John Calvin Stevens

John Calvin Stevens
Born	(1855-10-08)October 8, 1855 Boston, Massachusetts
Died	January 25, 1940(1940-01-25) (aged 84) Portland, Maine
Nationality	American
Awards	Congressional Record of Recognition (2009)
Buildings	State Street Church, Portland, ME Richard Webb House, Portland, ME Municipal Building, Skowhegan, ME L. D. M. Sweat Galleries, Portland, ME Saco Museum, Saco, ME Forest Avenue Post Office, Portland, ME

John Calvin Stevens (October 8, 1855 – January 25, 1940) was an American architect who worked in two related styles — the Shingle Style, in which he was a major innovator, and the Colonial Revival style, which dominated national domestic architecture for the first half of the 20th century. He designed more than 1,000 buildings in the state of Maine.

Life and career

He was the son of Maria Wingate and Leander Stevens, a cabinet maker and builder of fancy carriages.^[1] He was born in Boston, Massachusetts, but at the age of two moved with his family to Portland, Maine.^[2]

Stevens wanted to study architecture at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, but lacked the money to attend. Instead, he apprenticed in the Portland office of architect Francis H. Fassett, who in 1880 made him a junior partner to open the firm's new Boston office. Another architect working in the same building was William Ralph Emerson, whose historicist aesthetic in the Queen Anne Style had a profound effect on him.

In 1877, he married Martha Louise Waldron, who bore him four children. Stevens opened his own office at Portland in 1884. In 1888 he formed a partnership with Albert Winslow Cobb, who wrote the text and Stevens provided the illustrations for an early study of the Shingle Style: Examples of American Domestic Architecture (1889). Some sources list the firm as Cobb & Stevens, and others as Stevens & Cobb, but the partnership was dissolved in 1891. His son, John Howard Stevens, became an architect and joined the father's firm in 1898. The son became a full partner in 1904, and the firm was renamed Stevens Architects.^[3]

His most-acclaimed early house — the James Hopkins Smith house in Falmouth Foreside, Maine (1886) — was featured in George William Sheldon's influential Artistic Country Seats (1886–87):

"The architect of Mr. Smith's house ... has struck out for himself, with due regard for the spirit and meaning of classic works, but without subservience to their details. Effect has been sought by strength of mass and simplicity of form. ...[I]t is natural, in the highest and best sense of the word."^[4]

In the comprehensive survey The Shingle Style (1955), Vincent Scully described the Smith house as "the pièce de résistance in Sheldon," "a more sweeping and coherent version of Stevens' own house," and "Stevens' masterpiece in this kind of design." The architectural historian also praised "his powerful alterations for the Poland Springs House, a summer hotel."^[5]

Houses designed by him can be found along the Maine coast, as well as in Portland (particularly the city's elegant West End) and its suburbs. He also designed public libraries, municipal buildings, grand hotels and churches. He designed nine buildings for the campus of Hebron Academy, and the Psi Upsilon Fraternity House on the Bowdoin College campus.

In one of his rare non-Maine commissions, he created a master plan for, and designed a chapel and at least six barracks buildings at the National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers ("Southern Branch") in Hampton, Virginia.

He was also a landscape painter who belonged to the "Brushians," a Portland group which went on weekend painting outings, and exhibited his work with the Boston Art Club, the Portland Society of Art and others. An oil painting by Stevens, Delano Park, Cape Elizabeth (1904), is in the collection of Blaine House, the Maine governor's official residence.^[6]

He was an avid art collector. A painting he donated, Afternoon Fog by Winslow Homer, was adjudged in 1914 as the most valuable work of art in the collection of the L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Art Museum, today's Portland Museum of Art.^[7]

In 1889, Stevens was named a Fellow of the American Institute of Architects.^[8] He died in 1940, and is buried in Portland's Evergreen Cemetery.

