The Turrets COLLEGE OF THE ATLANTIC Bar Harbor, Maine Beginning in 1893, one hundred men, mostly local, spent two years building The Turrets. FROM FIN DE SIÉCLE GRANDEUR TOAHUMAN ECOLOGICALMISSION Step into The Turrets' Great Hall. Perhaps you'll find a student plucking out a tune on a piano set between walnut columns inlaid with delicate etchings. Nearby, another student quietly reads on a couch beside windows looking across Frenchman Bay to the distant hills of Schoodic Point. Come at night and you might hear a poetry reading or the throbbing of African drums as dancers rehearse for an upcoming performance beneath a ceiling of walnut beams inset with stucco designs. The Emerys furnished the Great Hall in the ornate fashion of the day. With its massive granite facade and her wedding day. Emery's father, Thomas himself a man of vision, and one of the fanciful cylindrical towers, The Turrets Emery, had invented the dripless candle most fashionable - and busy - architects once symbolized the grandeur of the Bar and amassed a fortune in candles and soap of his day. In 1893, when Price took on The Harbor summer colony. Today, it harbors in Cincinnati. Astute financiers, the Emerys Turrets, he had begun the stylish upstate the soul of College of the Atlantic's human capitalized on Ohio as a crossroads, New York summer community of Tuxedo ecological vision. investing in railroads and turning the family Park, created the massive stone Windsor But through what journey did this fin de business into a major enterprise. Station in Montreal and had invented, siécle extravagance, this dramatic simulation patented and built the bay-window parlor of a French castle find itself at the heart of The Turrets is among cars for both the Pennsylvania and the an institution devoted to sustainability? the most extraordinary Boston and Albany railroads. The answer can be found within the history The Turrets promised to be no ordinary of Bar Harbor and the special nature of the buildings left on home. At the same time Price was working human ecological pursuit, focusing on life's Mount Desert Island. on The Turrets, he was also creating active intersections: culture with natural Chateau Frontenac, the Quebec City hotel resources, social history with politics, art Like many coming to the summer playground so distinctive it has been used as a symbol with economics. of Mount Desert Island, Emery held a grand of Canada. The Turrets was a wedding gift from vision for his new home, one that would As one of the few Bar Harbor mansions the forty-something John Josiah Emery to cement his position within the island's - popularly known as cottages - to his Virginia-born bride, the former Lela social whirl. In 1893, no one could meet survive the devastating Great Fire of 1947, Alexander, just eighteen years old on this ideal better than architect Bruce Price, The Turrets is considered to be among the most extraordinary buildings left on Mount in 1877, Price spent five years in his wife's Desert Island. On December 24, 1974 hometown of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania, The Turrets became the first structure in then opened an office in New York City. Bar Harbor to be listed on the National Price soon became one of the eminent Register of Historic Places. It remains one architects of the day, described by of only a handful of cottages currently given architectural historian Vincent Scully as that distinction. an "elegant gentleman and erratic genius." He made his mark with the thirteen Shingle Style homes he created at Tuxedo Park. These homes, with their compact masses, open interior plans and frequent use of local materials, clearly influenced the young architect Frank Lloyd Wright. The Turrets helped usher in the new era of 1890s Bar Harbor cottage building. In his book, American Architecture and Urbanism, Scully writes, "Wright, as a young designer. building his own house, employed Price's forms almost exactly." Price also designed the clubhouse where in 1886, at the club's first Autumn Ball, several guests wore a tailless dinner This fountain stood in the center of The Turrets Seaside Garden, a later edition to the Emery jacket with scarlet satin lapels. Though estate. The sculpture of the sea serpent, made by art deco artist Paul Manship, dates to 1915. some wanted to call this more informal A bronze sister stands in Rome. dress "the newport," it seems as if twentieth-century etiquette guru Emily Post Architect Bruce Price: wielded her influence; the attire has forever Elegant gentleman, erratic genius been known as "the tuxedo." After all, she Born on December 12, 1845 in Cumberland, was Price's daughter, and lived in one of his Maryland, Bruce Price was hoping to study homes in Tuxedo Park. architecture in college when his father The Turrets was the last and most suddenly died. Bereft of funds, he began elaborate of seven buildings Price designed a four-year internship with Baltimore for Bar Harbor, beginning with the West architects Niernsee and Nielson in 1862, End Hotel in 1879, and continuing with The then sailed across the Atlantic to study Craigs in 1880, also a turreted cottage. The European design. His delight in castle Turrets is not only the last Price building fortresses and French chateaux can be seen remaining on Mount Desert Island, but throughout his work. Returning stateside in scale and appearance, it is a building Taken from the northeast shore, this 1910 