From collection Eastern Illustrating & Publishing Company Collection
LB2019.1.123221
Image of a lighthouse and attached keepers house built on a granite pier. The unusual decorative half-columns and crown-like entablature on the tower identify this as Portland Breakwater, built in 1875. The structure marks one of the approaches to Portland Harbor. This cast iron structure superceded a wooden tower built in 1855. The tower and keeper's house stand at the end of a 1,900-foot breakwater. The keeper's house was added in 1889 and removed in 1934. For a period beginning in the 1870s, cast iron came into favor for its light weight (as opposed to brick or stone), durability, economy, and resistance to fire. The material also made it possible to have integral decorative detail, as in this one. It was usually lined with brick for insulation. [No title.] [source: J. Candace Clifford and Mary Louise Clifford, "Maine Lighthouses: Documentation of Their Past"]
