Isabella Breckinridge House facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Isabella Breckinridge House
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 Location in Maine
Location in the United States
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| Location | 201 US Route 1, York, Maine |
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| Architect | Guy Lowell |
| Architectural style | Colonial Revival, Italian Villa |
| NRHP reference No. | 80000263 |
| Added to NRHP | April 28, 1983 |
The Isabella Breckinridge House, also called River House, is a very old and important building in York, Maine, United States. It used to be known as the Breckinridge Public Affairs Center for Bowdoin College. This large house is located at 201 US Route 1.
A famous architect named Guy Lowell designed the main house. It has 23 rooms and was built in 1905. It was first built for Mary Goodrich, whose husband, B. F. Goodrich, was a very successful businessman who made tires.
The house sits on a big piece of land, about 26 acres, right next to the York River. In 1974, a kind person named Mary Marvin Breckinridge Patterson gave the property to Bowdoin College. The college used it as a place for meetings and events until 2004, when it was sold to private owners.
The Isabella Breckinridge House was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 1983. This means it is recognized as a very important historical building. It is known as one of Maine's most special and unique summer homes from the early 1900s.
What Does the House Look Like?
The Breckinridge House is on the south side of US Route 1. It is just north of where the road crosses the York River. The house looks out over the river. Woods hide it from the main road.
The house is a large, two-and-a-half-story building made of painted brick. It is shaped a bit like the letter "H". It has a main part in the middle with two sections sticking out on the sides. The middle part has a sloped roof with special "Dutch gables" on the sides. The side sections are two stories tall and have flat roofs.
The front of the house has five sections, called bays. The main door is in the middle. It has a curved roof over it, held up by fancy iron supports. Three dormer windows with pointed roofs stick out from the main roof. The back of the house, which faces the river, looks almost exactly the same. The parts of the house facing the river have tall, round-arched windows. These windows are in a style called Colonial Revival.
Inside the house, you will find a Mediterranean style. This means it has walls that look like stucco. The main staircase has beautiful wrought iron railings.
History of the Breckinridge House
The famous Boston architect Guy Lowell designed this house. It was built in 1905. When it was first built, the middle part of the house had a different type of roof called a mansard roof.
Sadly, a fire badly damaged the house in the mid-1920s. It was rebuilt to look as it does today. The repairs were finished in 1927, the same year Guy Lowell passed away. We don't know if he designed the changes after the fire.
The house was built for Isabella Goodrich Breckinridge. She was the daughter of B. F. Goodrich, the tire businessman. Isabella was married to John Cabell Breckinridge III. His father, also named John C. Breckinridge, was a well-known politician from Kentucky.
Later, in 1974, Isabella's descendant, Mary Marvin Breckinridge Patterson, gave the property to Bowdoin College. Mary Marvin Breckinridge Patterson was a philanthropist, which means she was a person who gave a lot of money to good causes. Bowdoin College used the house as a conference center until 2004. Then, it was sold to private owners.
One of the smaller buildings on the property, the pool house, was damaged by fire in 2011.