photograph shows a lawn where The Turrets Seaside Garden now stands. of another order, says Earl Shettleworth, Joan of Arc received her blessing from the lower Manhattan, now owned by the Bank director of the Maine Historic Preservation Archbishop of Reims before driving off of Tokyo. This was one of the first buildings Commission: "The Turrets helped usher in the English, the connection between The to incorporate such structural techniques the new era of 1890s Bar Harbor cottage Turrets and Frontenac is quite close. When as steel framing, curtain wall construction building which took its cue from Newport." College of the Atlantic began restoring The and caisson foundation piers to carry a Adds Samuel H. Graybill Jr. in his Yale Turrets, architect Roc Caivano consulted cantilevered steel foundation structure. Ph.D. dissertation on Bruce Price, "This with the Frontenac staff, for they had The twenty-four-story landmark is faced in house is perhaps the climax of the informal resolved many issues of maintaining a Maine granite and considered a prototype seaside house of the nineteenth century." massive stone building in a northern of freestanding tower skyscrapers of the Price worked simultaneously on The climate. early twentieth century. But it is Tuxedo Turrets and the castle-like Frontenac, As the finishing touches were going Park and his two stone castles that had replete with copper turrets and stone into The Turrets, Price began the design of already commended Price to history when towers. While The Turrets bears a loose the American Surety Company Building, an on May 29, 1903, at the height of his connection to the Chateau de Blois, where early skyscraper opposite Trinity Church in creative talents, Price died in Paris, en route to a commission for the crown Hancock Point and Sorrento and is to the Taj Mahal. In the Great Hall, red wall prince of Japan. cost a large sum." coverings met the ornate columns and ceiling leading to a massive plate glass Construction: One hundred men National Register of Historic Places window overlooking the bay. A feat to ship and one hundred thousand dollars in the State of Maine and install, a window this size gave a man While the Emerys honeymooned in boasting rights in 1895. To the left, the Europe, The Turrets took shape. A dining room, now the Putnam classroom four-story building, 50-by-100 feet, The in honor of COA benefactors George and Turrets took one hundred local Maine WAIREN Nancy Putnam, was wainscoted in Spanish men two years to build. It cost $100,000. oak. On either side of the blood-red Though that is roughly equivalent to This to Certify that the marble fireplace, a massive carved caryatid $2.5 million today, construction costs Turrets held up the mantel. Later, the fireplace was have spiraled far beyond inflation. has been reviewed by the Maine Historic Preservation covered by a mirrored wall and a marble Its 42,500 cubic feet of granite were Commission and by the National Park Service in Washington, D.C. fountain with water trickling into a basin Quarried near Eagle Lake and lugged the and under the provisions of the National Historic Preservation of ferns. Act of 1966 has been entered upon the National Register of five miles to Bar Harbor by draft horses. Historic Places on Dec. 24 1974 Across the hall, the library was paneled A combination of draft horses, sturdy Be it further certified that by inclusion in the National in mahogany and lined with carved backs, and block and tackle laid the Register the above named is recognized as apart of the Historical bookcases. The music and reception stones in place, some of which weighed and Cultural Heritage of our nation and should be preserved rooms were paneled in cherry. Above the nearly a ton. Walls two feet thick on as a living part of our community life and development in order paneling, depending on the room, the the outside were met in places by foot- to give a sense of orientation to the American people. walls were lined with rich damask, blue deep brick walls on the inside. Local and white porcelain or delicate painted newspapers chronicled the construction. silk. According to a newspaper account of Even the Industrial Journal of Bangor took the time, the floors were so polished they note, observing in 1894 that the Emery The first floor was sheer grandeur. could almost reflect the passing guest. mansion, "promises to surpass in beauty all Greeting visitors outside stood a marble From the Great Hall rose an equally the cottages of Bar Harbor. It stands upon elephant that for three centuries had great staircase carrying intricate mahogany the edge of the beautiful bay which washes guarded a palace down the road from floral carvings. While the staircase was THE TURRETS 1896 Emerys spend 1903 1893 their first Bruce Price 1908 The Turrets summer in dies in route John Josiah commisioned. The Turrets. to Japan. Emory dies. 1844 1885 1890s 1900 1916 1919 Thomas Cole comes to Bar Harbor Like Newport, Rockefellers Acadia given Acadia Bar Harbor to paint, alone has 30 Bar Harbor spend a sum- National Monu- National followed by Frederich hotels cater- becomes a mer and decide ment status. Park Church, Fitz Henry Lane ing to summer symbol of the to stay on the established. and others. tourists. Gay Nineties. island. Banister of the Great Hall stairway Ornate wooden carving follows the staircase Wooden and stucco carved ceiling built in Boston, the carving was Venetian. And