pat nick, (right) a
partner of the building
development and the
retired founder of
Vinalhaven Press,
relaxes in her Congress
Street condo. Her
kitchen (below) opens
to the light-filled living
area (facing page),
where framed artwork
from Vinalhaven Press
graces the walls. The
staircase leads to a loft
bedroom for guests.
late-night activity, the smoking breaks, it doesn’t work
well for the folks who live above.”
The folks who live above are a mix of in- and out-of-towners — some from Boston, some from New York
City, even a few West Coast transplants. “The whole
idea,” says Sterling, “was to appeal to people who love
Maine but don’t want to maintain a house here. You’ve
got all the city has to offer, and in 10 minutes you can
walk to a ferry that takes you to islands with beaches
to swim at.” Owners range from empty-nester professionals to young couples — currently there are no
children in the building. The units are simple loft-style
spaces, ranging from 750 square feet to 1,600 square
feet. Third and fourth floor mezzanine units (three are
still available for purchase, with price tags ranging from
$500,000 to $525,000) are arranged around a central
courtyard, where in summer, residents often gather for
communal cocktail parties.
Hewitt bought one of two first-floor residential
units — with “a great view of the dumpster. It reminds
me of Jersey City,” — that he uses as his art studio.
(He lives elsewhere in Portland.) As in the rest of the
building, bamboo floors make a modern contrast with
original exposed steel posts, their rivets and aged paint
a testament to the building’s past.
Pat Nick, one of Hewitt’s friends as well as a partner in the development, lives in the other first-floor
unit. At 78, she’s retired from running the Vinalhaven
Press, a fine-art printing house that she founded in
1984. Framed prints from the Press — works by Hewitt, Robert Indiana, Robert Cumming, Allison Saar,
Mel Chin, and others — hang in the condo lobby, continue down the hall to her door, and adorn the bright
white walls of her loft-style unit. An open staircase
that’s as much sculpture as it is a set of steps leads up
to a sleeping loft for guests. As she looks across the Fire
slate countertops on the big kitchen island into her living room, which is furnished with modernist furniture
by designers like Charles and Ray Eames and Marcel
Breuer, Nick smiles. “From the day we took this on, I
fully intended to move here, just like Charlie,” she says.
“Our partners were good friends along for the ride —
and they got one!”
