Ellsworth City Hall

Ellsworth City Hall

City Hall in 2002
Location City Hall Plaza, Ellsworth, Maine
Coordinates 44°19′24″N 68°15′10″W / 44.32330°N 68.25270°W / 44.32330; -68.25270Coordinates: 44°19′24″N 68°15′10″W / 44.32330°N 68.25270°W / 44.32330; -68.25270
Built 1935
Architect Edmund Gilchrist
NRHP Reference # 86000073
Added to NRHP January 10, 1986[1]

Ellsworth City Hall is the seat of local government in Ellsworth, Maine. Built in 1934-35 after a devastating fire destroyed the old city hall and part of the business district, it is an municipal building with Georgian Revival features unusual for Maine. The building was designed by Philadelphia architect Edmund Gilchrist, and is reflective of that area. The building was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1986.

Description and history

Ellsworth City Hall stands on a hill north of United States Route 1, overlooking the city's central business district, separated from it by a parking lot. It is a two story brick building, with a horizontal gable-roofed main block, which is flanked by hip-roofed perpendicular wings, and which has a center projecting gable-roof entry section. The flanking wings are joined to the main block by flat-roofed sections. The gable of the projecting center section is filled with carved painted woodwork, including a rendition of the city's seal. At the center of the main block an octagonal cupola rises to a round roof with spire.[2]

The Ellsworth downtown area was devastated by a fire on May 7, 1933, whose casualties included the old city hall. Edmund Gilchrist, a Philadelphia architect who summered on nearby Mount Desert Island, was chosen to design the new building, in which particular attention was paid to the use of fireproof materials. Gilchrist also made recommendations, ultimately not carried out, for a larger-scale redesign of the downtown area in the aftermath of the fire. The building's design features are more reflective of Gilchrist's experience with historic Georgian structures in Philadelphia than they are of rural Maine.[2]

See also

References

  1. ↑ National Park Service (2010-07-09). "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service.
  2. 1 2 "NRHP nomination for Ellsworth City Hall" (PDF). National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-03-02.
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