when twilight's gathering shadows Both Mr. and Mrs. Emery had marble Bottle glass windows along the stairway bathrooms. So that these would never Dispel the sunset rays, cast a refracted light over the area below. The light from this beautiful cottage lack for water pressure, a thousand-gallon Though a summer cottage, The Turrets copper-lined water tank sat in the attic had two furnaces feeding a central hot air O'er the tranquil water plays. feeding a copper boiler in the basement, heating system. Electric wiring installed The great staircase led to six bedrooms, supplying hot and cold water. Overlooking within the walls - using conduits of brass five fireplaces and four baths. Mrs. Emery's the harbor on the third floor were a - brought one observer to comment that room faced the stairs and opened onto schoolroom, several guest rooms and a come evening, the building "shines from the second floor porch, overlooking billiard room, now home to Allied Whale. the harbor like an oriental palace." Another Frenchman Bay. There, each morning, The bowling alley the Emerys considered viewer, Agnes Wakefield Milliken, wrote an she took breakfast in the fresh air. Today, for the basement was never constructed. ode to the building, expounding on its light her bedroom is the Donald B. Straus An attached granite annex on the north in one stanza: classroom, honoring COA life trustee. end contained the servants' Quarters. Three 1967 1969 1974 COA founded; 2005 Turrets The Turrets added to the Turrets Seaside 2006 1947 sold to classes begin National Register of Historic Garden restored by Major COA Fire damages Oblate three years Places; building clean-up be- later. Eamonn Hutton '05. fundraising begins to The Turrets' roof. Fathers. gins, followed by restorations. continue restoration. 1947 1968 1998 2004 The Great Fire Mount Desert Island Mount Desert The Jackson Laboratory celebrates sweeps through consolidates its high Island Biologi- its 75th anniversary. Mount Desert schools into one building cal Laboratory Island, burning on Eagle Lake Road. celebrates its 100th 18,000 acres. anniversary. MOUNT DESERT ISLAND floors at first, a fourth floor was added daughter Audrey, once counted as one of indoors, was considered unhealthy, leading during a major remodeling begun in 1938. the ten most beautiful women in the nation, to the popularity of large verandas and At that time, as well, the music room, married the Romanov grand duke, Dmitri ornate stained glass windows. reception room and library were combined Pavlovich, becoming Princess Ilyinsky. Son Mrs. Anson died in 1953. The following into one large room. Because the ceilings J.J. Emery married Irene Langhorne Gibson, year, the children auctioned off the in the annex were much lower, the floors daughter to Charles Dana Gibson, who furniture and by 1958 the building was sold do not match up, a fact that still confuses created the Gibson girls. to a local businessman. For a brief time, it visitors to the building. The butler's served as a tourist home. The Great Fire, pantry, servants' dining room and kitchen coming on the heels of the Depression - reported to have a silver sink - were and World War II, changed high society: on the first floor of the annex. There were Bar Harbor was not the place it once had rooms for some thirty servants in The been. In 1967, The Turrets was sold to Turrets. Even after World War II, when most the Franco-American Oblate Fathers. By families pared down their staffs, the Emerys this time, The Turrets estate was linked kept nine servants. to Guy's Cliff, just to the north, where the seminary was actually housed. When The Emerys: A family of standards the priests moved on, the properties were For more than a decade, beginning in 1896, sold to a Connecticut investor and shortly J.J. and Lela Emery spent every summer in thereafter to a local businessman. Left The Turrets. In 1908, John Emery died, empty, The Turrets became a haven for the leaving Lela alone with five children. She hitch-hiking youth of the 1960s. Covered continued to summer at The Turrets, in graffiti, sprinkled with melted wax, it eventually marrying Capt. Alfred Anson, became notorious up and down the Maine son of the Earl of Litchfield and first cousin coast as a sublime crash pad. As reported to King George of England. Except for a in an earlier history of the building, written decade when the Ansons appear to have by COA student, Jonathan Gormley '78, been abroad, the couple moved into The "Broken mirrors, empty door frames and Turrets at the end of June and remained to dangling electrical cords had taken the the end of October. place of mirrored fountains, leaded glass Stairway to The Turrets Seaside Garden Mrs. Anson ran her house with high doors and crystal chandeliers." Added to standards. Fresh flowers were set out each In 1947, The Turrets sustained fire the building's attraction to these itinerants morning and the gravel driveway was raked damage to its roof, possibly connected were the numerous hidden passageways daily. She did not entertain in the evening, to the devastating Great Fire that swept where transients could elude police bent preferring to invite guests for tea, served across the island in October of that year. on apprehending the interlopers. promptly at 4:30 or 5 p.m., accounts differ. Such Extensive steel and concrete work were gatherings might include Hulls Cove summer necessary. In 1950, the cypress-shingled