171 Vaughan Street.
In all my years of walking, biking, and driving around the West End, I had never paid this little gem much attention. That all changed about a week ago.
Seductively small but lavish, the Elizabeth M McDonald Cottage is an unexpected sight in a neighborhood of large mansions. At 1800 sq ft, it is downright tiny by today’s new home standards. Continue reading
Remuddle, v. (portmanteau from “remodel” and “muddle”), to remodel a building or room in a way that obscures or destroys key aspects of the original design.
Appears to be a single-family home on a pretty standard in town lot. The Portland Historic Resources Inventory (HRI) of 1976 lists it as being built for one Edwin A. Boothbay in 1891. The HRI states the style was Queen Anne.
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Welcome to West End Walks.
From an architectural history standpoint, the West End of Portland is a fine place to see the various style that were popular in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Mostly expressed in residential architecture for the professional, the building stock ranges from 3 story row houses built in the ‘brownstone’ style to high end mansions of incredible grandeur. Add in tree lined streets and mostly level terrain, it gives itself to some wonderful strolling for the lover of buildings
Let’s go for a stroll and see what we may encounter. Shall we? Continue reading
