Quintessentially MAINE

A late Shingle Style house designed by John Calvin Stevens is sensitively brought back by owners who use patterns by William Morris in its casual, summer-house rooms.

- REGINA COLE

She and her husband are also passionate about historic architecture. Thus, when a Shingle Style house designed by Maine’s celebrated architect John Calvin Stevens came up for sale, in Cape Elizabeth, it hit all the right notes.

“This house, called SeaLights, came on the market in 2010,” the owners say. It was one of Stevens’ later commissions, built in 1910. “As soon as we stepped onto the porch, we knew this was the house we wanted.”

Stevens, who died in 1940 at the age of 84, is known for over a thousand buildings he designed in Maine, most in the Shingle and Colonial Revival styles. His commissions distinguish the coastal summer colonies, while his public libraries, municipal buildings, hotels, and churches are found in Maine’s cities and on its college campuses. Architectural historian Vincent Scully, who coined the term Shingle Style, described one of Stevens’ houses as “a masterpiece.”