The Big and the Beautiful

There is an old saying that it’s not always the prettiest woman or most handsome man that makes the best dance partner.  Sometimes, at a party, you don’t want flashy, you just want steady, reliable, and solid.  Portland has plenty of pretty buildings, a surfeit of them.  With our rich Victorian pedigree, this is easily one of most architecturally unique cities in all of New England.  But, for my money, some of the most beautiful and interesting buildings that we have are square, massive, and architecturally dull as dishwater.  They’re located on the water down on the wide expanse of Commercial Street, and they have all long since fulfilled their original purpose of serving the diverse range of sailing/steamships that once docked here (going from here to everywhere in the world) and the giant railroad that occupied Commercial Street in the mid- to late 19 century.

It also has a story that is as good as any mansion in town.  And that story, perhaps, more accurately reflects the modern history of Portland.  In the mid 1980’s this massive building barely had windows.  It was largely a shell.  In 2011, barely 20 years ago, it was meticulously rehabbed and it now houses one of the biggest law firms in Maine as its anchor tenant, among other commercial entities.  It has come back from the edge of the abyss in much the way that the current Portland waterfront has.  In 1979, Portland’s waterfront was declared one of the most dangerous, dirty, and seedy waterfronts in all of America.  Wander out to the end of Merrill’s wharf and you would not guess at that history today.  It is bustling with lobster boats and lawyers, and there’s lots to look at in every direction.

Check out the exposed beams inside the Pierce Atwood Building.

And whatever you do, make sure you go out to the end of the wharf.  Out there you’ll find a blank space and even the blank spaces here have a story to tell.  This is the “desert”, the area that fishermen need to repair their nets and it exists, as it probably did 100 years ago, thanks to Portland’s famous working waterfront law which has mandated since the 1970s that 70% of the use on our harbor has to be marine related.  The blank space tells a story.  The fishermen you encounter out there will tell you even better ones.