Area less than one acre NRHP Reference # 88000392 Architectural style Italianate architecture | Built 1850 (1850) Opened 1850 Added to NRHP 7 April 1988 | |
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Location 10 Church St., Stockton Springs, Maine | ||
The Nathan G. Hichborn House is a historic house at 10 Church Street in Stockton Springs, Maine. Built in the 1850s, this Italianate structure is one the community's more architecturally sophisticated buildings, and is notable as the home of Nathan Hichborn, a local shipbuilder and politician who was responsible for the town's separation from Prospect. The house was listed on the National Register of Historic Places in 1988.
Description and history
The Hichborn House is located in the village of Stockton Springs, just south of United States Route 1 and the Stockton Springs Community Church on the west side of Church Street. It is a 2-1/2 story wood frame structure, with a hip roof, clapboard siding, and a stone foundation. The roof has broad eaves studded with paired brackets, has gabled dormers facing front, and is topped by an octagonal cupola. The (east-facing) front facade is symmetrical, three bays wide, with its center entrance sheltered by a portico supported by clusters of chamfered square posts. A three-part window stands above the entrance, with a molded hood shaped to the window parts' curved tops. The interior of the house has well-preserved woodwork, and features Italian marble fireplace surrounds in the downstairs parlors. An ell extends to the rear, joining the house to a carriage barn.
The house has traditionally been given a construction date of 1849, but its construction and styling suggest an 1850s date. The house was designed by Alfred Bither, an architect then based in Bangor, and was built for Nathan G. Hichborn, a local shipbuilder and politician. Hichborn was a prolific shipbuilder, turning out 42 ships over a 28-year period. He was instrumental in the construction of the nearby Stockton Springs Community Church, and led the effort to separate Stockton Springs from Prospect, which was successfully completed in 1857. Hichborn served in the state legislature and as state treasurer, and was a candidate for Governor of Maine on a temperance party ticket.