Highseas is a historic early 20th-century summer estate in

Bar Harbor, Maine Bar Harbor () is a resort town on Mount Desert Island in Hancock County, Maine, United States. As of the 2020 census, its population is 5,089. The town is home to the College of the Atlantic, Jackson Laboratory, and MDI Biological Laborat ...

. It is located on Schooner Head Road on the east side of

Mount Desert Island Mount Desert Island (MDI; ) in Hancock County, Maine, is the largest island off the coast of Maine. With an area of it is the List of islands of the United States by area, 52nd-largest island in the United States, the sixth-largest island in th ...

, surrounded by the lands of

Acadia National Park Acadia National Park is a List of national parks of the United States, national park of the United States located along the mid-section of the Maine coast, southwest of Bar Harbor, Maine, Bar Harbor. The park includes about half of Mount Desert ...

. Built in 1912, it is one of the few grand summer estates to survive the island's devastating 1947 fire. It is now owned by the

Jackson Laboratory The Jackson Laboratory (often abbreviated as JAX) is an independent, non-profit biomedical research institution which was founded by Clarence Cook Little in 1929. It employs over 3,000 employees in Bar Harbor, Maine; Sacramento, California; F ...

and used as housing for students enrolled in its prestigious Summer Student Program. The property was listed on the

National Register of Historic Places The National Register of Historic Places (NRHP) is the Federal government of the United States, United States federal government's official United States National Register of Historic Places listings, list of sites, buildings, structures, Hist ...

in 1978.

Description and history

Highseas is set on a bluff overlooking

Frenchman Bay Frenchman Bay is a bay in Hancock County, Maine, Hancock County, Maine, named for Samuel de Champlain, the France, French explorer who visited the area in 1604. Frenchman Bay may have been the location of the Jesuit St. Sauveur mission, establish ...

south of the main village of Bar Harbor. It is a massive Colonial Revival structure, stories in height, built out of brick laid in tapestry bond, with a hip roof and a granite foundation; the brick was manufactured in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

. The roof is topped by a deck with railing, and is pierced by five brick chimneys and numerous dormers with gabled or hipped roofs. The building is roughly rectangular and its block is ten bays in width, with flanking wings of decreasing size. Most of the windows are sash, although the south wing is set up as a solarium with large casement windows. The main entrance is on the west side of the building, sheltered by a single-story portico with Ionic columns and a railing around its top. The entry area is flanked by projecting hip-roof sections. The east side of the building, facing the bay, has a single-story porch extending across the center six bays, supported by an Ionic colonnade. Highseas was designed by local architect Frederick Lincoln Savage and built in 1912 for Rudolph Brunnow, a professor at

Princeton University Princeton University is a private university, private Ivy League research university in Princeton, New Jersey, United States. Founded in 1746 in Elizabeth, New Jersey, Elizabeth as the College of New Jersey, Princeton is the List of Colonial ...

. He sold it in 1924 to Mrs. Eva Van Cortland Hawkes, a wealthy heiress and descendant of

Gouverneur Morris Gouverneur Morris ( ; January 31, 1752 – November 6, 1816) was an American statesman, a Founding Father of the United States, and a signatory to the Articles of Confederation and the United States Constitution. He wrote the Preamble to the ...

. Her heirs donated the property to

, which has facilities nearby in Bar Harbor. The laboratory now uses the property as housing for summer students.

References

{{National Register of Historic Places Houses on the National Register of Historic Places in Maine Colonial Revival architecture in Maine Houses completed in 1912 Houses in Hancock County, Maine Buildings and structures in Bar Harbor, Maine 1912 establishments in Maine National Register of Historic Places in Hancock County, Maine Gilded Age mansions

Description and history

See also

References