Built by Beck,Klir A. Opened 1927 Added to NRHP 23 November 1977 | Built 1927 (1927) NRHP Reference # 77000067 Area 4,000 m² | |
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The Klir Beck House, also known as The Gnomes, was a historic house in Vienna, Maine. It was an architecturally idiosyncratic house, built by the artist Klir Beck as a summer residence. It was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1977, and was destroyed by fire in 2000.
Description and history
The Klir Beck House stood in a rural area of Vienna, west of the village center of adjacent Mount Vernon, in a setting of woods, fields, and lakes. It was a 1-1/2 story structure, built out of a combination of materials. It had an irregularly coursed stone foundation, a ground floor finished in half-timbered brick, and the half story was finished in half-timbered stucco. The roof was gabled, with a cross gable section and main gable end that each feature a projecting hipped overhang, with a carved wooden balcony in the style of a Swiss chateau. Some of the wall sections created by the half-timbering were further decorated, several exhibiting a lotus pattern on a brick background. The interior was equally rich and fanciful, including a compass set in stone on the living room floor.
The house was built in 1927 by Klir Beck, in part by adapting and altering an existing 19th-century farmhouse. Beck was well known in artistic circles, and is credited with creating dioramas that are displayed in the Maine State Museum. In January 2000, a fire broke out in the basement, resulting in the destruction of the house.