Two Lights, big plans

Edward Hopper made the Two Lights Lighthouse in Cape Elizabeth easily more famous than other lighthouses that once illuminated the coast. The best-known of his paintings of the lighthouse hangs in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, where it has been widely admired. The painting has made Two Lights part of Maine’s cultural identification, even if most Mainers haven’t seen it.

So imagine the solemn shaking of heads and tsk-tsking attending the news that the lighthouse’s new owner has big remodeling plans for the place. The major expansion would add three bedrooms and a two-car garage. To date, there has been no mention of vinyl siding. Nevertheless, a sizable group has gathered in the Portland area to try to get more time to stop the project.

A few of points to consider as the inevitable petitioners against this renovation amass signatures:

Two Lights is known and beloved in part because of the Hopper painting. But everyone understands that the subjects of paintings change. That is one reason for painting them. Lamenting the evolution of Two Lights is like blaming the subject of a portrait for growing old. An artist captures a moment in the life of a place or person — and then that moment is gone. Protesting won’t bring it back.

Besides, according to owner William J. Kourakas, a Maine native who now lives in a New York suburb, the lighthouse already has been altered by previous owners. That’s not such a surprise. People renovate according to their needs. The trick is to do it in a way that is respectful to what has come before. In historic places around the country, one can mark the passing of time through the additions of kitchens or porches or changes in lighting, plumbing or heating.

The Two Lights Lighthouse and other lighthouses are privately owned because the public is reluctant to contribute the serious money required to maintain them. Private ownership comes with its own cost — the risk that the owner might decide to alter his property. Cape Elizabeth residents already considered that possibility and last year concluded all that was necessary to alter a historic landmark was 45 days’ notice to the town and the Maine Historic Preservation Commission.

Lighthouses are particularly revered as historic places, both because of their practical, life-saving purpose and the romantic notions of the sea and its fathomless dangers. But there is a less-wistful question of fairness in this case.

A community establishes regulations for where and how buildings may be erected or changed — even buildings that have significance to someone besides the owner. When an owner follows the rules, he deserves to be able to go about his business unharassed.