In recognition of his over 300 buildings on the Portland peninsula, with dozens more in the surrounding neighborhoods and islands, the city declared October 8, 2009 to be John Calvin Stevens Day. The ceremony included a Congressional Record of Recognition presented by the office of Senator Olympia Snowe.^[9]

Selected buildings

Churches

• Congregational Church, Berlin, New Hampshire (1882), Fassett & Stevens, architects.^[10]
• Sanford Baptist Church, Sanford, Maine (1888), Stevens & Cobb, architects.^[11][12]
• First Baptist Church, 47 Church St., Gardiner, Maine (1890), Stevens & Cobb, architects.^[13]
• Alterations to State Street Congregational Church, Portland, Maine (1892–93).^[14]
• Freeport Baptist Church, Freeport, Maine (1896).^[15]
• Hancock Point Chapel, Hancock, Maine (c.1900).^[16]
• Parish House, Williston Congregational Church (now Williston-West Church, UCC), Portland, Maine (1904).^[17]

Libraries

• Zadoc Long Free Library, Buckfield, Maine (1900–01).^[18]
• Brown Memorial Library, Clinton, Maine (1903).
• Rumford Falls Library, Rumford, Maine (1903).^[19]
• Cary Library, Houlton, Maine (1903–04).
• Knight Library, Waterford, Maine (1911–12).^[20]
• Davis Memorial Library, Limington, Maine (1912).^[21]
• Charles M. Bailey Public Library, Winthrop, Maine (1916).^[22]
• Paris Public Library, South Paris, Maine (c.1925).^[23][24]
• Bethel Public Library, Bethel, Maine (1937–38).^[25]

Houses

• A. R. Wright cottage, Pine Points, Scarborough, Maine (1881), Fassett & Stevens, architects.^[26]
• John Calvin Stevens House, 52 Bowdoin St., Portland, Maine (1883–84, altered).^[27]
• Winslow Homer house and studio, Prouts Neck, Maine (1884).^[28][29]
• Brown-Donahue house, Delano Park, Cape Elizabeth, Maine (1885–86).
• James Hopkins Smith house, 143 Foreside Rd., Falmouth Foreside, Maine (1886, altered).^[30]
• Additions to "Thornhurst," General John Marshall Brown house, Falmouth Foreside, Maine (pre-1888).^[31]
• "Belfield," Henry St. John Smith house, Cape Elizabeth, Maine (c.1890 altered).^[32][33]
• Captain John W. Deering house, Kennebunkport, Maine (1890), Stevens & Cobb, architects.^[34]
• "Bonnie Brae," Erskine H. Bronson house, Kennebunkport, Maine (1895–96).
• "Braemar Cottage," Edwin Packard house, Kennebunkport, Maine (1897).
• "Endcliffe," Frederick W. Moss house, Kennebunkport, Maine (1897–99).^[35]
• Henry Merrill house, Munjoy Hill, Portland, Maine (1898).
• Wil C. Johnson house, Hallowell, Maine (1899).^[36]
• "Oak Bank," Cumberland Foreside, Maine (1900).^[37]
• Psi Upsilon Fraternity House, Bowdoin College, Brunswick, Maine (1900–03).^[38] Now a student residence known as Quinby House.
• Governor John Freemont Hill house, Augusta, Maine (1901–02).^[39] Now St. Paul Center, Catholic Charities Maine.
• Edward W. Cox house, 111 West St., Portland, Maine (1905).^[40]
• Richard Webb house, 29 Bowdoin St., Portland, Maine (1906–07).^[41]
• Professor George W. Files house, Brunswick, Maine (1910).^[42]
• "Shorelands," Edward M. Hagar house, Camden, Maine (1912).
• Charles Fox house (now Oxford House Inn), Fryeburg, Maine (1913).^[43]
• "Elmhurst," John S. Hyde house, Bath, Maine (1913–14).^[44] Now Hyde School, Bath campus.
• Louisa Spring house, 305 Danforth St., Portland, Maine (c.1920).^[45]
• "Stone House," Stanley Wood house (now Stone House Conference Center, University of Southern Maine), 642 Wolf Neck Rd., Freeport, Maine (1922).^[46]
• L. Brooks Leavitt house, Wilton, Maine (c.1925).

