A BUSH ON THE POINT IS WORTH TWO IN THE WHITE HOUSE

One of Maine's most popular tourist attractions is Walker's Point, the summer home of former President George Bush (but you already knew that, didn't you?).  Even when I passed through the neighborhood late last March, I was astonished  by the constant stream of traffic coming and going from the scenic turnout looking out to the Bush estate.  Once a popular spot for fishermen, the rocky mini-peninsula was purchased by a group of land developers in the late 19th century who called their development Point Vesuvius.  From them George Herbert Walker, Bush I's namesake and grandfather, purchased the property, and in 1904 hired the Boston architectural firm of Chapman & Frazer to build a substantial summer cottage near the end of the point.   The new house was christened 'Rock Ledge' (betcha thought it was always called Walker's Point).

While not a masterpiece of the shingle style, the large (135 feet from end to end) house contoured agreeably to the site and took full advantage of the 360 degree views.

These photos of the house when it was one year old are from an article by Barr Ferree in the short lived 'American Homes & Gardens' magazine, July 1905 issue, and show the house as it originally appeared, before alterations to the service wing, and changes in the windows.

The floor plan reveals precious few bathrooms for the family and servants for a relatively large house, even in that less plumbing-centric era.

The interior appears, um, to have been a bit dumpy, but comfortable, even by the standard of the day...

...and not much appears to have changed.

Uncredited photo, Parade Magazine

The superb porch has long since been enclosed, and the stone columns covered with trellis.  I seem to remember reading somewhere once that this is Barbara Bush's favorite room, and has several times been damaged by hurricanes.   Even in this badly scanned illustration (when will Google Books develop quality control in their rush to digitize?  When???), the pleasure of the old open porch, with its swing, striped awnings and shining floor, practically at the edge of the sea, is obvious.

Chapman & Frazer designed a second house on the property a few years later for Walker's son, which has long since been demolished.

For the complete text of the article in 'American Homes & Gardens', click HERE.

MR. BUSH'S NEIGHBORHOOD

Two weeks ago, in the process of research for a project that you will be hearing about later, I wandered through the heart stoppingly beautiful town of Kennebunkport in Southern Maine.  I was on a tight schedule, and the day was cold, so I didn't take many pictures.  As I left the picture-perfect village on the way out to the Cape Arundel neighborhood, I passed the River Club, an iconic shingle style structure at the edge of town, and meant to come back and photograph it, but once on Cape Arundel, I got diverted.  

The clubhouse at the Kennebunk River Club

The Casino building at the Kennebunk River Club

 A friend who had been there a couple of weeks before mentioned how disconcertingly huge some new houses were on that rocky headland, and so right she was.  Big old shingle style summer cottages, by no means tiny themselves, had been displaced by jaw-dropping----and I do not mean this in a nice way----new odes to 90's style wealth, destroying the scale and effect of this most charming neighborhood in several places.  

Most of the 50-odd summer colonies on the Maine coast grew up around the huge old summer hotels put up by speculators and developers, in Cape Arundel's case, the Sea Shore Development Company.  The Colony Hotel at Kennebunkport is the largest and grandest of the dozen or so that survive up and down the coast.

On this day, The Colony looked over a cold winter sea. 

The older cottages of the Cape Arundel colony are very much of a piece, large, yet compact, poised on relatively small lots on picturesque lanes overlooking the ocean.

One of many picturesque carriage houses, this one with an ocean view

This cottage on Ocean Avenue is for sale. 8br, 3fp, ocean, bush and shrub views in season

During the various interminable Bush presidencies, the house saw many protests

After WWII, big summer houses on the coast of Maine could be purchased for a song, and many went begging, eventually being torn down, or converted to motels or institutional use before becoming popular again in the market in the 1980s.  This one became a motel, and is an odd note amidst its neighbors.  One presumes the Bush view is included in the rates.

Boarded up, waiting for summer, this house nicely composed cottage is overwhelmed by its new neighbor

Lost on the way to the Hamptons.  By far the best of the new houses on Cape Arundel, it nevertheless spawls assertively in a way that even the largest of the old cottages do not

As I rounded the bend, I was confronted with the number one tourist attraction in Kennebunkport, the Walker's point estate of George Bush.  At that exact moment, a ray of bright sun burst out from the clouds on what had been a cloudy afternoon, and shone directly over the house.  Go figure. 

The sun always shines over Walker Point

It was positively allegorical, but as I still haven't forgiven the perfectly decent elder Bushes for their devil spawn son, I preferred not to think too hard about it and continued driving.  Although the neighborhood has always discouraged parking on its winding shore road, the town long ago had to give in and create a scenic turnout overlooking the Bush property.  And to my amazement, even on this out of season cold March afternoon, there was considerable traffic---a steady stream of mostly elderly people snapping photographs.  I took advantage of the rare bit of sun and parked and took a walk along the shore, where most of these photographs were snapped in the waning light. 

The D.D. Walker cottage on Walker's Point, now demolished

 Walker's Point was once known as Point Vesuvius.  The ongoing tug of war between summer residents and locals over problem of disappearing shore access was strongly felt here, as a local newspaper lamented the loss of paths traditionally used by fishermen on the point, as it was shut off for the construction of a new summer cottage by George Bush's namesake maternal grandfather George Herbert Walker of St. Louis in 1903.  The next year, Bush's uncle, D.D. Walker, built a much larger cottage adjacent to his father's, which has since been demolished.  The architects for both were Chapman & Frazer of Boston.

From 1973, until 1981 when he inherited Walker's Point, Bush I owned this cottage on Ocean Avenue