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Things to do in Maine
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Victoria Mansion
The Victoria Mansion, known as the
Morse-Libby House also, is perhaps the best example of a
residence design from the pre-Civil War period in this nation.
With fabulous architecture and well-preserved original interiors
that were the epitome of wealth in their day, this is one of the
most elegant and spectacular mansions in America. It has become
an unmatched document of this nation's highest ambitions in
interior design, decorative arts and architecture. The Victoria
mansion is a marvelous example of 19th century and personifies
the princely palaces that were constructed for the nation's
richest people in the pre-Civil War period. The house was
constructed between 1858 and 1860 for Ruggles Sylvester Morse
and his wife, Olive Ring Merrill Morse, who had extensive luxury
hotels in New Orleans during the 1850s. Ruggles was a native of
Maine, and his experience as a hotelier would shape his tastes
in design, and when it was time for him to build a summer
residence, he sought the country's best designers. Ruggles
picked Henry Austin of New Haven, Connecticut as the architect
and this mansion is not just his masterpiece, but it has become
the finest surviving Italian villa style home in this country.
Built of brownstone, the masterful design depicts a four story
tower with deep overhanging eaves, elaborately carved window
surrounds and elegant verandahs. The interiors were designed by
Gustave Herter, the founder of the well known New York City
design firm of Herter Brothers; and this is the earliest known
Herter commission and the last one intact. Incredibly, over 90%
of the original contents of the house have survived, which
includes the fabulous furniture from the Herter workshops,
beautiful wall paintings, gas lighting fixtures, silver,
porcelain, stained glass, artworks and glassware. The mansion
was constructed with the latest modern technologies that
included; hot and cold running water, central heating, gas
lighting, and a servant's call system; making it one of the most
magnificent houses of that era. The Morses didn't have any
children and after Ruggles passed on, Olive sold the house,
complete with its contents to Joseph Ralph Libby, founder of a
well known Portland department store. The Libbys occupied the
mansion for more than three decades, meticulously caring for all
the contents and house. In 1928, the Libby children moved from
the house, which would remain empty and its future in doubt. In
1940, it was saved from destruction by a retired teacher,
William H. Holmes, who realized its prominence and used his own
money to save it for the future generations. In 1941, he opened
the house as a museum, named after Britain's Queen Victoria and
in 1943 donated it to the Victoria Society of Maine. It has been
a museum for more than 60 years and is listed on the National
Historic Landmarks.
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Portland Museum of Art
The Portland Museum of Art
is located in Portland, Maine and started out as the Portland
Society of Art in 1882, in the arts district of the city; and is
today, the oldest and biggest public art facility in the state.
Until 1908, the collections were placed in a number of
exhibition spaces, when Margaret Jane Mussey Sweat left her
three-story mansion, called the McLellan House and enough money
to make a gallery in memory of her late husband, Lorenzo de
Medici Sweat, who had been a U.S. representative. Well known New
England architect, John Calvin Stevens designed the L.D.M. Sweat
Memorial Galleries that opened in 1911 to the public. During the
next 65 years, the size and scope of the displays continued to
grow, with the limitations being realized. In 1976, Maine native
Charles Shipman Payson promised his collection of 17 paintings
by Winslow Homer and seeing the physical restraints, also
donated $8 million for the construction of an addition that
would be designed by Henry Nichols Cobb of I. M. Pei & Partners.
In 1981, construction started on the Charles Shipman Payson
building and by the second year, the facility was opened.
Payson's gift of the Winslow paintings became a catalyst for the
museum's expansion, and the important long-term loans and
wonderful gifts given to the museum. In response to Payson's
gift, the Hamilton Easter Field Art Foundation Collection added
another 50 paintings, sculptures and American modernist works on
paper to the museum's collections. In 1991, the Joan Whitney
Payson Collection, that was owned by Charles Payson's wife, Joan
Whitney, a Whitney family heiress and New York City socialite,
gave 20 impressionist and post-impressionist artworks were
donated to the museum on permanent loan. Elizabeth B. Noyce, art
collector and Maine philanthropist, left 66 works of American
art, that has become the most expansive and diverse donation of
American art that has ever been given to the museum. More than
160,000 visitors are welcomed here every year, with about 13,000
of them being school children. The collection contains over
17,000 objects of the decorative and fine arts that date from
the 18th century to the current day, and the nucleus of this
collection is the State of Maine Collection, that features such
notable artists as Andrew Wyeth, Louise Nevelson, Winslow Homer,
John Marin and Marsden Hartley and the biggest European
collection in the state. The main European movements from
impressionism through surrealism are well represented by such
exquisite collections as Scott M. Black, Joan Whitney Payson and
Albert Otten and contain outstanding works by Edgar Degas, Pablo
Picasso, Mary Cassatt, Edvard Munch, Rene Magritte, Auguste
Rodin and Claude Monet. The Elizabeth B. Noyce Collection has
added more scope and quality to the magnificent collection with
such notables as George Bellows, Jamie Wyeth, Alfred Thompson
Bricher, Abraham Walkowitz, Childe Hassam, N. C. Wyeth and Fitz
Henry Lane.
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