Other buildings

• "The Shelter" (gazebo), Cushing's Island, Maine (1886, restored 2001).^[47]
• Alterations to Poland Spring House, Poland, Maine (c.1888-91), Cobb & Stevens, architects.^[48]
• Sturtevant Hall, Hebron Academy, Greenwood, Maine (1891).
• Biddeford City Hall and Biddeford's City Theater, Biddeford, Maine (1895-96).^[49][50] Rebuilt by Stevens after a December 1894 fire.
• Riverton Trolley Park Casino, Portland, Maine (1896).
• Cape Cottage Casino, Cape Elizabeth, Maine (1898–99).
• Bay of Naples Inn, Naples, Maine (1899, demolished 1964).
• New Belvidere Inn (now Tides Inn-by-the-Sea), Kennebunkport, Maine (1899).^[51]
• Belgrade Hotel, Belgrade Lakes, Maine (c.1900, burned 1955).
• Master plan, chapel and barracks buildings, National Home for Disabled Volunteer Soldiers ("Southern Branch"), Hampton, Virginia (1906–08).^[52]
• Nathan Clifford Elementary School, Portland, Maine (1907).^[53]
• Municipal Building and Opera House, Skowhegan, Maine (1907–09).^[54]
• L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Galleries, Portland Museum of Art, Portland, Maine (1910).
• Camden Yacht Club, Camden, Maine (1912).^[55]
• Alterations and Annex to The North School, Portland, Maine (1921).
• Pike Memorial Building (Town Hall), Cornish, Maine (1925).^[56]
• York Institute (now Saco Museum), Saco, Maine (1926).^[57]
• Forest Avenue Post Office, Portland, Maine (1933–34).^[58]
• Albert Fells Cottage Jefferson, Maine (1937). Featuring a sleeping porch and piazza.
• Uptown Theatre, Bath, Maine (1938).^[59]

• 

  John Calvin Stevens House, Portland, ME (1883-84), in 1965. The box window, left, was originally the entrance porch.

• 

  Brown-Donahue house, Delano Park, Cape Elizabeth, ME (1885-86).

• 

  Sturtevant Hall, Hebron Academy, Greenwood, ME (1891). Stevens designed 9 buildings at the school.

• 

  Biddeford City Hall, Biddeford, ME (1895-96).

• 

  Cape Cottage Casino, Cape Elizabeth, ME (1898-99).

• 

  Belgrade Hotel, Belgrade Lakes, ME (c.1900, burned 1955).

• 

  Rumford Falls Public Library, Rumford, ME (1903).

• 

  Cary Library, Houlton, ME (1903-04).

• 

  L. D. M. Sweat Memorial Galleries, Portland, ME (1910). Stevens's art gallery addition is at left.

• 

  Charles M. Bailey Public Library, Winthrop, ME (1916).

• 

  Paris Public Library, South Paris, ME (c.1925).

References

Notes

• Article about Castillo Del Mar- a tiled Spanish beachfront villa designed by John Calvin Stevens. "Lindbergh Slept Here", Portland Magazine, Winterguide 2013/Vol. 27
• In Maine, Acquiring a Homer Landscape, The Washington Post, 1 October 2004

Further reading

• John Calvin Stevens, domestic architecture, 1890-1930, by John Calvin Stevens II, and Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr. Scarborough, Me. : Harp Publications, 1990. ISBN 0-9626389-1-9.
• John Calvin Stevens on the Portland Peninsula 1880 -1940, A listing of his work by Address, Client, and Chronology, by Earle G. Shettleworth, Jr., Director, Maine Historic Preservation Commission.

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to John Calvin Stevens.

• Photographs in the Maine Memory Network

Authority control VIAF: 42684527 ISNI: 0000 0001 1815 900X

Persondata
Name	Stevens, John Calvin
Alternative names
Short description	American artist
Date of birth	October 8, 1855
Place of birth	Boston, Massachusetts
Date of death	January 25, 1940
Place of death	Portland, Maine