Location Auburn, Maine NRHP Reference # 78000155 Area 2,024 m² | Built 1895 Opened 1895 Added to NRHP 20 January 1978 | |
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Architectural style Queen Anne style architecture Architects George M. Coombs, Amos Gerald Similar Bay of Fundy, Lost Valley Ski Area, Charles L Cushman House, Sen William P Frye House, Franklin County Courthouse | ||
The Holman Day House is a historic house at 2 Goff Street in Auburn, Maine. Built in 1895, it is one of the state's finest examples of Queen Anne architecture, and is further notable as the home of Maine author Holman Day. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1978.
Description and history
The Day House is set at the northeast corner of Court and Goff Streets, overlooking Auburn's downtown area. It is a 2-1/2 story wood frame structure, roughly rectangular in plan, with three-story tower at the corner and a two-story ell connecting the main house to a carriage barn. It has a hip roof, with a two-story projecting gable section to the left, and a smaller gable at the front, to the right of the tower. The tower is capped by a conical roof, with swag panels between the levels. The front-facing gable has a small Palladian window, while the left projection has a wide two-story bay window, with an oculus window in the gable. A porch extends across the front and around the side, and is ornately decorated, with a turned balustrade and posts, and a decorative trellis-like valance. The interior is similarly richly decorated in high quality materials.
The house was built in 1895 for Holman Day and his wife, Helen Rowell Gerald, by his father-in-law. At the time, Day was working primarily as a journalist for newspapers in Auburn and Lewiston. It was here that he wrote much of his poetry and fiction, building a reputation for his colorful depictions of life in Maine.