Breakwater - Bar Harbor

Mr. John Innes Kane and his wife Annie C. Schermerhorn Kane of New York purchased the Bergner Cottage in early 1903. Beginning in early December 1903 and completed by the Fall of 1904, Kane replaced the previous cottage with one designed by Frederick Lincoln Savage. Kane first occupied "Breakwater" in the 1905 season, though until about September 1909, it is simply referred to as the "Kane Cottage" in local newspapers.

Kane was gentleman and belonged to the Union Club, the Knickerbocker Club, the New York Yacht Club, the Metropolitan Club, the Whist Club, the St. Elmo's Club, the Society of the Cincinnati, the South Side Sportsmen's Club, and the Automobile Club of America. His wife was a member of the Colony Club. The Kanes were counted as members of "the 400."

The architect of "Breakwater", Fred L. Savage, was born and raised in Northeast Harbor, studied architecture in Boston with the firm of Peabody and Stearns and, in 1892, began practicing architecture in Bar Harbor. He became quite a prolific architect, with over 300 commissions in Bar Harbor, Northeast Harbor, and other local Maine towns, as well as in other areas across the country.

Located on the rocky shoreline of Bar Harbor along the Shore Path, "Breakwater" is a two-and-a-half-story Tudor Revival cottage. The front elevation of the main portion of the cottage, features a projecting entry portico with a recessed half-timbered gable supported by heavy timber posts and brackets. The masonry work on the cottage was completed by the Shea Brothers.

Entrance Vestibule looking into the "Great Hall" beyond

Entering through a heavy wooden Tudor-arched door, with flanking windows, serves as the entrance to the a "great hall" with a grand hearth from which lead the main staircase and other living areas. The main portion of the cottage is organized around the "great hall" and can be divided into this central area and two equal groups of rooms to the north and south.

Great Hall

The "great hall" is the most lavishly decorated room of the entire cottage. The walls feature a paneled dado and are wainscoted above with applied moldings, all accented in pink and white. Columns and corner pilasters support running architraves and exposed lateral beams trimmed with crown moldings. Occupying the center of the rear hall is an ornately decorated fireplace, with a carved wood mantelpiece and a decorative panel above and flanked by two Tuscan columns. The rear wall also features two sets of triple French doors leading out to the covered veranda on the ocean side of the cottage.

Great Hall

On the opposite side of the hall is a wide grand staircase, with polished mahogany rails and treads, and turned balusters. It is framed by two Tuscan columns.

Parlor

Parlor

To the south of the "great hall" is the parlor on the ocean side, and the library next to the entrance vestibule. A wide pocket door opening leads from the "great hall" to the parlor, where a bay window looks out towards the ocean and a set of French doors leads to the side garden. A marble mantelpiece, on the wall opposite the bay window, was originally flanked by two arched bookshelf alcoves.

Library

Sharing this central chimney on the other side is the library, once dominated by mahogany bookshelves and trim. The fireplace in this room features an elaborate wooden mantelpiece, and hidden doors on either side, lead to a half bath and a narrow staircase leading to a second-floor bedroom. Original plans of the cottage do not show the hidden library staircase, and this was either added during construction or at some later time.

Dining Room

Dining Room

To the north of the "great hall," the dining room nearly mirrors the parlor, with a bay window looking to the north and a Tuscan column mantelpiece.

Butler's Pantry

Behind the fireplace of the dining room is the butler's pantry, featuring a ceramic sink and two long wooden counters with ceiling-high cupboards above. A two-tier lazy-Susan in the wall serves as a connection to the kitchen behind. A servant's hall leads into the pantry. This hall runs between the main staircase and the front wall of the house and serves as a narrow passageway to the front door.

Main Staircase

Main Staircase and Sitting Room

Sitting Room

Balconied Porch

The main staircase turns up to the second floor, passing a large shelf alcove with windows. The staircase rises to a central hall which extends the length of this central section and looks down into the stairwell. The hall is separated by round-arched doors and windows from a sitting room, featuring a fireplace flanked by doors leading to the balconied porch. A bath and closet on either side of the sitting room also occupy the central section. 

2nd Floor Oceanside South Section Bedroom

2nd Floor Oceanside South Section Bedroom

To the south, two bedrooms with baths share a central hearth, with the larger room on the ocean side featuring a fireplace niche originally with benches.

2nd Floor Oceanside North Section Bedroom

On the northern end is another bedroom nearly identical, though the larger room still features the benches in the fireplace niche, as well as a small maid's room.

3rd Floor Staircase Landing

A staircase rises up from the hall to the third floor, where more bedrooms and a storeroom are located. Original plans of the cottage do not show two upper floor baths, and these were either added during construction or at some later time.

Trunk Lift

The servant's wing is segregated from the main cottage and extends to the west from the northern section. Rooms in this wing are roughly oriented around a circulation core of stair and elevator. Original plans for the cottage denote the elevator as a "trunk lift." 

The servant's wing is has a loose arrangement of rooms and was finished with spruce and pine soft woods for the trim and floorboards. The first floor contains the kitchen and pantry areas, which lead back to a dumbwaiter and a staircase which winds up and around the elevator core. 

Behind the kitchen is a servant's dining room, with a door leading to the side porch. On the floors above, servant's bedrooms and baths are spread along the wing, with doors leading from each floor to the main cottage. 

Along the entrance drive sits what was originally the stable and carriage house for the cottage. This Colonial Revival structure consists of a front-facing, two-story gambrel roof carriage house, with a one-and-a-half story, cross gambrel ell, which originally contained the stables.

At the head of the drive near Hancock Street is a small half-timbered building, the entry keeper's lodge. This square, one-story structure contains windows on its northern and southern gable ends, plus entrances under a centered cross gable to the west and a small portico to the east. Both buildings were designed by Fred Savage and probably constructed at the same time as the cottage. 

In the Fall 1907, a series of improvements to the grounds designed by Savage were undertaken by John Salford. One of these was a greenhouse along Hancock Street, with a foundation set by John Salford, which was one of the well-known designs of Lord and Burnham. Also at this time, the stable was moved, and a new driveway laid out. The previous driveway provided access to Wayman Lane, but the stable was moved to the south, blocking the previous exit and a new entrance was routed over the previous site of the stable, onto property purchased from Clement Newbold allowing an exit onto Hancock Street. A concrete seawall was also built along the Newbold and Kane properties, extending out the lawns as much as 35' in some places.

Kane died in February 1913 and his family continued to summer at the "Breakwater" until 1926. The cottage now sits on 3.91 acres and includes a 4-bedroom carriage house, gatehouse, and 5-bay garage.