COA's tenure: Restoring a resident Sumner Welles, assistant secretary of roof was replaced with slate and a new victim of weather and vandals state under Franklin Delano Roosevelt, Austrian heating system was installed. At some With summer culture on the wane and no violinist Fritz Kreisler or Polish pianist and point along the way, much of the Great Hall year-round industry to speak of, Mount composer Ignacy Paderewski. woodwork was whitewashed. The white Desert Island was mired in a period of The children married well. Daughter Lela paint modernized the rooms from the dark uncertainty and transition. One afternoon became the Duchesse de Talleyrand, while Victorian era, when direct sunlight, even in 1969, two Bar Harbor High School In 1987, stonemasons Kenny and Aaron Nason removed some 220 granite blocks to rebuild a section of The Turrets. friends, Leslie C. Brewer and Father James But first it had to become inhabitable. was such a mess that no work could even be Gower, found themselves asking what could Damage to the building caused by the two contemplated until after a massive cleanup. be done to improve life for those who called decades of neglect was great. According to In 1974, students accomplished that part, the island home. Father Gower dreamed of a an October 1985 article about the building but even boarding up the place did not peace college; Brewer knew there had been in Down East Magazine by Norah Deakin keep out vandals until the late Richard talk of starting an educational institution Davis, "One wall was crumbling, and Slaton Davis, COA's first philosophy on the island. Why not try it? Shepherded large sections of flooring had rotted from teacher, posted white cardboard signs by Brewer's instincts and Father Gower's water damage. Windows were broken, lath on the plywood boards with this warning: vision, College of the Atlantic was born was showing where chunks of plaster had "CAUTION: This Building Has Been with a mission of human ecology. Within fallen, leaded glass doors and elaborate Fumigated With Lead Arsenate." So that months, Brewer arranged for the college light sconces were gone. The Emery people would believe the ruse, he saturated to rent both The Turrets and Guy's Cliff showplace was a wreck, the victim of each sign with Raid®. For a few years more, for one dollar a year for five years, giving weather and vandals." It has been said that The Turrets remained posted and unused the fledgling school a home. In 1973, the the building remained only because the except for one night each year, when the college purchased both properties at a cost granite construction made it too expensive dark passages, tall turrets and complicated of $500,000. The building that had been to tear down. history found its measure in the school's called a haunting reminder of a vanished At first, it was simply boarded up. Halloween party. way of life stood poised to become the Power and water were not running; there Meanwhile, in March of 1975, a grant center of an innovative college offering the was no heat in the building. Parts of the from the Maine Historic Preservation path to new, more ecological lifeways. first floor were falling into the basement. It Commission and funding from the Department of Labor's Comprehensive that by allowing the air to circulate. By was dedicated to Mr. and Mrs. Emery. The Employment and Training Act or CETA, December 1979, the annex, the second timing couldn't have been better. In 1983, brought two workers to campus to repoint floor, and parts of the first and third floors Guy's Cliff, which had been COA's main the stonework. At the time, Caivano were useable for dorm rooms, classes and building, burned down. With The Turrets taught architecture and drawing at COA, offices. ready, COA could move down the hill and Harris Hyman taught engineering, while Then John Joseph Emery, grandson not skip a beat. student Barbara Sassaman '78 was deeply of J.J. and Lela Emery. along with his Further restoration was accomplished interested in architectural history. While wife, Ellen, funded the restoration of the in 1987, with funds from the Maine Historic Sassaman focused her senior project on a Great Hall and the rest of the first floor, Preservation Commission, again matched by history of The Turrets, she, private donations. At the time, Caivano and Hyman, working father and son stonemasons with development officer Kenny and Aaron Nason of Dick Rianhard, assessed Dover-Foxcroft, Maine, were the building, wrote grants, hired to rebuild one of the found private donors, and turrets. They removed some eventually amassed enough 220 pieces of granite weighing funds to hire a crew to begin up to six hundred pounds restoration. each, remarking that by 1988, In September 1978, the techniques for shaping the using CETA funds along smooth curves of granite had with grants from the already been lost. National Trust for Historic Since then, the college has Preservation, Farmers completed plans to renovate Home Administration and The Turrets in ways that the National Endowment for continue to preserve its proud the Humanities - about tradition while upgrading $300,000 in all - the it to twenty-first century work began. Sassaman, environmental standards, just twenty-two years old, showcasing its use by a became the clerk of the college resolved to advance A COA student rides a bike where carriages once idled. works. Caivano served as the practice of