Built in 1910 for Howard Winslow. Design by John Calvin & John Howard Stevens.
A substantial bungalow in the Deering Center neighborhood.
Howard Winslow knew lumber.
Born in Portland in 1851, Howard Winslow entered the lumber trade in 1872 when he clerked for the Milan Steam Mill Company. He then worked for John W Deering in his lumber firm for almost 50 years as a book keeper then as a partner in Deering, Winslow & Co.
193 Concord Street is an interesting take on the bungalow. It’s nearly square at 35′ on the street and 36′ deep. It is a full two stories with the second tucked tightly under the roof. The ‘clipped’ roof is an element regularly seen on Stevens work of the period. The design was somewhat dictated by restrictions in the deed for the land which limited the wall height to “no more than two-stories”.
1872 was also the year Howard Winslow married Emma Laurell of Portland. They had 3 sons prior to her death from nephritis in 1896. He married Nellie Larrabee in 1898. Nellie was 39 when they married. They had no children. Nellie Larrabee Winslow died of uterine cancer in 1917. In 1905, Howard purchased a White Steam car. His obituary stated he was the “first automobile owner in the city”. Howard Winslow died in 1935.
In June of 1920, Howard Winslow sold 193 Concord Street to Edward H Brooks. Brooks was a native of Keyport New Jersey where he was born in 1860/61. He became involved with the American Can Company in Baltimore where he married Mollie Byrn in 1885. They had 2 daughters, Ethel & Minnie. When they came to Portland is not clear. The 1921 city directory has Edward, Mollie, & Minnie, now Boynton, and her husband Walter here on Concord Street and the deed from Howard Winslow placed the Brooks’ in Portland. Walter Boynton, like his father-in-law, worked as a salesman before becoming a supervisor for the American Can Company. American Can had facilities on Read Street and was the inspiration for the name “Canco” Road.
193 Concord Street in 1924. Maine Memory Network
The 1924 tax photo is notable for the now lost rail on the porch roof. This, along with the classical columns of the porch, added a Colonial Revival feel to the home that balanced the Arts & Crafts character of the windows, exposed rafter ends and side entrance. I note the city engineer who did the survey, Albert J Sears, had rated the homes quality as “good inside and out except for the roof (emphasis mine). This was a 14year old house with wooden shingles that, at least in the tax photo, look pretty bad.
Detail of 1924 tax photo
Edward Brooks transferred ownership of 193 Concord Street to Minnie Boynton after Mollie’s death in 1929. He died in 1935. Minne and Walter Boynton married in Maryland around 1915 and had 2 daughters. Walter worked for many years in the canning industry. He and Minnie lived here on Concord Street until his death in 1981 at the age of 93. Minnie sold the property in that same year. Minnie Brooks Boynton died in 1983. The purchasers of 193 Concord in 1981 were William & Maureen Harrison. I cannot find much information on the Harrisons. Maureen was a social worker. After they divorced in 1986, she sold it the following year to a John Crowley of Peaks Island. Crowley sold our subject in 2000. The current owners purchased in 2012.
193 Concord Street is listed as a single family residence. The condition is excellent.
Note: The seed for this article same from the house being mentioned in Deering: A Social and Architectural History, published by Greater Portland Landmarks.
Portland House Stories 