Reviving a Dream Bangor preservationist brings new life to Morse building

Jean Deighan likes to say that for years, every time she drove through downtown, the gorgeous granite-faced building at 455 Harlow St. winked saucily at her. “Don’t flirt with me,” she’d grumble. “You belong in Europe, maybe Vienna, or somewhere else, but not in Bangor.”

The 51-year-old investment adviser and historic preservationist realized the seductive, two-story 1895 treasure was built to make a lasting impression. It had been the headquarters of Morse and Co., a first-rate lumber mill and manufacturer of fine woodwork, mantels and furniture founded in 1851 by Llewellyn J. Morse and Hiram P. Oliver. When clients strode into the office building and showroom to talk business, they savored the sturdy mahogany, stained glass and crystal chandeliers.

Earle G. Shettleworth Jr., director of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission, has long sung the landmark’s praises.

“There really is not another building like it in Maine,” he said, noting the eclectic architectural style.

Wilfred E. Mansur, the building’s prolific architect, transformed Bangor, and other Maine locales, until his death in 1921. One of his better known works is the Penobscot County Courthouse, built in 1902.

Once the centerpiece of a 29-building mill complex, the Morse building was strangely out of place following the company’s 1948 closure. One by one, the structures hugging a half-mile of the Kenduskeag Stream burned down or were torn down. Today 455 Harlow St. and a wooden building across the street are all that remain of a business that turned out timbers for the new Bangor Standpipe in 1897, and rebuilt much of the city following the Great 1911 Fire, which missed igniting the mill buildings and the Morse covered bridge by a couple of blocks.

So there the building sat, turning heads as motorists passed its dressy fa?ade. Jeanne Murray, an engineer and designer, bought it in the 1960s, never realizing her dream of a revitalized Morse’s Mill district. Roger Atwater, owner of Leighton Business Systems Inc., later bought the property but by 2002 pondered a move to smaller quarters.

“When Roger moved into the building [25 years ago],” said Deborah Thompson, an architectural historian and broker for Prudential Singleton-Rollerson Real Estate, “he was dealing with real objects, such as desks and chairs, but now his business is cyberspace.

“I had been recommended to him, realizing he was considering renting the property, which wouldn’t have been so good,” she said. “But he was psychologically attached to this building.”

Enter Jean Deighan, whom Thompson visited last summer at Deighan’s restored 1833 mansion on Penobscot Street to discuss a dinner to be held in the home.

“Just as I was leaving,” Thompson recalled, “Jean asked if I knew of a historic property to move to since she and her staff, working in her home’s tight confines, needed more space for her business.”

Deighan was startled when Thompson said Atwater was considering selling 455 Harlow St. to the right buyer.

“The what building?” Deighan mused as she listened to the description. “Then it struck me: the little Victorian flirt! I felt like an awkward schoolboy who suddenly realizes the most beautiful girl in the school might actually accept a date.”

Inspecting the landmark, Deighan fell in love with its late 19th century features. Still, she was wary of restoration challenges.

“I began to wonder if the beckoning of this charming Victorian was more akin to the call of the Sirens dragging me off my course and onto the rocks,” she said.

In September, Deighan consulted with her husband, fellow attorney Glen Porter, who believed in her vision and her desire to separate home from work. They signed the purchase and sales agreement, but not before clearing a number of legal hurdles. First, they met with their future neighbors and acquired a piece of property behind the building to facilitate additional parking. Then they commissioned an environmental study, since the property had seen heavy industrial use for many years.

They also applied for a city zone change from residential to commercial because the property was in a downtown development district. On top of that, there was the matter of the building sitting technically on the road.

“The mill owners had considerable hubris to build the structure on the 1859 and 1855 road lines,” Deighan said. “Since the building had remained on the spot for more than 40 years, it was safe, but the parking lot adjacent to it was not.”

The city agreed to change the 1859 road line back to the 1855 line to meet their needs. That also met the standards of the National Park Service for the rehabilitation and adaptation of a property on the National Register of Historic Places. There is also the ongoing matter of historic tax credits, which could help defray the project’s hefty price tag. Amy Cole-Ives of the Maine Historic Preservation Commission worked closely with Deighan on this.

Because of Deighan’s quiet determination and deft planning, the project began bearing fruit over the winter. She worked with her husband as well as her close friend, real estate agent Carol Epstein. She hired longtime family friend, architect David Lloyd, to transform the building into comfortable, functional office space, while preserving its historic attributes.

Bruce Leighton and his carpenters went to work in February, removing generations of rot on top and underneath the structure. Deighan insisted on new windows in the newly built offices on the second story, which entailed clearing the matter with the Bangor Historic Preservation Commission. All but one member, who balked at the proposed change but was overruled by a quorum vote, agreed to the cutting of windows on the building’s back wall.

The renovation’s most striking feature may be a rectangle of new windows cresting above the second story, letting sunlight into the once-gloomy showroom. Deighan painted over the colonial blue walls with warm earth tones of pale gold and green, and hired Peter Knuppel, of Sullivan, to install state-of-the-art, energy-efficient, indirect lighting.

New oak doors in the five upstairs offices complement the three oak mantelpieces; two downstairs and one upstairs. Plumber David Lanyi installed wall-mounted European-style hot-water heaters outside each office, each with its own thermostat to suit the staff’s climatic tastes.

Sure to be a conversation piece is a porcelain lavatory in the new downstairs washroom. The fixture was plucked from Union Station during the city railroad terminal’s 1961 demolition. Another curiosity is the glazed-tile relief of a chicken in a pot, which Deighan interprets as a sign of prosperity, featured on the gold-colored first-floor fireplace.

Deighan has notified her 120 clients that the move was completed on May 23. Her business cards note that her investment advising business is based in “another historic Bangor gem.”

Now, she admits, she was wrong about the Morse building being out of place in Bangor. Her home town, experiencing a renaissance of historic proportions, has finally matched the grandeur of her proud new business home.