Wedding Cake House (Kennebunk, Maine)

Wedding Cake House (Kennebunk, Maine)

Infobox Historic building
name = Wedding Cake House


caption =
map_type =
latitude =
longitude =
location_town = Kennebunk, Maine
location_country = United States
architect = George W. Bourne
client = George W. Bourne
engineer = unknown
construction_start_date = 1825, 1852
completion_date = 1825, 1856
date_demolished =
cost =
structural_system = 2 story brick house (painted yellow) with wooden trim, attached wooden shed and barn
style = Federal with Carpenter Gothic trim
size =
Called the "most photographed house in the state" of Maine, [Calhoun, Charles, "Maine", New York: Compass American Guides, 4th edition, 2005, pp. 44-46 at 46] the Wedding Cake House, also called the George W. Bourne House, is an historic house located on Summer Street in Kennebunk, Maine. It was built in 1825 by shipbuilder George W. Bourne (1801-1856). He later built a frame barn which he connected to the house with a shed. In 1852, the barn caught fire and the shed was demolished to keep the fire from spreading to the house. Bourne, who during a European tour, had been impressed by the Gothic beauty of the cathedral at Milan, decided to rebuild his shed and barn in what later came to be known as Carpenter Gothic style. Using hand tools, he crafted five buttresses with pinnacles on top of each. Then in order to tie the new structures in with the existing house, he added six buttresses with pinnacles to the house and then joined them together with intricate woodwork. His only help in doing this was Thomas Durrell, an apprentice ship's carpenter. Bourne spent the rest of his life adding to these embellishments. [ [http://rogershepherd.com/WIW/solution11b/cake.html Roger Shepherd: Design solutions: Wedding Cake House, Kennebunk, Maine] ] It has been said of Bourne: "The highly skilled carpenter knew no limits to his skill." [Reiss, Marcia, "Architectural Details", San Diego: Thunder Bay Press, 2004, p. 296]

Later the Wedding Cake name was applied to the house and the legend developed that the busy sea captain Bourne had done the embellishments to atone for not having taken his bride, Jane, on a proper honeymoon. [Tree, Christina, and Oxnard, K.W., "Maine: An Explorer's Guide", 11th edition, Woodstock, Vermont: Countryman Press, 2003, p. 99]

In 1983-1984 restoration work was done by Mary Burnett and Anne Burnett, who were the first owners outside the Bourne family. [ [http://rogershepherd.com/WIW/solution11b/cake.html Roger Shepherd: Design solutions: Wedding Cake House, Kennebunk, Maine] ]

In the fall of 2005, the house was opened to the public for the first time by owner Jimmy Barker as a fundraiser for Hurricane Katrina relief. [ [http://www.wmtw.com/news/5013875/detail.html WMTV Steve Minch, TV 8, September 25, 2005] ]

References

External links

* [http://www.bc.edu/bc_org/avp/cas/fnart/fa267/weddingcake.html Wedding Cake House gallery]


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