Curtis Memorial Library, Brunswick Maine

NAME:Curtis Memorial Library
INSTITUTION: Brunswick, Maine Library
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION
: original 1904, additions, 1973, 1999
STYLE: Original- Brick functional, 1973 addition-Modern, 1999 addition-municipal
HISTORICAL SUMMARY
According to the Curtis Library webpage the Curtis Library was almost a Carnegie Library. Other Maine communities such as Freeport, Auburn, Lewiston, Fort Fairfield and Rockland had already built libraries with Carnegie Foundation funding. However, in the case of Brunswick a wealthy New York lawyer, Bowdoin graduate and Brunswick native by the name of William J. Curtis intervened and asked Carnegie to withdraw funding as he had always “cherished the idea of presenting to his native town a library building as a tribute to his father’s memory.” Carnegie responded in kind-

40 Wall Street
New York City
January 20, 1903
Dear Mr. Curtis:
I get many letters, bud do not remember one which has given me more pleasure to receive than yours this morning. Of course I withdraw; I would not rob you of that chief blessing for the world. Will you please tell the authorities this.
Make your announcement and become a happy man all your days. I am so happy for your letter, and shake you by the hand. Always
Very truly yours,
Andrew Carnegie

The original library was completed in 1904 and sits on the intersection of Middle and Pleasant Streets. The building of brick and granite trim was designed by a Boston architect and constructed entirely by local's from Brunswick.
By 1973 a modern addition had been added so as to keep up with a tripling of the local population. The addition was of a basic functional modernist style and extended far behind the original structure.

<- Photo 1973 Addition




The entrance thus moved from the main building on Pleasant St.-
<- photo view of 1904 Building from Pleasant St




to its current position behind the main building on Middle street-

<- Photo/Current entrance on middle street, showing 1999 Addition)

The result was that the original 1904 structure saw very little use, and served more as an empty facade. The new addition was approved in 1996 when it was decided that the population had again outgrown its confines. It was decided by the architects, Amsler, Woodhouse and MacLean of Boston, to tear down the 1973 addition in order to add a second level. The 1999 addition was built with further regard for the original 1904 building and incorporated it into the floor plan as a quiet reading room.

COMMENTS
My initial reaction to the Curtis Library was confusion. I have to admit that it took over a year of living in the Brunswick area to actually find the entrance though I had driven past it hundreds of times on my way home from Portland on Pleasant St. The reason is that the only portion of the library that is visible from Pleasant St. is the old 1904 entrance, which at first glance looks like an underfunded High School. A closer look, however reveals intricate craftmanship on the brick and granite work.

<- photo closeup of main entrance

Once I finally figured out that the actual entrance is on the seldom traveled Middle Street I was actually somewhat impressed by the respect to the original structure that the much larger, modern addition showed. Most additions to older civic structures tend to stick to glass-box modernism in an effort to highlight the original's beauty in a new context. In fact the National Park Service mandates that all new structures on NPS land (visitor centers, observatories etc...) follow a strict modernist design so as to draw a clear line between "modern" and "historic". The 1999 addition doesn't follow this pattern but rather mimics the brickwork and granite design while adding some modern flourishes.






The interior is also impressive. It seems quite large for a town the size of Brunswick at first, but one quickly notices the level of traffic is quite high even for such a large building. The first level is the busiest with the circulation desk, media collections, and free internet connections. The main staircase to the second floor is the most striking interior feature as the architects wrapped the connector to the 1904 building with a brilliant skylight in a fashion that maintains the autonomy of the original structure as a quiet holdout from another era.

<- photo/ 1904 Building seen from second floor of addition

The original structure houses the "quiet" reading rooms, complete with leather upholstery, ships-in-bottles, and paintings of local dignitaries and Clipper Ships. The difference in atmosphere between the old structure and the new is striking. Indeed, the patronage of these spaces reflects the atmospheric symbolism as the main floor tends to be patronized by teenagers, and a more boisterous set while the old building attracts an older, retired set who prefer the newspaper to the internet. It will be interesting to note if other libraries, many of which have additions to their original structures, maintain a similar generational dichotomy!

