Tappan-Viles House

The Tappan-Viles House stands on the west side of State Street, a short way north of Augusta state capitol district. It is located on a parcel that now also includes attached modern facilities of the Kennebec Savings Bank. It is a 2+1⁄2-story wood-frame structure, with a hip roof topped by a cupola, clapboarded walls, interior end chimneys, and a granite foundation.

The roof cornice is dentillated and studded with brackets, and the building corners are quoined. The front facade is five bays wide, with the central entrance sheltered by an elaborate porch supported by paired Corinthian columns. Windows on the first floor have decorative bracketed and dentillated cornices, while those on the second floor have simpler hoods. Above the main entrance is a Palladian window.[2]

The house was built in 1816 by Rev. Benjamin Tappan, a Harvard College graduate who served as pastor at the South Parish Church. As built, it would have had modest Federal period trim.

In 1862, the house was acquired by Col. Alanson B. Farwell, who updated the house with the latest Italianate style, adding the bracketing, quoining, and cupola. Dr. William Graves, the next owner, in about 1915 hired the noted Portland architect John Calvin Stevens to design sympathetic Colonial Revival features. Another 20th-century owner was Blaine S. Viles, a mayor of Augusta and state forest commissioner.[2] The building has since the late 20th century been used for commercial purposes.

• National Register of Historic Places listings in Kennebec County, Maine