Clifford, John D., House
14--16 Ware St., Lewiston, METhe Clifford House is one of the most interesting of Maine's few Mediterranean Revival-style houses. The Mediterranean Revival (or Italian Renaissance Revival) of the late nineteenth-early twentieth century exerted very little influence on the domestic architecture of Maine. The handful of Maine houses in this idiom is predominantly summer cottages in coastal resort towns, designed by out-of-state architectural firms (e.g. "Sona gee" in Bar Harbor, now altered; "Eeganos" in Bar Harbor, Guy Lowell, 1910 (NR); Louise N. Grace House in Islesboro, Wilson Eyre, 1918). The Clifford House is virtually unique among the state's year-round houses and is all the more remarkable as a product of a native architectural firm. As the house was built toward the end of the Mediterranean Revival vogue (c. 18901930), it also incorporates certain self-consciously "modern" features, such as steel casement windows, an arched door with round light, arched trellises, and a built-in garage, which is equally unusual for the place and period.
Eugene J. Gibbs and Addison G. Pulsifer of Lewiston were in partnership as an architectural firm 1911-27. Pulsifer was a real estate developer, and Gibbs was the primary designer. The firm had designed stucco houses with Mediterranean features as early as 1914 (H.G. Foss House, Auburn, ME, NR), but generally retained classical or colonial revival ornament. The progressiveness of the Clifford House may have been as much due to the client as the architect. The present owner remembers that Mrs. John D. Clifford (his grandmother) had wanted an "Italian Villa"; Mrs. Clifford is mentioned in a contemporary newspaper description of the house as having made a number of specific design decisions, such as to severely limit the amount of interior woodwork.
John D. Clifford was an ambitious Lewiston lawyer who became U.S. Attorney for Maine in 1933. Clifford briefly served in the Maine State Legislature (1915-16) and was an active organizer for the Maine Democratic Party. Eleanor Roosevelt was entertained in the house in the 1930s.
The period of significance of the Clifford house terminates in 1937.
Listed in National Register of Historic Places in 1987.
The National Register of Historic Places is the official list of the Nation’s historic places worthy of preservation. Authorized by the National Historic Preservation Act of 1966, the National Park Service’s National Register of Historic Places is part of a national program to coordinate and support public and private efforts to identify, evaluate, and protect America’s historic and archeological resources.