been a fashionable neighborhood of Auburn, just south of its central business district. It is a three-story wood-frame structure, with a mansard roof over the third floor, clapboard siding, and a granite foundation. The main facade faces south, and is three bays wide, with a central projecting bay that rises a full three stories with a mansard roof top. The house has a wealth of exterior decorative woodwork, including an elaborately-decorated porch across the front. The main roof and porch

cornices In architecture, a cornice (from the Italian ''cornice'' meaning "ledge") is generally any horizontal decorative moulding that crowns a building or furniture element—for example, the cornice over a door or window, around the top edge of a ...

are both detailed with brackets, and the window surrounds also feature projecting cornices with small brackets. The corners of the building are quoined on the first floor, and then

pilaster In classical architecture, a pilaster is an architectural element used to give the appearance of a supporting column and to articulate an extent of wall, with only an ornamental function. It consists of a flat surface raised from the main wal ...

ed to the roof line. The tower features an elaborately-hooded window in the third floor, with arched cornices on each side above, and

dormer window A dormer is a roofed structure, often containing a window, that projects vertically beyond the plane of a pitched roof. A dormer window (also called ''dormer'') is a form of roof window. Dormers are commonly used to increase the usable spac ...

s in the steeply sloping mansard roof. Charles A. Jordan was a local master builder, born in 1856, and this house was apparently built c. 1880 as proof of his skill as a builder. Jordan most prominent local buildings included a school building, the Avon Mill, and many local residences. On September 30, 2018, the house was severely damaged by a fire. The next day, police charged a local man with arson in connection with the fire. Despite initial reports that the house had been "destroyed," firefighters put out the fire before it could consume the entire house. The Lebrun family, owners of the house since 1945, made immediate investments to stabilize the structure and hold up the roof, but the house remains in dire condition. In 2019, Maine Preservation added the house to its list of Maine's Most Endangered Historic Places, writing that "considerable and timely restoration efforts must be made to halt further deterioration, and to make the building habitable."

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Houses completed in 1880 Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Houses in Auburn, Maine National Register of Historic Places in Androscoggin County, Maine Second Empire architecture in Maine

Description and history

See also

References