The Baxter Library

The Baxter Library, the ornate building in the middle here, was a gift to the city from Mayor James Phinney Baxter way back when. It certainly is a beautiful structure. It has most recently been part of the Maine College of Art campus. According to news sources:

Now, the college is selling the property to Robert C.S. Monks and Rex Bell of Cape Elizabeth. They want to lease it to the VIA Group, a national marketing company now headquartered on Danforth Street.

Bell said the developers had a hard time finding tenants until the VIA Group showed interest. But VIA wants $2.5 million in renovations to bring the building up to modern standards.

That's an expensive endeavor in a historic building, Bell said, and the developers can't get financing without the tax break.

I would love to see the building stay open to the public, but it's great that they plan on doing some renovations and it is a local company that is planning on moving in. The thing about good architecture is that it can host many uses and be functional, whereas a strip-mall is usually only good for pharmacies and video stores.

Also in the article:

Mitchell said the project would make the building an "anchor" and attract more high-quality development to a part of Congress Street that has seen little investment.

The Baxter project would be the first major project in the city's new creative economy tax district along Congress Street. The program allows a portion of the value of new investment to be used to promote arts and cultural events, and to support innovative business initiatives.

Reader Photo - Long Wharf

We have an entrant! Thanks to Michael Sosnowski for this photo. Looks like it was taken on a beautiful summer day.

If you are in the market to buy or sell a home, check out Michael's site: www.mainehomeconnection.com/

Your Photo Here

I'm very open to guest posts. If you have a photo of Portland or something else that should be shared here, let me know and it can happen. You will retain all rights to your image/text and will be thoroughly credited. Mail to: coreytempleton@gmail.com

I'm on the Nightrain

Haven't shared a night shot in a while. Here is some Congress Square.

West End Mosaic

Modern West End Home

I'm no architecture buff, so I think this is style of home is considered modern, but do not quote me or hold it against me if I am completely wrong.

This house, whatever style it may be, is pretty unique and is on Clark Street in the West End. I dug around for some information such as who the architect is and whether it has been featured in any magazines (particularly Dwell), but no luck. Maybe it was built by the homeowner?

Site Announcement

No big news, just wanted to mention that I removed all of the advertisements from the site and the feed. It was a good experiment and was easy to set-up, but not the best option for me or you (the readers). This blog obviously isn't designed to be a big money maker, but I am switching to more of a content based revenue model, as in selling photographs (what a novel idea for a photography blog!) You may have noticed the link on the right to my Etsy shop and in the future I will get a nice looking CafePress site implemented as well. Not all of the photos here are postcard worthy (that would get boring) but occasionally I post one that looked nice printed.

And also on the topic of the blog's RSS feed, any comments or concerns there? I don't use the tool but provide it and the number of readers for the feed is larger than the number of hits to the site. Let me know how it can improve!

A Maine Politician

According to wikipedia, William Pitt Fessenden was a member of the US House of Representatives, the Senate, and was Abraham Lincoln's treasury secretary. Equally as important:

"He is the only person to have three streets in Portland named for him: William, Pitt and Fessenden streets in the city's Oakdale neighborhood."

Home on the Sea

I will stop posting pictures of the cruise ships when the visiting season is over, so stay with me for a bit! This is from Sunday, as viewed from Bug Light in South Portland.







And the answer to yesterday's question... well played TheMaineView and Ethan V! The photo is a portion of St. Dominic's Church on State and Gray Streets. The building is now home of the Maine Irish Heritage Center and according to Munjoy Hill News, the Picnic arts + music festival will hold a winter festival in the building on December 13, 2009.

Where is this? #1

Where is this? I can tell you it is on the peninsula, and it is attached to the top of a building. Leave your answer in the form of a comment (but not in the form of a question like Jeopardy) and I will reveal the answer tomorrow, whether or not anyone gets it correct. Good luck!

Library Renovations - September 2009

I haven't posted an updated on this in a while, so here is the progress on the new entrance to the library. I think the color of the class will look nice and look forward to seeing what the inside looks like when it fully reopens in the spring.

Maine Foliage

This is from the other weekend in Steep Falls, Maine. The state just recently started up the annual folaige watch website here.

Boothby Square

Boothby Square is in the middle of Fore Street, in the heart of the Old Port. The granite fountain was originally used by horses, but is mostly just for decoration these days.