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    The Blaine House
    The Blaine House
    The Blaine House
    Ebook199 pages50 minutes

    The Blaine House

    By Earle G. Shettleworth Jr.

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    About this ebook

    The Blaine House in Augusta is one of Maine's most notable homes. In 1862, three decades after the house was built by Capt. James Hall in the early 1830s, James and Harriet Blaine moved in. The home became the setting for one of the most meteoric careers in American politics, during which James Blaine served as Speaker of the US House of Representatives, US senator, secretary of state, and Republican candidate for president in 1884. After the deaths of her parents, the Blaines" daughter Harriet Blaine Beale gave the house to the state in 1919. Since 1920, it has served as the official residence of the state's governors and their families. As a symbol of state government, it ranks with the Maine State House. The house has been a National Historic Landmark since 1964. Architecturally, it reflects a combination of Federal, Victorian, and Colonial Revival styles. Today, the Blaine House functions as a social showcase for Maine, a working office, and family living quarters.
    LanguageEnglish
    PublisherArcadia Publishing
    Release dateJun 2, 2014
    ISBN9781439645468
    The Blaine House
    Author

    Earle G. Shettleworth Jr.

    Earle G. Shettleworth Jr. has served as the director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission since 1976 and as Maine's state historian since 2004. He has coauthored or authored eight other Arcadia publications.

    Read more from Earle G. Shettleworth Jr.

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      Book preview

      The Blaine House - Earle G. Shettleworth Jr.

      Maine.

      INTRODUCTION

      The Blaine House in Augusta has long been one of the most notable residences in Maine. Since 1920, it has served as the official home of the state’s chief executive, and as a symbol of government, it ranks with the statehouse. The house has been a National Historic Landmark since 1964, but, as the home of the statesman James Gillespie Blaine (1830–1893), it has been a venerated political shrine for a much longer time. Simultaneously the social showcase of Maine, a working office, and a family living quarters, the structure reflects the pride of the state in its past, present, and future.

      Construction of the house began while the statehouse was being erected across the street. On August 24, 1830, Augusta merchant James Child sold a parcel of land at the corner of State and Capitol Streets to Capt. James Hall of Bath. Hall, a retired master mariner, completed building his home in 1833, a year after the statehouse was finished. In every sense, the two structures were born and brought up together. In its original form, Hall’s house was a square, hipped-roof structure with a handsome colonnaded porch. At some point, Captain Hall added an ell to his retirement home.

      After Hall’s death, his sons conveyed the property to their mother, Frances Ann Hall. She remained there until February 22, 1850, when she sold the house to Greenwood Child, a son of the original landowner. A prosperous local merchant, Child resided there until his death in 1855. On November 20, 1862, J. Rufus Child conveyed house and land to James G. Blaine for the sum of $5,000. At that point, the building entered the mainstream of state and national history.

      Congressman Blaine presented the deed to his wife, Harriet Stanwood Blaine, as a birthday present, and the family of five moved in. As the politician’s family and career grew, so did the shape and size of the house. The Blaine addition, a smaller replica of the old Hall House, was erected at the end of the ell. It featured a porch and entrance that led to the Plumed Knight’s study and much-prized billiard room. Other changes included the addition of cupolas, the changing of porch styles, and the lowering of the chimneys. By 1872, the interior and exterior architecture bore little resemblance to Captain Hall’s late-Federal-period mansion.

      The Blaines also had a cottage at Bar Harbor and a mansion in Washington, DC, but the house in Augusta was always home. Here, Blaine mapped his political strategy, relaxed on the lawn, entertained, and in 1879 was the target of an aborted assassination attempt. Blaine’s years of residency in Augusta were ones of tumult. When he bought the property, he had just won election to Congress after having been editor of the Kennebec Journal and having served in the Maine Legislature and as chairman of the Republican State Committee. He would subsequently rise to become Speaker of the House, United States Senator, Republican presidential candidate, and secretary of state under Presidents Garfield, Arthur, and Harrison.

      After Blaine’s death in 1893, his wife, Harriet, continued to live in the Augusta house. She died there in 1903, leaving shares of the property to several members of the family. For a time, apartments were rented to young politicians serving in the legislature. By 1917, Walker Blaine Beale, the senator’s grandson, had obtained five of the eight shares of the house. Having joined the Army, Beale offered his family home as a headquarters for the Maine Red Cross war effort. Upon his death in battle the following year, Beale’s shares, as well as those of his father, went to his mother, Harriet Blaine Beale.

      In 1915, the Maine Legislature required the governor to have an official residence in Augusta. The legislature had considered buying the Blaine House for such a purpose. Harriet Beale, however, chose to present the property to the State of Maine in the name of her son, Walker Blaine Beale, and as a memorial to her father. The deed was received on March 11, 1919. Contiguous property was purchased, and a neighboring building was torn down in order to improve the grounds. The noted Portland architect John Calvin Stevens was engaged to design major exterior and interior alterations. A new wing was added to the rear for service functions, the sunroom replaced the old veranda, and the house was modernized in keeping with its historic character. Over the years, subsequent administrations made interior changes, particularly in the work and living areas. The exterior was little altered since the family of Gov. Carl Milliken first resided there in 1920. During the administration of Gov. John R. McKernan Jr., a major effort was started in 1988 to return the interior to its 1919 appearance. More recently, First Lady Karen Baldacci restored the 1920 New England Garden designed for Governor Milliken by the Olmsted Brothers. Today, Gov. Paul LePage and First Lady Ann LePage work in cooperation with the Friends of the Blaine House and the Maine Bureau of General Services

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