From collection Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company Collection
The Atlantis Hotel & Cottages--Kennebunk Beach, Maine C72
Expansive image of the Atlantis Hotel main building and cottage, taken from the golf course below. A wooden pavilion with a low hipped roof provides shade on the open, treeless slope. Built in 1903, the main hotel building is a large, rather formal hipped-roof building with 5 stories. The guest cottage is a more informal Arts & Crafts-based design. The resort was developed by the Boston and Kennebunkport Seashore Company, which had formed in 1872 at the very beginning of the Maine's tourism era. With the help of the newly arrived railroad, the company effectively transformed the Kennebunk Beach area in buying up 700 acres, including five miles of oceanfront property and creating lots for summer estates and hotels and a golf course. The Atlantis Hotel was sited on the highest point with the best views, and thrived as a luxury resort until the 1960s. It was sold and demolished in 1967.
