Portland, Maine is home to monuments that are both historic and notable, but the Victoria Mansion features a different type of history and notoriety. What used to be a vacation residence has been turned into piece of public history that expertly preserves an entire era. In doing so, it has come to highlight what it means to see a building that might otherwise be razed turned into a landmark for the culture and economy of an entire community.
From Summer Residence to Historic Landmark
Also known as the Morse-Libby House, Victoria Mansion was built between 1858 and 1860 as a summer home for two people, Ruggles Sylvester Morse and his wife, Olive. They were both originally from Maine, but Morse made his fortune in New Orleans where he operated luxury hotels. The house was a model of elegance and convenience with hot and cold running water, flush toilets, central heating, gas lights, a servant call-bell system, wall to wall carpeting, and a 25 foot long stained-glass skylight.
Morse died in 1893 and the following year his widow sold the house with most of its furnishings to J. R. Libby, a prominent dry goods merchant. The Libby family preserved the original décor and made few changes to the property. The Libby’s occupied the Mansion until about 1929. In 1940 the house was rescued from an uncertain fate and has been open to the public as a museum since in 1941. It was declared a national landmark in 1971.
The Victoria Mansion Institution has made efforts to return the house to its original 1860 condition while preserving the relevant evidence of its evolution over time. Ongoing efforts to clean and restore paint, woodwork, furniture, and brownstone, combined with the replication of original textiles are designed to provide visitors with an authentic sense of the nineteenth century.
These efforts have culminated in experiences for visitors that have had a notable impact on the community while also creating powerful sources of revenue for the establishment.
Numerous Ways to Experience and Remember Victoria Mansion
Victoria Mansion contains over 90% of the original interiors including almost all of the original wall paintings by the Italian-born artist Giuseppe Guidicini. Richly gilded surfaces, intricate plasterwork, enormous mirrors, and sumptuous fabrics have been combined to create lavish spaces of a palatial scale. Victoria Mansion’s textile collection includes more than 550 original pieces used in the decoration of the house along with an original painting that depicts the destruction of a church during the English Civil War.
Visitors can experience this history as part of a guided tour or on a Day Pass admission. Anticipated visitation volume informs the schedule of offerings which include different rates and group prices. The Victoria Mansion has created numerous other ways for people to experience and remember their visit to the site, all of which have become powerful sources of revenue.
The Carriage House Museum Shop sells unique Victorian-inspired gifts, home décor items, jewelry, toys and more. Books pertinent to the nineteenth century on architecture, art history, and gardens are also for sale, as well as a variety of other gifts that are only available in the museum shop.
Victoria Mansion is also available to rent as a venue for events and other gatherings. During the evening hours, guests can have the exclusive use of the house interiors, outside porch, Carriage House Gift Shop, courtyard, and grounds. Also available for rent is the Carriage House Meeting Room, which can be utilized for smaller events and functions.
Memberships are one of the most important sources of revenue for Victoria Mansion. Members enjoy a year’s worth of free admission, a range of discounts and advance notice of special events, many of which are only open to members. Numerous membership levels allow people to support the Mansion at different levels. Additionally, members can also become volunteers to help enable the Mansion staff to focus on restoration, educational initiatives, and other projects.
These experiences have enabled a much larger impact on the Portland community that has spread across the city and all of Maine.
Event, Leagues and Christmas
To illustrate how connected Victoria Mansion has become to the Portland community, the Gaslight League was created to support the Mansion’s educational and historic preservation mission. The League is a diverse and creative group of history buffs, cocktail enthusiasts, and party-goers.
Events at the Victoria Mansion range from plays to happy hours to festivals, all of which can be supported at different levels and attract different members of the community. Upcoming events are added to the schedule on a consistent basis, but many of those need to be scheduled around the Christmas season, when the Mansion is transformed into a Victorian winter wonderland.
Christmas at Victoria Mansion is a six-week celebration featuring decorations by some of the community’s leading and up-and-coming artists, florists, designers, and fellow non-profit organizations to highlight the Mansion’s original 19th-century interiors. Over 8,000 visitors attend this annual event that has become a long-standing tradition in the Southern Maine area and beyond. Numerous Christmas Sponsorship opportunities are available.
An essential element of many maps and guides of Portland and Maine as a whole, thousands of visitors visit Victoria Mansion each year. This illustrates the impact it has had on Portland and all of Maine to establish itself as a landmark for the region that has redefined the legacy of the space.
Becoming a Portland Landmark and American Treasure
Like other buildings and places that have been repurposed and preserved, the Victoria Mansion illustrates what’s possible when a place embraces the history associated with it. In doing so, Victoria Mansion has been able to create numerous sources of revenue while becoming a landmark for Portland as well as an American treasure that will see its legacy becomes that much more profound and powerful as time goes on.
