Libby's Colonial Tea Room facts for kids
Quick facts for kids |
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Libby's Colonial Tea Room
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| Nearest city | 2713 Post Road, Wells, Maine |
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| Area | 16 acres (6.5 ha) |
| Built | 1923 |
| Architectural style | Late Victorian, Bungalow/craftsman |
| NRHP reference No. | 99000769 |
| Added to NRHP | January 19, 2001 |
Libby's Colonial Tea Room is a special old building in Wells, Maine. It is located on United States Route 1, a famous road. This building was first built in 1923 as a restaurant. Today, it is home to the Johnson Hall Museum. This museum shows many interesting items from American history.
The building is important because it is one of the few places left from the 1920s that served travelers by car. It was added to the National Register of Historic Places in 2001. This means it is recognized as a historic site worth protecting.
What the Building Looks Like
The Johnson Hall Museum is on the east side of Route 1 in Wells. You can drive up to the building on a curved driveway. It is a single-story building with a wide, gently sloped roof. The roof has a special cross shape. It also extends over a porch that wraps around the building. This porch has round columns, like those found in old Greek or Roman buildings.
A covered entrance, called a porte-cochere, sticks out from the front. The roof edges are deep and have large, decorative wooden supports. These supports are typical of the Craftsman style of architecture. The main door is in the middle of the front. It has columns on each side and a fan-shaped window above it. Inside, there is a waiting room. Offices and bathrooms are on the sides. A large dining room is also part of the building.
A Look Back in Time
Before this building, Elsie Klingman Libby ran a restaurant here. Her first restaurant, likely in an older house, burned down in 1922. But Elsie didn't give up! She quickly rebuilt the new building you see today. She opened her tea room in 1923.
The tea room was a popular spot for many years. Elsie ran it until 1942. At that time, fewer people were traveling because of World War II. This made it hard for the tea room to stay open. A very famous guest once visited the tea room. In 1932, Franklin Delano Roosevelt stopped by while he was campaigning to become president.
The building was constructed by Reginald J. Grant in 1923.
The Johnson Hall Museum Today
Today, the building houses the Johnson Hall Museum. However, the museum's future is not certain. The person who started the museum, William “Bill” Johnson, passed away in 2014. After he died, most of the museum's collections were sold in 2015.
See also
