Strathglass Building
{{Use mdy dates|date=February 2025}}
{{Infobox NRHP
| name = Strathglass Building
| nrhp_type =
| image = RumfordME StrathglassBuilding.jpg
| caption =
| location = 25 Hartford St., Rumford, Maine
| coordinates = {{coord|44|32|46|N|70|32|45|W|display=inline,title}}
| locmapin = Maine#USA
| built = c.1906, 1931
| architect = Stone, Carpenter & Willson, Coombs & Harriman
| architecture = Beaux-Arts Classical, Italian Renaissance Revival
| added = May 13, 1980
| area = {{convert|0.3|acre}}
| mpsub = {{NRHP url|id=64000317|title=Rumford Commercial MRA}}
| refnum = 80000244{{NRISref|version=2010a}}
}}
The Strathglass Building is a historic commercial building at 25 Hartford Street in the central business district of Rumford, Maine. Built c.1906, it is an imposing four-story architect-designed Beaux-Arts building, constructed by Hugh J. Chisholm, Rumford's leading industrialist in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. Later known as the Hotel Harris, it was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1980.
Description and history
The building was designed by the architectural firm of Stone, Carpenter & Willson, based in Providence, Rhode Island, and was completed in 1906.Brickbuilder April 1906: 86. It was built for Hugh J. Chisholm, the industrialist responsible for Rumford's development in the late 19th century as a major paper processing center, by Frank Bunker Gilbreth. (Gilbreth built a second building in the small mill town as part of the same contract for the Rumford Falls Power Company.){{cite web|url=https://www.thegilbreths.com/r_essay_fbg-jobs.php|title=The Construction Projects of Frank B. Gilbreth, General Contractor|accessdate=2021-07-19}} Chisholm named the building after the river in Scotland which flows near his family's traditional seat. Chisholm also gave the Strathglass name to the Strathglass Park District, an area of high-quality mill worker housing in Rumford.{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=80000244}}|title=NRHP nomination for Strathglass Building|publisher=National Park Service|accessdate=2014-12-22}}
The Strathglass Building stands on a slightly non-rectangular lot bounded on three sides by Congress, Lowell, and Hartford Streets. It is now a four-story brick structure, with the bays of the first three floors separated by engaged limestone fluted columns. The main entrance is set under a three-story arch supported by square stone piers, and topped by a triangular pediment at the third floor. When originally built, the building only had three stories, and had a concrete balustrade with urns at the visible roofline.{{cite web|url={{NRHP url|id=80000244|photos=y}}|title=NRHP nomination photos for Strathglass Building|publisher=National Park Service|accessdate=2014-12-22}} this was removed in 1931, when the building was rebuilt after a devastating fire.Peterson, Jane W., Nghia Ha, and David Gawtry. [http://foothills.mainememory.net/page/3769/display.html "Fires in Rumford"]. http://foothills.mainememory.net/. n.d. The interior was gutted, and all that survived intact was the heavy masonry structure. The rebuilding (as the Hotel Harris) was supervised by Lewiston architects Coombs & Harriman.Hotel Monthly 1931: 92. These additions, including the new fourth floor and flamboyant lobby, were Italian Renaissance Revival in style, though later alterations have removed most external detail. The lobby remains.
See also
References
{{reflist}}
{{National Register of Historic Places}}
Category:Commercial buildings on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine
Category:Beaux-Arts architecture in Maine
Category:Buildings and structures completed in 1910
Category:Buildings and structures in Rumford, Maine
Category:1910 establishments in Maine
Category:National Register of Historic Places in Oxford County, Maine