sustainability. architect and project manager and Hyman including the removal of the white paint To this end, COA has already ensured as contractor and assistant. Together, the that covered much of the wood paneling the safety of the building, installing new two faculty members and one graduate and the repainting of the ceiling. As part electrical wiring, a sprinkler system and created architectural drawings, managed of the crew, Millard Dority, now COA's a fire warning system tied into the Bar the crew and researched the building's director of campus planning, buildings Harbor Fire Department. history, proper conservation techniques and public safety, remembers lying on In 2005, senior Eamonn Hutton and such restoration options as using his back on the top of staging set in the reclaimed The Turrets Seaside Garden, Styrofoam peanuts as insulation inside middle of the Great Hall, repainting the spearheading a landscaping effort across some of the outer walls. Stone walls tend inlaid plaster: "White paint was running the campus. In 2006, the college dedicated to sweat, causing moisture build-up within down my arm, I felt like Michelangelo in two first floor rooms to the its founding insulated walls; the peanuts prevented the Sistine Chapel." In 1982, the building trustees. What had been the library is Once a symbol of Bar Harbor grandeur, The Turrets now reflects COA's human ecological vision. now the father James M. Gower Seminar link between the golden age of American secrets. Caivano speaks wonderingly of an Room. The Great Hall is now the Leslie industrial expansion, the aristocratic exceptionally lovely, conically-shaped room C. Brewer Great Hall, named for the man families it produced, the tradesmen set inside one of the turrets. This nest, whose business acumen secured COA's use and servants who supported them and a lined with Art Deco benches soaring high of the building. above Frenchman Bay, can only be accessed In the next phase of reconstruction, The building that had been by crawling through the eaves. repairs to the slate roof will eliminate water With its bold exterior extracted from infiltration into the building, while the called a haunting reminder of the land, its whimsical details, solid design repointing of exterior walls will stabilize a vanished way of life is now and underlying structural maze, The Turrets the structure. A new energy-efficient is a fundamental symbol of COA and its furnace will reduce heating costs and the center of an innovative pursuit of the secrets of human ecology. associated pollution. New, energy-efficient new college offering a path to In The Turrets, College of the Atlantic windows will also contribute to those goals has not only rethought and recycled the while maintaining the building's historical more ecological lifeways. elegant remnants of nineteenth century appearance. Re-tiled front and rear porches industrialization into the administration will increase safety, provide handicapped distinctive new college eager to change the building of a college of progressive thought, access entry and remove issues of basement world. It is also considered to be the most it has combined respect for tradition, love water seepage. important example of cottage architecture of history and a sense of green restoration As an historical building serving as the open to the public in Maine. Yet this — while leaving just a bit of mystery for administrative center of a college of human building, with its deep cellars and solid future visitors and students to ponder. ecology, The Turrets is an architectural walls of Bar Harbor granite, still holds its A side door of The Turrets // Photograph taken during Introduction to Photography by Michelle Lawrence '09. This brochure is written to ensure that The Turrets remains a vital part of Bar Harbor, a demonstration of creative re-use of a landmark building for education that is both life changing and world changing. VISION: The faculty, students, trustees, staff, and alumni of College of the Atlantic envision a world where people value creativity, intellectual achievement, and diversity of nature and human cultures. With respect and compassion, individuals construct meaningful lives for themselves, gain appreciation of the relationships among all forms of life, and safeguard the heritage of future generations. MISSION: College of the Atlantic enriches the liberal arts tradition through a distinctive educational philosophy-human ecology. A human ecological perspective integrates knowledge from all academic disciplines and from personal experience to investigate, and ultimately improve, the relationships between human beings and our social and natural communities. The human ecological perspective guides all aspects of education, research, activism and interactions among the College's students, faculty, staff and trustees. The College of the Atlantic community encourages, prepares, and expects students to gain the expertise, breadth, values, and practical experience necessary to achieve individual fulfillment and to help solve problems that challenge communities everywhere. For further information, please contact: Writer: Donna Gold Laura Johnson at College of the Atlantic Designer/Photographer: Christine Heinz 105 Eden Street // Bar Harbor, ME 04609 Printed on recycled paper 207-288-5015 // www.coa.edu Special thanks to Roc Caivano, Millard Dority and Barbara Sassaman for their incredible historical memories.