Special Thanks to Michael Heath of the Curtis Memorial Library
For more info on the history of the library check out A History of the Public Library in Brunswick, Maine by Louise R. Helmreich

Pejepscot Historical Society, Brunswick Maine

NAME: Skolfield- Whittier House
INSTITUTION:Pejepscot Historical Society
LOCATION: Brunswick, Maine
DATE OF CONSTRUCTION:1858-1862
STYLE: Italiante
HISTORICAL SUMMARY:
The Pejepscot Historical Society serves the towns of Topsham, Brunswick and Harpswell. The Skolfield-Whittier house is named for the two brothers Alfred and Samuel Skolfield who built the house on property owned by the family patriarch, George Skolfield on 161 Park Row in Brunswick Maine. The society website contains this passage about the patriarch-
"The patriarch of the family, George Skolfield was an expert ship builder. His primary yard was located four miles outside of Brunswick on Harpswell Sound. He oversaw the construction of sixty freighting ships in his lifetime, all of which had the reputation of being "safe, slow, and sound". By the mid nineteenth century, Master George was one of the wealthiest men in Maine. Along with building ships, he wished to build the reputation of his sons. To that end, he purchased land on Park Row, across from the Brunswick Green. This was the area of town where the social elite lived. He built an enclave of Skolfield homes at the geographic center of Brunswick's high society."
Don't just take it from me... ask them yourself! According to the PHS website "The Skolfields and Whittiers are at home from June through October. Group tours may be booked in advance by calling 207-729-6606. (Student tours are also available in May.) Individual and family tickets may be purchased directly at the Pejepscot Historical Society, 159 Park Row, Brunswick Maine, Tuesday-Saturday."
COMMENTS: The most striking feature of the Skolfield-Whittier house is the rooftop tower that immediately brings to mind the
widows walk A common feature added to coastal homes of shipcaptains, and so named for the pacing of the widows as they wait for their ghost husbands to return from sea.


This explanation would certainly suffice if the building (and others around it) was anywhere near the ocean. Brunswick may be considered a coastal town, but due to the unusually craggy geography of the Maine coast the town center (where the building is centrally located) is set a few miles inland along the Androscoggin River. Granted, I didn't get the chance to walk up the tower, so there is an off chance that one may actually be able to see the ocean from the "widows walk" but my guess is it was purely a stylistic feature. The Italianate architecture is typical for use by the wealthier classes in the mid-late 19th century. Wikipedia describes American Italianate as-

" distinctive by its pronounced exaggeration of many Italian Renaissance characteristics: emphatic eaves supported by corbels, low-pitched roofs barely discernible from the ground, or even flat roofs with a wide projection. A tower is often incorporated hinting at the Italian belvedere or even campanile tower. (bold added).
Motifs drawn from the Italianate style were incorporated into the commercial builders' vocabulary, and appear in Victorian architecture dating from the mid to late 1800s.
This architectural style became more popular than Greek Revival by the late 1860s. Its popularity was due to its being suitable for many different building materials and budgets, as well as the development of cast-iron and press-metal technology making the production of decorative elements like the brackets and cornices more efficient. However, the style was superseded in popularity in the late 1870s by the Queen Anne style and Colonial Revival style."
During our quick conversation archivist, Rebecca Roche of the PHS pointed out that the bricks in the front were of a higher quality than the bricks in the back.





She mentioned the bricks were made in Portland which makes me wonder if there was a large brick building industry in Portland and if this would explain the beautiful brick sidewalks that make Portland a world class city like no other!

Special Thanks to Rebecca Roche and the Pejepscot Historical Society

Project Description

Where is the space of the archive? Is it in a physical space like a local library or rather an intangible collection of digital data on a server somewhere? This project seeks to recapture and reconceptualize the archive-in-place through an architectural/ethnographic analysis. Participants are encouraged to visit and document everything from local historical societies to official presidential libraries to large university archives and report on the particular cultural space that the institution occupies through brief ethnographic encounters. A series of questions have been provided to serve as a guide but participants are encouraged to expand on their observations as much as possible.
The only two rules are that posts must include at least one exterior photograph taken by the author and participants must actually go to the location that is being profiled (otherwise it wouldn't exactly count as an ethnography right?)