Byron Greenough Block

The Byron Greenough Block or Lower H. H. Hay Block is an historic commercial building at Free and Cross Streets in downtown Portland, Maine. Built in 1848 and enlarged in 1919 to a design by John Calvin Stevens, it is one of the city's finer surviving Greek Revival commercial buildings. The block was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in March 1977.[1]

Byron Greenough Block
H. H. Hay Block
LocationFree and Middle Streets, Portland, Maine
Coordinates43°39′25″N 70°15′28″W
Built1848 (expanded in 1919)
ArchitectByron Greenough
Architectural styleGreek Revival
NRHP reference No.77000065[1]
Added to NRHPMarch 10, 1977

Description and history

The Byron Greenough Block occupies a triangular parcel of land between Federal and Free Streets in downtown Portland. To its east is a pedestrian area that once carried Middle Street, running southeast from Federal to Free. The building is a four-story masonry structure, built out of brick with granite trim. Its principal facade faces the pedestrian area, and is five bays wide, while a single bay marks the triangular point, while the more utilitarian southern facade, facing Free Street, is ten bays wide. The main facade has modern storefronts on the ground floor, with a framing of granite pilasters and lintels. Windows on the upper floors have granite sills and lintels, and there are a series of brick stringcourses (part of the original building cornice) between the third and fourth floors. The current cornice has brick dentil relief and a projecting wooden overhang.[2]

The block was built in 1848 by Byron Greenough, who made his wealth in hatting and clothier, and ran his business here until 1856. The building notably escaped Portland's 1866 fire, and is consequently one of its few surviving Greek Revival commercial buildings. For many years its retail space on the ground floor housed the H.H. Hay drugstore.[2] The architecture firm Stevens and Stevens designed and added the fourth floor.[3]

See also

References
  1. "National Register Information System". National Register of Historic Places. National Park Service. July 9, 2010.
  2. "NRHP nomination for Byron Greenough Block". National Park Service. Retrieved 2015-12-21.
  3. "John Calvin Stevens: Walking Tour of Portland" (PDF). SMRT. Archived from the original (PDF) on 26 April 2012. Retrieved 11 December 2011.
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