Centre Harbor Village Historic District

The Centre Harbor Village Historic District is significant for its concentration of architecturally interesting buildings of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

The establishment of the village of Centre Harbor was not planned but was virtually dictated by the geography of the Lakes Region. Lake Winnipesaukee and Big Squam Lake, New Hampshire's two largest lakes, almost divide the region in two. Because of the mountainous terrain north and south of the lakes, the most practical route for east-west travel within the region is through the two-mile-wide gap between the two lakes. Route selection is further limited by a small mountain, Red Hill, and another water body, Lake Kanasatka, just east of the gap, which forces any road to the south side of the gap, skirting the head of the Centre Harbor Bay. As a result, there developed in the late 18th century at the head of the Bay, an intersection of four important roads--a road west, skirting the south shore of Squam Lake, to the pemigewasset Valley towns of Holderness and Plymouth (Plymouth Street) a road southwest to Meredith and the towns of the Winnipesaukee and Merrimack River valleys (Old Meredith Road), a road northeast to Moultonboro and the towns east of the lakes (Main Street and Route 25), and a road north between Squam Lake and Red Hill to the village of Center Sandwich (Bean Road). Around this important crossroads, there grew up a small hamlet, which, by 1837, contained some twenty houses, three taverns, three stores, two blacksmith shops, a cider mill, a schoolhouse, and a Congregational Church.

Another factor in the growth of the village was Lake Winnipesaukee as sailboats, houseboats, and, later, steamboats were important means of transportation in the Lakes Region in the 18th and 19th centuries Centre Harbor, with its broad bay, was a major lake port. After two railroad lines were built to the Lake, reaching Lakeport in 1848 and Alton Bay in 1849, regular steamboat service was established on the Lake. Until railroads were built directly to the White Mountains, the major route for tourists was to the Lake by railroad, then by steamboat to Centre Harbor, where the travelers boarded stages for Conway and the mountains, Lake Winnipesaukee itself became an important destination for vacationers. And Centre Harbor village entered a period of prosperity based largely on the tourist trade. Major hotels were built in the village--the old Senter House which stood on the site of the Library, the Colonial Hotel, and the Moulton House, both of which stood just outside the District on the other sides of old Meredith Road and Plymouth Street. Summer homes, many of the large estates of the wealthy, were built on the lakeshore and hillsides near the village.

Most of the buildings in the Historic District date, in their present forms, from this prosperous period between the establishment of the steamboat lines and World War I. Only one building, the Locust Cottage is a reminder of the earlier hamlet, as it remains, despite a later porch, an attractive early 19th-century vernacular house. While the period of construction is not known for Raines House, its style is that of the late Greek Revival with some Victorian details in the entry and porch. So, this pleasing building may well date from the 1850s. The other houses are all representative of the Victorian period. The Dr. Morrill House is a rather modest Victorian vernacular building, and the other two are well-preserved buildings of obvious architectural merit. The Coe House, notable for its proportions and ornament, is one of the best surviving early Victorian houses in the region. The Page House, although less important, is nevertheless a fine mid-Victorian house that is an ornament to the village. The one Victorian commercial building surviving in the District is the Morse & Stanley Block which, despite some alterations, notably on the first floor, is still a good example of its type.

The 20th century has seen a few changes in the District. In 1907, a wealthy summer resident gave the Kona Drinking Fountain to adorn the village's major intersection. The fountain is unique in the Lakes Region as the only public fountain boasting sculpture, here is a charming piece by Massachusetts sculptor, Samuel Russell Gerry Crook. Another public benefactor, James E. Nichols, gave an even more impressive gift to the town in 1910, the Nichols Memorial Library. Designed in a Classical style by prominent Boston architect Charles Brigham, the Library is one of the best small public libraries in the state and the most architecturally significant building in the town of Centre Harbor. Its exterior, like the fountain's, has not changed since the day of its dedication. Two 19th-century buildings and #5) were enlarged and remodeled in the 1920s to form the new Garnet Inn complex. Kahle House was completely remodeled and therefore, has a more coherent design than the Dane House, which still retains much of its 19th-century character. Both, however, are attractive buildings, particularly if considered separately.

Since the 1920s, the District has survived almost unchanged. This stability can be attributed partially to the new section of Route 25, built nearer the lake in 1953 and 1954 to bypass the village. Strip commercial development has been diverted to the new road, thus sparing the District. Several of the buildings in the District were used by the short-lived Belknap College (1963-1973). Page House was the college president's residence, while the property now owned by Centre Harbor Village Associates served as the College's Lower Campus. But only Coe House saw any important external changes, and then only in the wings. One building within district boundaries, Harper House, located on Main Street just north of Raines House, did burn in 1972 while being used as a college dormitory. Basically, however, the Centre Harbor Village Historic District appears today as it did over fifty years ago, a pleasant village core notable for the quality of its buildings.