Strathglass Building

The Strathglass Building is a four-story brick building at 25 Hartford Street in downtown Rumford, on a slightly irregular lot bounded by Congress, Lowell and Hartford Streets. Engaged fluted limestone columns separate the bays of the first three floors, and the main entrance sits under a three-story arch on square stone piers, topped by a triangular pediment at the third floor. It was designed by the Providence firm Stone, Carpenter & Willson and completed in 1906.

The Strathglass Building was designed by the Providence firm Stone, Carpenter & Willson and completed in 1906 for industrialist Hugh J. Chisholm, built by Frank Bunker Gilbreth. It originally had three stories with a concrete balustrade and urns at the roofline. A 1931 fire gutted the interior; the rebuilding by Coombs & Harriman added a fourth floor and an Italian Renaissance Revival lobby, while the masonry structure survived.

Hugh J. Chisholm named the building after the Scottish river that flows near his family's traditional seat. He reused the name for the Strathglass Park District, the high-quality housing he provided for Rumford's mill workers, so the same word links the commercial block and the workforce housing.

The building sits prominently on a downtown corner lot in Rumford, making it easy to locate and view from multiple street angles. Its central position provides convenient pedestrian access and good visibility from surrounding streets.

Frank Bunker Gilbreth, later known for motion studies in industry, built the Strathglass Building for Hugh J. Chisholm under the same contract as another structure for the Rumford Falls Power Company. The 1931 rebuilding as the Hotel Harris was supervised by the Lewiston firm Coombs & Harriman, and their Italian Renaissance lobby still survives inside.