Name/Title
9 Water Street, Eastport, Maine | J7-0A4-19 | District #167Entry/Object ID
167Description
This house was originally built as a cape in about 1850 with the gable end facing Water Street, similar to 11 Water Street. It had three rooms down and a circular staircase to access the second floor. The original post and beam construction, still extant, is framed with what we would call 3x6s now, 2 1⁄2” x 5 1⁄2” with first floor joists being just logs roughly 20” on center, second floor is 3x6s roughly 4’ on center with no subfloor. All exterior walls originally had a layer of plaster applied directly to the back of the sheathing as insulation, there was then standard lathe and plaster on the interior as finish. The original plan had an entrance on Water Street into a formal front hall with Greek Revival detailing and a parlor, to your right, also with Greek Revival detailing and a small fireplace. Circa 1905 the home was expanded: the second floor sidewalls were raised from knee height to 8’ allowing for more spacious bedrooms, a central box bay window is located attached to the front bedroom, a gingerbread porch was added to the first floor supporting that bay, a hip roof was installed overall, a kitchen L extended the first floor toward the water, and a new Victorian staircase and stained glass window were added to the front stair hall . The previous kitchen and an adjoining storeroom were connected to form a formal dining room with an embossed tin ceiling. Shortly after this a shed roofed pantry was added to the south wall of the new kitchen. The 1990’s saw the first floor opened up and modernized. We have restored the first floor layout largely to its pre 1905 layout by moving the kitchen into the Victorian dining room, using the back parlor as the new dining room, and repurposing 1905 kitchen extension with original windows on three sides as a modern family room with ocean views.